Chief Justice Dr. Abdulai Conteh has reserved judgment in the case of the Public Utilities Commission versus BTL.
In a rare Saturday Supreme court session, the PUC's attorney Senior Counsel Derek Courtenay answered preliminary submissions by Lois Young.
On Friday, Young claimed that the PUC did not represent consumers and that it failed to follow its own procedures to claim a refund. In Saturday's session Chief Justice Conteh told Courtenay that the PUC failed to set telephone rates and because of that it has not fulfilled its responsibility. Conteh told Courtenay that the PUC was trying to hide behind the coat tails of the court in asking it to rule on a refund. Conteh added that the commission Chairman Gilly Canton was almost obsequious when he wrote to BTL in July of last year inquiring about a refund. Conteh went on to question Courtenay several times as to why the PUC did not execute its statutory authority.
After that rigorous cross examination by the Chief Justice - BTL's Lois Young stood and said that the PUC had abdicated its responsibility and asked that her client be granted a dismissal of the application on those grounds. With that, the rare Saturday session wrapped at 12:45 and Conteh will rule at a later date.
And no one is waiting more anxiously for that judgment than the government. With a refund of as much as 60 million dollars possibly in the balance the case has a profound effect on the pending sale of BTL.
Of course, if the Chief Justice's words of direction to the PUC are to be heeded - the government controlled PUC would have to - on its wwn - declare and demand a refund from government owned BTL, a situation that not even Vegas Odds makers would put money on.