Four years later, case seeking refunds in the privatization of Companies Registry still on pause
Posted: 05/03/2010 - 03:32 PM
Author: Adele Ramos - adelescribe@gmail.com
The Supreme Court lawsuit filed by the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) against the Office of the Prime Minister and the Government of Belize, challenging the privatization of the Belize Companies Registry and the Belize Intellectual Property Office (the National Intellectual Property Registry) has yet to go to hearing, almost four years after the filing.
The Chamber, in the claim (#22 of 2006), is asking the court to order Government to collect the revenues it had surrendered to the former owners of the two registries, which could amount to millions.
The case was set for hearing this Thursday and Friday, March 4 and 5; however, when the parties appeared before Justice John Muria Thursday morning after 9:00, the Crown Counsel for the Government Magali Perdomo, who had just been assigned to the case the day before, pleaded with the judge for an adjournment. The court has now set Monday, June 15, for the hearing.
The last time the case came up in court, Lois Young, SC, who represents the BCCI, had asked for an adjournment to consult with her client. She told Muria today that that meeting with the new Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber Celene Gomez and the BCCI board was held on February 16, and the claimant agreed that they should continue with the court case, notwithstanding the time that had already elapsed.
Ms. Young, who represents the Government for numerous other high profile cases, said that because she is now working “consistently” with the Government, that she also raised that issue with the parties, since she continues to represent BCCI in this matter. Current Prime Minister Dean Barrow, she said, has no problem with her handling the BCCI’s case, since it was filed way back in 2006 and has a constitutional element to it.
The BCCI is challenging the decision of the Government to privatize the two registries named above, which they claim resulted in the loss of several millions of revenue from the public purse. Under the privatization arrangement, the owners of the company’s registry got 80% of revenues (including duties and other taxes, fees and penalty payments), while Government only received 20%.
Prime Minister Barrow, then leader of the Opposition, had said on record that two then ministers of Cabinet, along with former Solicitor General Elson Kaseke and Barrow’s brother Denys Barrow (since appointed judge of the Court of Appeal by the Barrow administration), were the beneficiaries of the privatization deal.
The respondents in this lawsuit are the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance (a post held in 2006 by Said Musa), the Cabinet of Belize, the Commissioners of Stamps (the respective revenue collectors) and the Attorney General of Belize (then Godfrey Smith).
The Musa administration, which had swiftly reversed the privatizations amid a howl of protests, essentially ignored the court filing, and on instances when the court had called up the case, there was no government counsel there to defend it.
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