Last night, we told you about the first day of the Court of Appeal sitting in which the BEL/BTL nationalizations were heavily argued.
This matter is expected to be argued to completion tomorrow, and the Appeal Court will make a determination if the nationalizations were constitutional or not.
But this decision may not matter because once again, the Ashcroft Alliance made a huge deal of the fact that Justice of Appeal Samuel Awich was a sitting member on the panel of judges overseeing this case.
As we reported last night, the Alliance, through several of the functionaries - including Lord Ashcroft himself - tried to get Justice Awich unseated as a member of the Court of Appeal, when the process was being finalized for his appointment in July.
Yesterday, they raised the point that there was an appearance of bias because of their maneuvering which effectively put Justice Awich at odds with them.
You heard attorney Denys Barrow explain that this was a problem of their making, and they tried to apply further pressure to get Awich to recuse himself from the case.
That attempt failed, but today it was brought back up when Queen Counsel for British Caribbean Bank, Nigel Pleming, made an application to the Court of Appeal to be allowed to appeal to the CCJ on their decision that Awich will not recuse himself.
That permission was granted and the court decided that even after the nationalization issue was dealt with, they would not give their decision until after the CCJ hears the appeal on Awich's recusal.
So, if you're following, it means that this hugely important, highly technical and very expensive hearing could be all for nothing.
We asked Government Attorney Denys Barrow to explain why the Ashcroft Alliance would make this move.
Here's how he explained it:
Denys Barrow - Attorney for GOB
"Mr. Pleming receive instructions apparently just before we started saying that he should make an application for the case to be stayed pending their making an appeal to the CCJ against the decision by the court of appeal that Justice Awich would continue sitting on the case. That is what Mr. Pleming brought to the attention of the court of appeal and there was a hearing, there was discussion, further instructions were taken and ultimately it was decided by Mr. Pleming and the team of lawyers for their sides that it would be better for the case to proceed and the delivery of judgment be suspended or stayed until the CCJ has had a chance to decide on their application for a different decision on the recusal matter."
Daniel Ortiz
"What is the significance of this application?"
Denys Barrow - Attorney for GOB
"I am not sure - the significance is that it could have caused this whole appeal to be stayed - to be put off but I didn't get the sense that either side wanted it so I am curious and I can't explain it. It did not make immediate sense to me but I am sure they had good reasons for doing it, so I would not presume to speak for them but I did not see the benefit of it."
Daniel Ortiz
"Sir, can you please tell us what the panel of judges decided?"
Denys Barrow - Attorney for GOB
"Yes, they decided that they would continue with the hearing today and finish tomorrow and then they would complete the hearing but they would not give a decision until after the CCJ has heard the application for leave to appeal and if it hears the actual appeal gives a decision on the appeal and that appeal would be against the decision of the Belize court of appeal that Justice Awich will not recuse himself."
Daniel Ortiz
"Sir, judging from what I saw from Mr. Pleming - he seem to protest that they don't want to have this appeal not go through its process completely but this is the second time in which this issue has been brought up and if my interpretation is correct the implications are that the decision from the court of appeal in Belize could be voided by this decision should the CCJ decide that look Justice of appeal Awich should have recuse himself. Why would they go through this entire process and then have this decision nullified by a decision of a higher court?"
Denys Barrow - Attorney for GOB
"Because they want the case to be decided by a panel which does not include Justice Awich. They have their own reasons for trying to bring that about and undoubtedly it is something which they have sought to bring about."
Tomorrow will be the final day for the BEL/BTL nationalization appeal case to be heard. After that the decision will be suspended until after the CCJ has made their determination on whether or not Justice Awich should have recused himself.
So, even before the appeal case is finished, a part of it might have to be argued at the CCJ.
Email
Print