By this criminal motion, the applicant applied for an order that Income Tax Summons Case Nos 90142 to 90147 of 1988 be transferred from the subordinate courts and heard in the High Court pursuant to s 185 of the Criminal Procedure Code (Cap 68, 1985 Ed). At the conclusion of the hearing of the criminal motion, I held that the application did not, in my judgment, come within s 185(1)(a), (b) or (e) of the CPC and accordingly dismissed it. I indicated that I would give my reasons later. This I now do.

For present purposes, the relevant statutory provisions in the CPC which require recital are as follows:

185(1) Whenever it is made to appear to the High Court that --

(a) a fair and impartial inquiry ... trial cannot be had in any criminal court subordinate to it;

(b) some question of law of unusual difficulty is likely to arise; or

...

(e) such an order is expedient for the ends of justice ... ,

it may order that --

...

(ii) any particular criminal case shall be transferred to and tried before the High Court.

The appellant was charged with four counts of evasion of income tax under s 96(1)(a) and two counts under s 96(1)(d) of the Income Tax Act (Cap 134, 1985 Ed). T