In November of last year, Justice Courtney Abel found that Luke Espat and was personally liable for 29.4 million dollars in debts to the Belize Bank. Today - after Justice Abel refused him leave to appeal - he asked the Court of Appeal to allow him an appeal of the judgment.
After the attorneys from both sides argued - the court rejected his request after 2 hours of consideration. That leaves Espat with just about nowhere else to go to challenge this judgement.
But Espat's attorney, Said Musa, is keeping up the fight; he told the media why they maintain Justice Abel made an error when he ruled against Espat:
Hon. Said Musa - Attorney for Luke Espat
"My client Mr. Luke Espat liable personally for the debts of his companies to the Belize Bank because of certain guarantees that they are saying he signed. What Mr. Espat has been saying all along is that he signed these guarantees long after the loans were incurred by the companies that he has a group of companies that he was in partnership with principals of the Belize Bank with the Port and that the Port was part of the main company in fact involved in this matter and that the misrepresentation came about when the president of the bank made certain promises to him that - sign these guarantees - it's just to satisfy the Central Bank - we won't hold you personally liable - that basically what the background is all about. But yet the court to this point has held him liable and that's what we are appealing."
Luke Espat - Appealing Court Decision
"There is law as it's literally interpreted and there is the reality of the agreements that made whatever possible, possible in the development process of what we were doing. It's like when the pressure comes down everybody grabs their marbles and run and I think 
this is a typical case of exactly what happened under this regime. This would not have happen, the principal of the group was and is the Port of Belize, that's still is existing and still earning. To have breaking off the bits and pieces as what is being attempted or what has been done by the lenders was all done as part of and parcel of agreements that we had that difficulty of law is hard to prove unless we have the opportunity for a trial."
Since he has not been granted an appeal in the Court of Appeal, Espat must now pay that 29.4 million dollars to the Belize Bank.
As we reported, Belize Bank claimed that Espat unconditionally and irrevocably guaranteed his companies' debts to the bank. The bank also said that he signed a "Guarantee and Postponement of Claim Agreement" in which he personally guaranteed to pay the debts of those companies if they defaulted.
Well, the companies defaulted on loans for Indeco Enterprises for 12.166 million dollars, Belize Crocodile and Reptile Breeders for 11.54 million, Belize Ready Mix concrete for 4.69 million dollars and Indeco enterprises again for 1.02 million dollars.
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