Another attorney who got paid today in shillings and dollar coins was Rodwell Williams. As we told you last week Friday, the Supreme Court granted Prime Minister Dean Barrow the biggest award ever for defamation - and the man doing the defaming was attorney Arthur Saldivar. He called in on the WUB in 2011 and wrongfully accused Prime Minister Dean Barrow of being corrupt.
He now has to pay $60,000 to the Prime Minister for the defamatory remarks, and an additional $9,500 to his attorney Rodwell Williams for his costs in defending the prime minister.
And to hear his story - it's just like Vernon's: he says the people of Belize Rural North chipped in to pay. So, if you follow this fanciful narrative, then you'd have to believe that Saldivar's Rural North supporters were in an especially giving mood this weekend because in addition to the $2,500 they supposedly raised for his committee member Trevor Vernon, they then raised another $2,000 for Saldivar to pay up.
Saldivar invited the media to view the two pans of coins before it was delivered to Rodwell William's law office this evening. Here's what he had to say about Rural North's supposed generosity:
Arthur Saldivar, Sued for Libel
"After it aired on the news Friday night, I received a number of calls from members of the committee of the Belize Rural North and members of the community of rural north expressing their concern and their support. I surely didn't know where it would lead in terms of the calls but I am very much humbled this evening to be able to say that the good people of the Belize Rural North were able to make a very generous and tremendous contribution to my legal support in terms of the debt that is to be paid, that has imposed by the courts. Certainly, they would not have known at the time that this matter was being appealed as it is my intent to appeal, but certainly considering that they have entrusted these funds to me for the purpose to the paying of legal fees that Rodwell Williams, the partner for Dean Barrow has sought - they will be going over to him. What I've been told is that represent something like about two thousand or a little bit over two thousand dollars. Again it's all coins, before you guys leave we will open it and you will be able to see what's inside. It basically represents in some cases the full measure of what people could actually afford."
Saldivar says that he will be appealing the defamation award against him, and so, he won't be making any additional payments to Rodwell Williams until that matter has been settled.
And while Saldivar is pushing a narrative of popular support on the media - for context we note that in his recent convention, he only got 593 votes, about 10% of the registered voters in the area. He also had to abandon a stillborn recall effort against Edmond Castro launched in October of last year.
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