But that doesn’t mean that the court chamber wasn’t full.
In fact the Chief Justice’s courtroom which can comfortably hold about
40 persons was overflowing, almost 60 supporters crowded into the courtroom.
The case is the judicial review of the decision of Belmopan Magistrate Earl
Jones – who committed the former Prime Minister to stand trial in the
Supreme Court on a charge of the theft of 20 million Belize dollars.
Musa’s legal team is contending that Magistrate Jones erred in
law; wrongly assumed jurisdiction in the matter; admitted inadmissible evidence
to the trial and acted perversely and irrationally in committing Musa while
discharging the same charge of theft against Former Housing Minister Ralph Fonseca
even though the same evidence was used against both men. Musa’s lead counsel
Edwin Flowers wrapped up his submissions around four thirty this afternoon which
means that DPP Cheryl Lyn Branker-Taitt will go at it tomorrow.
And as court reporter Janelle Chanona highlights in her recap of the
day’s proceedings, the Musa legal team zeroed in on the deposition of
the former CEO in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Amalia Mai, which by all accounts,
is the lynchpin of Magistrate Jones’ decision.
Janelle Chanona Reporting,
As the Chief Justice himself clarified to both sides this morning, the proceeding
that began before him is not to determine whether Said Musa is guilty or innocent
of theft. Rather it is to determine if Belmopan Magistrate Earl Jones made an
error in finding that Musa should be committed to stand trial in the Supreme
Court.
Janelle Chanona,
It came across this morning that much of the blame is now being shouldered on
CEO Amalia Mai. Is that correct?
Lisa Shoman, Attorney for Said Musa
“No. You should not take any such thing away from this morning’s
argument. As you know, it is no part of Mr. Musa’s case that he has to
put forward any evidence. What we’re doing is going through the evidence
that was provided by the prosecution and we’re examining the prosecution’s
evidence because our contention is that there is absolutely no evidence upon
which the Magistrate could reasonably have committed Mr. Musa to trial. So it
is just looking at what was there and examining how it bears out, if any, how
committal have been done.
When Mr. Musa was charged in early December, there was absolutely no statement
of Amalia Mai at that point and none of the documents upon which the DPP relies
to make out her case were there. So in other words, the Magistrate was given
material on that charge which was only found after Mr. Musa was charged and
the Magistrate should not have relied upon that. Apart and aside from any of
the problems with the technical difficulties of how it was done, substantially,
I repeat, when Mr. Musa was charged there was no statement of Amalia Mai in
existence.”
Janelle Chanona,
So break it down what does that say to you?
Lisa Shoman,
“It is very simple: you charge a man and then you gaan look fi some
thing. Very simple. I think anyone can understand that it can be put in terms
of a fishing expedition; let’s go and see what we can find – we’ll
charge him first and we will see what we can find. Not even in Alice in Wonderland
is such a procedure acceptable.”
Belmopan Magistrate Earl Jones is being represented in this matter by Director
of Public Prosecutions Cheryl Lynn Branker-Taitt. Because of the lateness of
the hour, Branker-Taitt is now scheduled to give her submissions to the CJ tomorrow
morning. From Supreme Court in Belize City, I am Janelle Chanona for 7News.
And what will the DPP say in defence of her deposition? We’ll
be in court and have the full report tomorrow night.
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