Yesterday it was the Ashcroft Alliance which won in court with that CCJ hearing, but today the government of Belize had its turn with a Supreme Court win.
It's a claim before Justice Hafiz-Bertram in which the Port of Belize Limited and the Belize Ports Limited were suing the Government of Belize.
According to the claim, the then Luke Espat-Controlled Port said that the Government of Belize - which was led by the Musa Administration - entered into 6 very important contract agreements - and they claimed that certain special concessions on tax exemptions were not honored.
The claimed that this situation added to the financial burden of running the company, and it eventually forced the company into receivership.
As a result, they took the matter to court, seeking to have Justice Hafiz-Bertram make four declarations of breech and misrepresentation of contracts.
Well after considering the matter for 2 months, Justice Hafiz-Bertram, came back to court and gave her ruling that there were no breeches of contract. As a result, the matter was struck out, and the claimants were ordered to pay costs of $12,500. It is a significant win for GOB because in effect, Luke Espat and Belize Ports Limited were assigning part of blame of the Port's bankruptcy on Government.
What the Supreme Court is saying now that the then-Musa Administration delivered on all agreements made in the contracts, and as a result, the claimants were not entitled to damages.
But, it is notable in the last adjournment, as we had reported, Justice Hafiz-Bertram discharged an injunction which restrained GOB from terminating any of the privatization agreements it made with Belize Ports Limited when the Port of Belize was sold.
They now have the right, if they so choose, to terminate those contracts and regain control of the Port for reasons of mismanagement. One government attorney told us that while it is in GOB's right to do so, this would handicap the Port's Receivership, and the creditors are less likely to get back their money.
