Justice Minister Bryan Kramer is seeking court proceedings for a judicial review on the allegations made against him by the Ombudsman Commission to the Public Prosecutor for alleged misconduct in office. He told PNGHausbung this week that after receiving a letter from the Ombudsman Commission on the 3rd of December last year to respond to the 14 allegations made against him, he requested the Chief Ombudsman for an extension of time to respond to the allegations and also to provide the evidence they relied on to form the opinion that he was guilty of misconduct in office. He said the Chief Ombudsman however denied his request, claiming that it is generally not the practice of the Commission to provide evidence because all their investigations are confidential. “My view on the issue is only if investigation is on foot then information will be kept confidential,” Mr Kramer said. “But once an investigation authority arrives at a decision that the person is guilty of any conduct then they should always be afforded the right to review the evidence and respond to the evidence. For that reason, I never responded to the allegations.” “So I intend to challenge this decision of the Ombudsman Commission not to prevent it from doing its duty but to actually comply to do its lawful duty, and to seek orders from the court directing the Ombudsman Commission to provide me the evidence that it ought to provide in the first instance.” He said his lawyers are currently reviewing the grounds to file the proceedings and in the coming days when the court documents are prepared, they will file to seek judicial review. “But the Ombudsman Commission have every opportunity now to provide me the evidence to avoid us mounting proceedings to further cause any delay.”