Supreme Court Justice, John Muria, this morning adjourned the case brought before the Supreme Court by the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) requesting the court to order the Government to collect the revenues it had surrendered to privateers through the privatization of the Belize Companies Registry between 2000 and 2005.
While the Government had not been represented in court at the previous session on April 17, 2007, Andrew Marshalleck, a private attorney of the Barrow and Co. law firm, appeared on behalf of the Government today. Previously, the Solicitor General, the public official who normally defends Government cases, represented the Government.
Incidentally, Denys Barrow, one of the beneficiaries of the agreement that the BCCI is challenging in this case, owns the law firm of Barrow and Co.
Justice Muria emphasized that the reason why he was granting the adjournment is to give a fair chance for the claim to be properly aired in court, since, in his opinion, the matter is even bigger than the parties immediately involved in the action, and it is ordinary Belizeans who really have a stake in the matter. He adjourned the case for two weeks.
The hearing has been on pause since last May when the Chief Justice, Dr. Abdulai Conteh, granted the Chamber permission to seek the judicial review, but was unable to hear the case.
The Chamber’s attorney is Lois Young, SC, and the case is against the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance; the Cabinet of Belize; the Commissioners of Stamps; and the Attorney General of Belize.
Notably, the suit does not list as respondents the people who had private business interests in the Belize Companies Registry, and the Belize Intellectual Property Office (BELIPO) former owners – David Jenkins of Belmopan and attorney Denys Barrow, SC, who sits as a justice of appeal in the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court. Nor does it list former Solicitor General, Elson Kaseke, who was listed as a BELIPO director.