It was put in the alternative that the manner in which the interview was conducted showed a mind‑set and paid only lip service to the relevant "real chance" test. However, the reasoning of the Tribunal does not bear this out.
Membership of a social group
The relevant social group identified by the applicant was persons who had benefited from associations with the UNP. It was submitted that the Tribunal had applied an excessively restrictive test of what constituted membership of a social group and it was said that its test was not supported by the decision in Morato (supra). It was submitted that the recent decision of the High Court in Applicant A v Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs (1997) 142 ALR 331 required a broad definition of "a particular social group". The applicant relied on this decision for the proposition that a particular social group could be identified by reference to persons who shared a common distinguishing characteristic which was the reason for the persecution which they feared (Brennan CJ, 337). Dawson J put the matter this way:
" A particular social group, therefore, is a collection of persons who share a certain characteristic or element which unites them and enables them to be set apart from society at large. That is to say, not only must such persons exhibit some common element; the element must unite them, making those who share it a cognisable group within their society" (341).
Kirby J also propounded a broad approach which required the members of the group to be recognisable and definable by reference to common pre‑existing features (389).
It was submitted that the Tribunal had erred in its determination of what was required for the relevant particular social group because it had looked at what the members did rather than what they were. However, as Dawson J pointed out in Applicant A (supra, 342) the distinction between what a person is and what a person does may sometimes be an unreal distinction and one should not take too far the requirement in Morato that the persecution be on account of "what a person is - a member of a particular social group - rather than upon what a person has done or does".
The Tribunal's conclusion was that the applicant was not a member or an associate of a social group namely "persons who have lived and become fat through corruption and targeted by the JVP". However, it is difficult to identify the distinguishing characteristic which is the reason for the persecution. In short, there is no common element between the person said to be the members of the group unless it be the acquisition of wealth through corrupt means. As Mr Downing, who appeared for the respondent, submitted, there was no uniting factor in wealth unless it be the reason for the persecution. However, in such circumstances where the persecution becomes the reason for the existence of the group that persecution is not the appropriate distinguishing factor.
As McHugh J pointed out in Applicant A (supra, 358):
"The concept of persecution can have no place in defining the term 'a particular social group'. While decisions that have sought to apply the ejusdem generis principle to discern the meaning of
'particular social group' are problematic because it is difficult to identify a genus common to 'race, religion, nationality ... [and] political opinion', one factor common to these four categories is that the fact or fear of persecution plays no role in understanding their content."
I do not consider that acquisition of wealth through corrupt means is a characteristic or element which unites people or enables them to be identified by a common feature which makes them a definable group in society. In any event, the applicant is one stage removed from this group as he only claims to be an associate of a member of the group. It is even more difficult, if not impossible, to identify a common element or characteristic binding together persons who are associates of persons who have become wealthy through corruption. The Tribunal made no error of law when it concluded (page 20) that:
"The grouping is so broad and lacking in cohesion or homogeneity that it does not constitute a 'particular social group'".
Nothing in the judgments in Applicant A (supra) requires a different conclusion.
Was there evidence to support the decision?
In relation to two particulars of the errors of law specified by the applicant reliance was placed upon s 476(1)(g) namely that there was no evidence or other material to justify the making of the decision. However s 476(4) does not allow that ground to be available unless:
"The person who made the decision was required by law to reach that decision only if a particular matter was established, and there was no evidence or
other material (including facts of which the person was entitled to take notice) from which the person could reasonably be satisfied that the matter was established."
It was said that in disregarding the instability and the volatile political situation which sets the pattern for the immediate foreseeable future in Sri Lanka, the Tribunal had erred in deciding that the JVP has been decimated militarily and that there is not a real chance that it will again emerge as a potent and violent force. It was also said that the Tribunal wrongly concluded that the acts from which the applicant feared potential persecution and punishment derived essentially from criminal commercial motives and that any punishment would be in conformity with the law of the land for the commission of a crime and that there was no evidence as to any crime being committed and this being investigated by the authorities. These submissions proceed on the basis that there was no evidence to justify the Tribunal's conclusion. However, so far as the first particular is concerned there was evidence before the Tribunal upon which it could find that the JVP had been decimated militarily and that there was not a real chance that it would again emerge as a potent and violent force. Similarly, the nature of the evidence about the commercial activities in which the applicant had been involved, albeit with the connivance or support of governmental ministers, was such as to entitle the Tribunal to conclude that any punishment was not for a Convention reason.