Sanctus – The Sanctarian legal world was left in shock today when it was announced that Supreme Court Justice, The Hon. Julian Young, was arrested last night on suspicion of corruption by the Sanctarian Police Force. The arrest, which took place at Young’s private residence at 20.41 last night, comes after a year-long probe by the Force’s Elite Corruption Division, headed by Chief Superintendent Alice Jeffreys.
C/Supt Jeffreys, who announced the arrest shortly after 10pm last night, confirmed that Justice Young was suspected of participating in a “cash-for-verdicts” style operation in which interested parties gave their presiding judges monetary sums in return for favourable verdicts; Jeffreys further indicated that while there are other judges who are suspected of participation, none of the eight other Supreme Court Justices would be sought for questioning on the matter. It was also confirmed that, aside from Justice Young’s arrest last night, a further four people were arrested across the country; one of whom is a district court judge.
The “cash-for-verdicts” scandal, which was broke by this paper a year and a half ago, first surfaced when retired Appellate Court Justice Simon Parks admitted to taking cash bribes in return for ruling in favour of certain parties numerous times over his twelve years on the appeals bench. The admission, which was made to our Crime & Justice Correspondent, led to the creation of the investigation under the purview of the Elite Corruption Division, which saw the former Justice Parks arrested and, more recently, sentenced to 25 years in prison for his conduct while on the bench. Sources within the SPF confirm that Parks has been cooperating with the investigation and that it was this cooperation that led to the arrest of the Supreme Court Justice last night.
Justice Young, who was appointed to the Supreme Court six years ago, has previously served at all levels of the court system – from district court, to circuit court, to appellate court, and so on. He was previously a senior partner at prestigious Corpus firm Meyers, Taylor & Silk before being first appointed to the bench by the Eli Taylor Government in the late 80s.
Current Prime Minister, Joshua Turner, has expressed “deep concern” at the arrest of the Supreme Court Justice and has confirmed he has sought the advice of the Attorney General on how to proceed. However, regardless of Young’s guilt, it is believed that Turner will be initiating impeachment proceedings against the Justice for bringing both his position and the Supreme Court into disrepute. Leader of the Opposition, Deputy Charlene Hendry, has demanded Young’s resignation saying that an impeachment process would be “long, messy, and would bring even more shame on the situation”. Young, who remains in custody, has yet to comment on the situation.
DAVID FLETCHER, Special Correspondent
