The fight over the importation of Guyanese Rice is over, and it appears that business man Jack Charles has thrown in the towel, at least for the time being. The Government is giving him 2 weeks to make arrangements to export his 3 containers of rice out of Belize.
As viewers will remember, a week ago Charles' attorneys had to scramble to the Supreme Court for an interim injunction - to stop customs from destroying the 75 tonnes of rice.
That was done after customs got an order of forfeiture from the Magistrate's Court. Today, Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin scheduled a hearing to review the lawfulness of the Forfeiture Order from the Magistrate's Court. All sides showed up to court ready to do legal battle, but, the case was never called up. About 2 hours after the parties had an audience before the Chief Justice - they agreed on a compromise: Government would allow Charles 14 days to make arrangements to get the rice out of Belize.
We understand that Customs made this proposal to him late last week, but at that time, they were offering him only 7 days to remove the rice. Our information is that he responded saying he would need a month.
It now appears that his attorneys interceded on his behalf before the Chief Justice today, and a compromise was arrived at. Our information is that all cases filed will be dropped. So, how did it reach to this point? Well, we caught up with Prime Minister Dean Barrow at another event today, and we asked him for his take on what has happened. He said that the reason that the hearing didn't happen today was because he as the Minister of Finance has given Charles his word that there is a workaround which can happen to allow him to remove the rice from the country:
Daniel Ortiz
"He is now being asked to export that rice."
Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"He is not being asked. He is asking us for permission to re-export the rice. He was told that he needs to make a formal application to me as the Minister of Finance. Because there is the forfeiture order and unless the Supreme Court were to would overturned that order, only the minister of finance can give you and opt out. He has agreed to do that and I think as a consequence the court hearing this morning did not proceed, since he is undertaking that he will write to me. I've signaled that I am perfectly prepared to give him the forfeiture override so that he can get the rice out. It's not a fight between Belize and Guyana. The Deputy Prime Minister and the CEO in the Ministry of Agriculture are in Guyana now. They are going to be talking to their counterparts over there. But this is not a.... we don't want to make too much of it. This is a as of now a problem with Mr. Charles and is not having gone through the proper processes. I'm not going to in fact not concede that clearly, this government has an interest in protecting the local rice farmers and in protecting the local rice industry. But we are not at the stage yet where anybody can elevate it to the level of a country to country conflict. I'm sure that as soon as the Deputy and Jose Alpuche returned, we will be able to update you on those bilateral talks go. Even if no progress is produce there, there are mechanisms under the treaty for us to make certain applications in terms of our need to protect the local rice industry. But as I said, that's a little premature. For now, I'd like to keep it at the level where it is a question of Mr. Charles having to go through the right procedure if he is to have any chance of being able to import rice."
Daniel Ortiz
"Sir, the CARICOM Secretary General has mentioned that he hasn't given a pronouncement on the government's position, but he has said that no government and no country should be using the phytosanitary issues and permits that you need to get as a barrier to trade."
Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"Nobody can quarrel with that. He is not saying that Belize is using that...."
Daniel Ortiz
"But the importer is..."
Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"That's the importer. The importer can say what he wants."
But that's not the end of it, not for Charles at least. He still has rental fees owing to the Port of Big Creek, and his shipping Line. Well, his fees increased at a rate of $450 per day, and so, a rough calculation we've done puts his current bills at just under $8,300 dollars.
As we've said, the case hasn't gone in his favor, and so, he'll have to pay that in addition to the shipping costs to get the 3 containers of rice out of Belize. We could not reach him for comment today on whether or not he will try again to bring Guyanese Rice into Belize.
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