| The case of misfeasance against former Ministers of Government Jose Coye and Florencio Marin Sr. has sent out waves in the Caribbean because it is a novel case in which the Caribbean Court of Justice handed down a benchmark judgment.
The question is: Can the Attorney General Ministry bring legal action against these men for alleged inappropriate behavior while holding office? Former Chief Justice Dr. Conteh didn't believe so, but both the Court of Appeal, and the CCJ said yes, it is possible.
But today, Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin sent a clear message to the State that they didn't enough evidence to support the action against the former ministers based on the claim that both of them acted in joint enterprise to misappropriate the value of 56 parcels of land in the Caribbean Shores area.
Last week, the attorneys for the men filed an application that all or parts of witness testimony and evidence presented by GOB's attorney be struck out. This morning, Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin upheld the application by the defendants that those main testimonies be struck because of certain violations to the Evidence Act. After that, he made the decision, after consulting with each side, that the case should be thrown out based on lack of evidence.
This afternoon, the still game Jose Coye held a press conference in which he declared that the Government should not have even brought the case in the first place when they only had hearsay evidence:
Here's what he had to say:
Jose Coye - Former Minister of Government
"From the outset, we knew, and they ought to have known, that they had no grounds to pursue such a charge. And why did they know? The Lands Department, as you will recall, was shut down for almost 3 to 4 months - for quite some time - for an audit to be undertaken. The audit was in fact done by the Auditor General. And when it was done, the Auditor General found nothing wrong with the project. That audit was presented before parliament, the House of Representatives. There was nothing they found wrong with the project. It was expected that at time, the Government would have reconsidered its position. We thought that this was what the Attorney General would have done because they had no evidence as proof. So, the audit, to us, was clear, that there was no such claim for any losses for a claim of misfeasance, as it was called."
Marisol Amaya - Krem News
"Why would the Government bring a claim that, as you said, they knew was baseless."
Jose Coye
"The answer for me, and I wish others would - well, probably, you wouldn't want to experience, but I think it was done with malice. I am convinced that it was vindictive hate, and it was greed. They knew from the outset."
Daniel Ortiz
"You've been exonerated because the Chief Justice struck it out, but the damage has already been done to your reputation. Do you forsee any sort of consequences of this on your dealings a private citizen?"
Jose Coye
"Well obviously, my reputation was damaged because they are people who may tend to believe first what they hear. It did bother me in a sense, but it's something that it didn't hurt me to the extent because I knew what they were doing was untrue. And, I could say this to you all that what happened in that court room this morning, when I listened to that judgment, that was not a victory for Joe Coye, so much. It was a victor for Belize. Our justice system is the bulwark of our democracy."
Attorneys Edwin Flowers and Magali Marin Young jointly represented Florencio Marin Senior while SC Eamon Courtenay represented Joe Coye. Crown Counsels Nigel Hawke and Iliana Swift appeared on behalf of the Attorney General.
The Government has the right to appeal this judgment. The case has been ongoing for almost five years.
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