Last week, we told you how the Solid Waste Management Authority was forced into a temporary closure of operations after all its office equipment was crowfooted by the company, Vision Architects & Contractors. Well, today the staff can look forward to getting back their stuff, since the court ordered that the crowfooted items should be returned. We saw them being loaded up today at a Belize City compound - and headed off to Belmopan.
This comes after both sides went back to the Supreme Court today - two months after the private company won a 580 thousand dollar Supreme Court judgment against the authority.
They have been trying to collect on that judgement debt against SWAMA and the Government, but all attempts so far have failed. Their attorney, Naima Barrow, has written letters to the Financial Secretary, the Prime Minister, the Minister of State for Natural Resources, the CEO in the Ministry of Natural Resources, and the Attorney General. But all letters have gone unanswered.
Vision Architects & Contractors concluded that the Government doesn't plan to pay, and so, their attorney, Barrow, triggered the court procedure to crowfoot SWAMA's assets. Last week, a Court Marshall executed enforcement, and seized 3 of the Authority's vehicles, along with their office equipment and computers - basically everything that could fit in a moving truck. The plan was to sell these items and recover part of the judgement debt. But the Attorney General's Ministry sprung into action to block them. Solicitor General Nigel Hawke filed an application before Justice Courtney Abel in the hopes of reversing the seizure.
The judge heard from the two sides today, where Barrow made strong objections to the Government application. Her first ground is that the Government should not be entertained because it has demonstrated contempt for the court's orders - by basically ignoring the 580-thousand-dollar judgment against it. She said that GOB now that her clients are seeking enforcement, GOB is running back to the same court, which it has actively ignored. She also objected on the grounds that Government has not followed the court's procedure for claiming ownership of seized property.
In response, Solicitor General Nigel Hawke, submitted that it is Vision Architects that has not followed the proper procedure in the enforcement of the judgement debt. Their contention is that the seized items are don't actually belong to SWAMA. They say that these properties actually belong to the Government. The Sol. Gen. also added that the Caribbean Court of Justice has also set precedence about how claimants should seek to enforce court ordered judgments against the Government. They say that the crowfooting was improper, and that the items seized should be returned.
After a hotly contested back and forth between the judge and the attorneys for both sides, he ordered that Vision Architects & Contractors must return the seized vehicles and office equipment to SWAMA and the Government of Belize by noon tomorrow. The judge has adjourned the case until next week Friday, when it will get a full hearing.
This crowfooting of SWAMA's office equipment and their pick-up trucks: an Orange 2016 Nissan Frontier, a Black 2017 Nissan Frontier, and a white 2016 Ford Ranger, will most likely be decided on who the court determines to be the true owners. Vision Architects and Contractors contend that they belong to SWAMA, an independent statutory body. The Government strongly disagrees, and says that the items actually belong to the Government of Belize.
We'll keep following the developments in this story, and we'll update you accordingly.
