Supreme court rejects Paraka’s slip rule bid

The Supreme Court has dismissed an attempt by lawyer Paul Paraka to reopen his failed appeal against conviction, ruling that his application under the “slip rule” was an abuse of process and had no chance of success.

Paraka was convicted in May 2023 in the National Court on five counts of misappropriation involving more than K162 million in state funds and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

The payments, made through the Department of Finance between 2007 and 2011, were diverted through law firms and companies linked to him.

He appealed the conviction, but in October 2024, the Supreme Court dismissed his appeal with the decision meant to be final.

In November 2025, Paraka applied for leave to file a slip rule application, claiming the Court had made 38 errors in its 2024 judgment. At the hearing, he reduced these to nine “glaring mistakes.”

Justice David Cannings while handing down the decision today stated that the slip rule is a special procedure under the Supreme Court Rules that allows the Court to correct obvious mistakes in its own judgments.

He said it is not intended to provide a second appeal or a chance to raise new arguments.
A three men Supreme Court bench reviewed Paraka’s nine claims.

The nine claims where that the indictment was defective, that evidence was unlawfully admitted, and that the trial judge “invented” a table of bank transactions.

The Court ruled that all of these points had already been argued and rejected in the 2024 appeal and some were new arguments that should have been raised earlier.

Justice Cannings said none of the points amounted to a glaring error or mistake. He stressed that the slip rule cannot be used to “rehash” old arguments or to re-litigate matters already decided.

“The appellant has not raised any arguable case of error on the part of the Supreme Court in its judgment of 30 October 2024, let alone any glaring error or mistake. The application is a veiled attempt to re-argue the appeal. This is not permissible.” Cannings said.

Meanwhile the Supreme Court’s decision today to refuse leave for the slip rule application means:

• The October 2024 dismissal of Paraka’s appeal stands.
• His 2023 conviction for misappropriation remains final and
• There is no further avenue for him to challenge the decision through the slip rule