Rohn Knowles and Kelvin Leach, are the two Bahamians and business partners who were tossed into the public eye when the Financial Intelligence Unit and police raided their business headquarters, Titan Securities in the Matalon Building in Coney Drive. The raid happened in September of 2014, and since then they have been in court challenging the nine hour raid, which cleaned out their office and forced the shutdown of their business. It all started with an indictment from the US Treasury Department - where the owners of this offshore operation are accused of a security fraud. But the Bahamian business partners are saying that Belizean authorities had no right to confiscate their assets. They sued the Government of Belize and today the judgement was handed down in court. It was a closed hearing so we weren't allowed in. But when it was done, Titan's Attorney Senior Council Godfrey Smith, said his clients were vindicated:
Godfrey Smith, SC - Attorney for Titan
"In 2014 their premises were raided by officers of the police and the FIU and all their information and documents were seized. Their offices were effectively gutted. Since then Titan has brought a constitutional claim alleging that the documents were unlawfully seized etc. Today, that claim was upheld. The judge found that in fact there were excesses. There were a breach of Titan's rights. Several declarations were granted in favor of Titan and an award of damages was made. We argued that their business was effectively destroyed and we ask for damages to reflect that destruction."
Daniel Ortiz
"In the sum of how much?"
Godfrey Smith, SC - Attorney for Titan
"The judgement has not been finalized. It will be finalized shortly in the future. Until then I will not comment on what that sum of damages has been."
Smith wouldn't tell us how much the damages the government would have to pay, but we understand that it is a huge award to Titan. We'll try to get the figure next week when the judgment is published.
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