BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Aug. 24, 2017–On July 21, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) ordered Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon. Wilfred “Sedi” Elrington, to return close to a million dollars’ worth of land titles owned by his former client, Progresso Heights Limited.
The CCJ gave Elrington thirty days, effective August 5, to make the return, so he still has an estimated eleven days remaining to return the titles.
It appears that Mr. Elrington will not comply with the court’s orders. Amandala has intercepted a letter sent by him to the CCJ in which he explained that he does not have the land titles.
In the letter, dated August 17, Elrington confirmed that he had read the order from the CCJ.
He claimed that he, “orally requested” Pauline Jex, the former secretary of the Pitts and Elrington law firm, to search the firm’s record room for the documents in question.
He reported that Jex was unable to locate the said files. He went on to close the letter by claiming that he does not have the land titles belonging to Progresso Heights Limited.
In 2004, Elrington began to provide legal services to Progresso Heights Limited, a company which had bought over 2,000 acres of property in the Corozal District and subdivided them for sale. He was tasked with the recording of transfers, mortgages, and other closing documents on behalf of the company, in which he served as a 20% shareholder.
Six years later, in 2010, the relationship between Elrington and Progresso Heights Limited became strained and they parted ways. According to court documents, Elrington wanted to play a greater role in the management of the company’s affairs. He wanted to become a director of the company. However, this was not entertained.
Elrington reportedly also wanted the company to lend him an undisclosed amount of money for a business venture with his brother, Hubert Elrington. That request was also not entertained.
Court documents revealed that Elrington began to speak poorly of the company. He accused its directors of financial mismanagement, even though he was always privy to the company’s financial statements. His negative campaign reportedly caused much doubt in the minds of potential and existing clients of the company. Even more doubt was caused when clients could not receive land titles they had already paid for.
Elrington lodged cautions against the parcels of land, thus preventing the company from executing transfers. The company made many efforts to have the cautions removed, but their efforts failed each time.
Furthermore, he would not return the documents in his possession. As a result, the company was forced to return all the money it had collected from persons who had purchased lands, but had not received the titles.
Since this story broke, Elrington has maintained his stance that he did not have the documents in question. Furthermore, he also claimed he had never received them. However, court documents reveal that the company had made deposits to Elrington through the Bank of America in Miami, Florida.
The deposited cheques contained parcel numbers which matched the parcels sold and that were to be transferred by Elrington. Furthermore, court documents revealed that the documents were mailed to Elrington via registered mail receipts.
When Amandala spoke tonight to Eamon Courtenay, the attorney for Progresso Heights Limited, he told us that the company is considering what action to take in light of Elrington’s claims.