THE Court of Appeal is to rule, on February 23, as to whether or not it will be granting leave for former Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller and four other political party officials to take the Trafigura case to the United Kingdom-based Privy Council.

The party officials are seeking leave to challenge a decision by the court, last year, that they testify in the Trafigura case.

A date for the ruling was scheduled after lawyers, who are representing the group, argued in the Court of Appeal yesterday that they should be allowed to take the matter to the Privy Council.

Last June, the Court of Appeal dismissed the group’s appeal against a Supreme Court ruling that Simpson Miller, Phillip Paulwell, Robert Pickersgill, Colin Campbell, and Norton Hinds must testify in open court about the $31-million donation by Trafigura Baheer to the People’s National Party in 2006.

Dutch authorities want to question the former prime minister and the PNP members about the donation made by the Dutch firm, but they have insisted that they have no information that can assist the Dutch investigation.

Defence lawyers for the five had argued that the judge had erred in his ruling and that his ruling was flawed. They also argued that the individuals cannot be compelled to cooperate with requesting foreign states, that the treaties have to be subjected to Jamaican laws, that they already indicated they know nothing about the alleged bribery in respect to Trafigura, and cannot help the Dutch authorities any further.

But the Court of Appeal, in dismissing the appeal, ruled that the proceedings brought under the Mutual Assistance Criminal Matters Act are subject to the principles of open justice as mentioned in Section 16 (3) of the constitution and that the ruling of the judge that these proceedings should be conducted in open court is correct in law and “does not warrant this (Appeal) Court’s interference”.