Last night on the news, you probably heard Eamon Courtney's dire warning about the Guyanese rice that Jack Charles has sitting at the Big Creek Port. He said Customs warned him a week ago that the rice - all 75 tonnes - would be confiscated and destroyed. Here again are those remarks from yesterday:
FILE: January 4, 2016
Eamon Courtenay, SC - Attorney for Local Rice Producers
"The primary position is that it is to be confiscated and destroyed. They are giving him an opportunity and this was from the 23rd December to take it out and attempt to do something with it. So, Customs once again is bending over backward saying to him listen, you brought this thing in illegally, take it out, we are not going to destroy it. I would think that a week has passed and he has done nothing - I would urge Customs to move with dispatch at this stage and I hope that they do."
And Customs did act with dispatch. This morning, the department got an ex parte hearing before senior magistrate Sharon Fraser. Ex parte means no one from Jack Charles's camp was there. They asked her for an order of forfeiture so that Customs can take possession of the rice and destroy it. We are told that within hours, Customs were at Big Creek with a container ready to haul away the rice, and take it for destruction. That sent Jack Charles and his attorneys Leeroy Banner and Michel Chebat scrambling to court to appear before Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin. He granted them an injunction against the decision of the Senior Magistrate. IT will hold until next week Tuesday - which is when there will be a full hearing on whether the forfeiture is lawful. The effect of the injunction is that Customs can't touch the rice until the hearing is concluded. At that time, the Chief Justice will tell them whether they can proceed to destroy the 75 tonnes of Guyanese rice.
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