And while the Court of Appeals was dealing with that matter, the Supreme Court was all tied up with Ashcroft related litigation. First, the Belize Bank Limited was asking for an injunction against the Central Bank which is seeking to enforce sanctions against it. And then BTL is asking for an injunction against the Income Tax Department which is seeking to collect business tax that the phone company ahs been withholding. Solicitor General Tanya Herwanger discussed the cases and the weight of enduring litigation with Ashcroft empire.
Tanya Herwanger, Solicitor General
“These are applications for injunctions essentially to hold off on the different institutions in the case of the Belize Bank case, the Central Bank case, and the case of Telemedia, the Commissioner of Income Tax, to hold off from taking certain steps. In the case of the Central Bank, as you heard, it is to hold off from taking enforcement proceedings and in the case of Telemedia, it is for the Commissioner of Income Tax to hold off from issuing any more judgement summons for the collection of business tax. So these are really preliminary battles, so to speak. We really haven’t gotten to the substantive arguments or the big war if you want to call it.
These are not steps we did not anticipate. We started off knowing this would be a bumpy road ahead. We certainly anticipated a series of interlocutory applications, as has transpired. So this is nothing that we didn’t see when we looked at the road to success and we feel that our cases are strong.
Unfortunately these cases seem to be dominating our time and the court’s time but despite what it would appear in the media, we actually have a broader portfolio of cases. So it is a big balancing act to be able to manage not just these cases, which are of course of great public importance, but also the other cases that the department has. But I think we are doing okay.”
The BTL injunction request will be heard on Saturday. The Belize Bank versus Central Bank matter concluded at just a few minutes before news time. The Chief Justice reserved judgement until tomorrow morning.
