The Office of the Attorney General has opted for a non-Samoan criminal law specialist to prosecute the suspended Police Commissioner, Fuiavailiili Egon Keil.

This was confirmed in a media statement by the Office of the Attorney General yesterday.

“In compliance with the direction of the Honourable Court regarding this matter, the independent prosecutor engaged is Mr. Paul Dacre QC, criminal law specialist,” the statement reads.

“He will liaise with the Assistant Director of N.P.O and he will independently review the file with the intention of attending to the next Court date 11 November 2016.”

The statement does not identify who the Assistant Director of the N.P.O is since the Director and Acting Director are both suspended.

But the decision follows the latest adjournment of the hearing of a motion to quash the charges against the suspended Commissioner.

The adjournment was made by Justice Lesatele Rapi Va’ai following an application from the National Prosecution Office (N.P.O) lawyer, Leone Sua-Mailo.

Mrs. Mailo told the Court the N.P.O. was in the process of engaging an independent prosecutor to handle the matter. 

Fuiavailili is facing charges including unlawful detainment of a person, disorderly conduct in a public place, perjury and making a false statement in relation to the wrongful arrest of a member of the public last year. 

His legal team is seeking to quash the charges against their client, questioning the legitimacy of the charges.