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Now, the Ashcroft alliance is moving to seek enforcement of its award in US courts, so Government ran to the Supreme Court to apply for an injunction to stop them. The Attorney for the Belize Bank and BCB Holdings, Eamon Courtenay chose not to appear, so government's attorney Denys Barrow was the only one making a presentation before Justice Arana. After a two hour hearing, she granted the interim injunction. Barrow told us the meaning of it:...

Jules Vasquez, 7News
"Explain to us why you all had to come to court with such urgency today?"

Denys Barrow, Attorney for GOB
"Because there are proceedings in the United States by Belize Bank and BCB Holdings Ltd. in which they are moving for an order from the Unites States court to proceed with enforcement of the judgement that they have obtained against GOB and that order we are told could be made as early as 7th February."

Jules Vasquez, 7News
"The proceedings and the courts in the United States, the federal court has already shown that it has very little regard even for the CCJ. So why then would it be keen at adhere to an interim injunction from the supreme court of Belize?"

Denys Barrow, Attorney for GOB
"A very helpful point Jules. The thing as you certainly heard in the court, the thing about an injunction of this nature is that is it emphatically directed at the persons who are conducting or bringing the suit in the foreign country. It is not directed, emphatically not directed at the courts in the foreign country."

Jules Vasquez, 7News
"What happens next on the ground? Are Belize's reserves safe or are they under significant threat?"

Denys Barrow, Attorney for GOB
"I really can't answer that in any meaningful way. The effect of this judgement of this injunction order should be that it must be obeyed. If it is obeyed by the two entities, then it means that nothing further will be done by them in the US to take their judgement from the US court further. It means that they will not seek to attached Belize's reserves, any of Belize's property, because they've been told do not enforce that judgement."

Jules Vasquez, 7News
"The entire argument that you made in there was based on the premise that the CCJ has so ruled and such protections or the interim injunction that you are asking from the court is based on the learning from the CCJ. However, did not Belize wave its right to sovereign immunity when it signs, whoever signed these agreements, agreed to international arbitration as a final way of settling disputes under these agreements?"

Denys Barrow, Attorney for GOB
"Yeah, but the question of waving sovereign immunity simply means that by those who signed back in the early 2000s, those who signed the agreement waving sovereign immunity, that gave jurisdiction to the US courts to adjudicate on the matter. We did not give away the rights of our court to say to BCB Holdings, Belize Bank Ltd., that you are bound by the decision of our legal system."

"So remember nothing stops Belizean courts and the government of Belize from coming before a Belizean court to say to these persons do not proceed further, you are disrespecting the CCJ's decision, you are violating a clear principle of law which says that having litigated a matter to its finality, you cannot launch any collateral or backdoor attack upon that judgement of the Belize's highest court."

Jules Vasquez, 7News
"What happens on February 7th in the US court? What will happen then and how will that affect the state of play overall and principally the security of Belize's reserves?"

Denys Barrow, Attorney for GOB
"Again the question is will Belize Bank and BCB Holdings follow the law? Will they accept the jurisdiction, the power, will they respect the order of the supreme court of Belize which say do not go any further? That is the question."

Notably, the government applied to the CCJ for an injunction on Wednesday and it was denied. A release from the CCJ says, quote, "the Court convened its full seven-member Bench and….unanimously decided that, having already issued a final judgment in these proceedings on July 26, 2013, it had no jurisdiction to grant injunctive relief in the absence of a pending appeal before the Court." End quote. Reports are that the Ashcroft Alliance is also seeking to get its own injunction against the government in US Courts.