Also appearing in the Chief Justice's courtroom this morning were resort developer Carlos Poper and minister of state Servulo Baeza. You may recall that in an expose we aired exactly a year ago, Poper lost an entire island resort when he found that he had built on the wrong property.
Poper claimed that in 2003 Baeza and Ainslie Leslie teamed up to trick him into thinking that he was buying a spectacular beachfront property on Ropewalk Caye in the Turneffe Island range. After two years building the resort, Poper found out that he had actually built on someone else's property.
As a then Minister of Government, Baeza sold Poper the property for one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Now, Poper wants his money back and his attorney Michael Young will ask the court to make it so. But the case had to be adjourned today because Baeza's attorney David Moralez is ill and could not appear. The
case now stands adjourned to March 21st.
In a brief remark to the Chief Justice this morning, Baeza said that the 5 acres that he sold Poper is still there. He explained that Poper made the arrangement to see and survey the land - and that's when the mix-up occurred. Of course, the man who took him to see it was Ainslie Leslie, who we are told will be called as a witness when the case starts.
Poper paid Baeza's driver Guillermo Briceno who you see leaving the court with him. Poper's case against Briceno has been dropped because Baeza has said he is the one who entered into the contract with Poper.
