Three of the most powerful men in the country: the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice and the Leader of the Opposition were in the Supreme Court today - and it was the Prime Minister on the witness stand; the man questioning him was Leader of the Opposition Dean Barrow. It was extraordinary and unprecedented - but the pity is that cameras are not allowed in the courtroom. So we'll have to tell you how it went.
Represented by his son Kareem Musa, the Prime Minister brought a case for libel and defamation against The Reporter Press and its publisher Harry Lawrence. The Reporter is defended by Dean Barrow.
The PM says that The Reporter libeled him when Lawrence claimed in an October 2005 editorial that the PM had acted illegally when he set off $12 million in taxes that the Belize Bank owed. The editorial went on to allege that Ashcroft gave the PUP $8 million in campaign financing.
Arguments and testimony started this morning at 9:00 and at news time, Dean Barrow was still giving his closing argument. The Prime Minister was the main witness on his own behalf and stood in the witness stand for two hours in the morning and another hour in the afternoon. It presented an opportunity for the Leader of the Opposition to forward any and all questions and the Prime Minister would have to answer under oath.
The cross examination between the two leaders was mostly testy, with Barrow often sighing and shrugging his shoulders, exasperated with the Prime Minister's answers. On the other hand, the Prime Minister twice pointed his finder at Barrow to make an emphasis as Barrow tried to brush him off.
Barrow asked the Prime Minister if he had received campaign financing from Michael Ashcroft in 2003 - and the Prime Minister said that neither he nor his party had. He asked him if the had received any in 1998 - and the Prime Minister said he had not, but possibly his party did.
As we said earlier, the case went all day and closing arguments continued until late this evening. Those arguments ended just before newstime - and we got the reaction from Dean Barrow.
Dean Barrow, Attorney for Harry Lawrence
"I think it went okay. The issues are really whether the article published by Mr. Lawrence can be justified as amounting to fair comment. There is no doubt
that the words complained of amount to defamation, amount to libel. At least in so far some of the meanings, two of the meanings that were contended for by Said Musa.
The real issue is not withstanding those meanings, can the defense of fair comment succeed. In other words, you're entitled to libel somebody if you do so honestly, as a fair expression of comment, as a fair expression of opinion honestly held and to which you are entitled given the surrounding circumstances. And I feel that we did enough to show to the court that in the circumstances, Mr. Lawrence was entitled to offer the opinions that he did."
Keith Swift,
What did you think of the Prime Minister as a witness?
Dean Barrow,
"I wasn't very impressed. I wasn't very impressed, let me not be too unkind, too uncharitable. I wasn't very impressed."
Keith Swift,
Why do you say that?
Dean Barrow,
"Well I don't want to be uncharitable as I said but I didn't think he made a very good witness. I think that the impression he conveyed was of someone who had a lot to hide and couldn't really justify his actions and who had to concede that there is a general sense in this community that his government is corrupt and has mismanaged the economy. He had to concede to those things and so I don't think he made a very good impression."
The Chief Justice will deliver his judgment at a later date.
