Turning now to another matter of urgent public interest Andre Vega, son of the former Deputy Prime Minister, Gaspar Vega, has had a major victory in the Court of Appeal. He has convinced that court to set aside a judgment from the Supreme Court which said that he must pay back 400 thousand dollars to the government and people of Belize.
Viewers will remember that big scandal from October 2016, when news broke that Andre Vega, son of the former UDP "lands" minister, Gaspar Vega, and Sharon Pitts were both paid $400,000 each by the then Government. That was payment for compensation made because the Ministry of Natural Resources sold them a prime piece of private land near the Haulover Bridge, just outside the boundary of Belize City.
Documents we saw back in October 2016 indicated that the Ministry should have known at it was private land. But, the Ministry, under Gaspar Vega's then leadership, sold it to a third party close to his political camp, who then sold it to Vega's son, Andre.
That paper ownership then triggered the Ministry's compensation mechanism in which the younger Vega was paid $400,000 as an out-of-court settlement of his supposed claim on the already-private land. Former Supreme Court Judge Courtney Abel ruled that Vega was unjustly enriched at the expense of the Belizean people and that he must pay it back.
But, the Court of Appeal has since reviewed the case, as well as the arguments for appeal made by his attorney, Estevan Perrera.
In a written judgment, the panel of Appeal Court judges says, quote, "Scrutiny of the reliefs claimed by the GOB shows, remarkably, that it seeks to hold VEGA accountable for what it describes as a deliberate breach by the Minister of Natural Resources (its representative) of his (and thereby its) fiduciary duty to the state and people of Belize.
The learned Trial Judge erred in his determination/conclusion that VEGA is not entitled to the $400,000 and ought to return it." End quote.
After pointing out their other disagreements with the judge's reasoning, the panel of judges allowed the appeal and set aside Justice Abel's ruling. Vega's compensation agreement with the government for 400 thousand dollars is ruled as binding on the parties - meaning that the state must still compensate him.
