And, another element in this Tribunal is the presence of eminent King's Counsel, Ben Juratowich. His name has been much in the news these past few months after government ignored a legal opinion he rendered on the Definitive Agreement.
But, most importantly, he's Belize's attorney at the ICJ. So why is he also appearing for government on this local tribunal? We asked Smith about the question of scale:
Jules Vasquez
"Mr. Juratowitch is an international lawyer representing Belize at the ICJ, among other that he holds, but it seems a matter slightly mundane for counsel of Mr. Juratowitch's stature to be serving as the attorney for this tribunal. Do you from your observation find it disproportional or out of scale?"
Godfrey Smith, Attorney
"I certainly do and let me say that if you consider the fact that Stake Bank challenge a NEAC DOE decision that was given in favor of Portico to say it was all wrong and several other grounds were advanced, no great international counsel was brought in. In this case Waterloo is not even in the supreme court, its before a tribunal. And if you keep in mind that the government has consistently been saying, we'll let the market decide, we have no preferences. Then why do you have a vested interest in the outcome of this tribunal by seeking for a King's counsel of Mr. Juratowitch's stature, his junior counsel and 2 other local counsel to represent as what you rightly say is a fairly mundane matter. I think what that tells you is the extent to which government has a vested interest in ensuring that Waterloo does not get across the mark."
Of course, there is a lot at stake - if government loses this appeal it stands to be sued by the notoriously litigious Ashcroft Alliance for more than 10 million dollars.
We should note that this is the first appeal of a NEAC decision.
