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Supreme Court Stops Saldivar, Not The PUP
posted (August 24, 2018)
Today, one of the partners in that firm, Eamon Courtenay was in the Supreme Court arguing a controversial case.

That's the hearing where Arthur Saldivar asked the Supreme Court to stop the PUP from holding its Belmopan Convention on Sunday.

As we've been reporting, the PUP has thrice rejected Saldivar's application to run as a PUP candidate for Belmopan.

So, if the PUP wouldn't give him a fair chance, Saldivar asked the courts to intercede.

But he wasn't just asking for a stay on the convention, Saldivar had 14 points he was challenging the PUP on. Mainly, he said his candidacy wasn't given a fair chance because of outright bias in the vetting Committee.

His attorney, Christophe Rodriguez was video conferences in from Trinidad to argue against the PUP's lawyers, Eamon Courtenay and Michel Chebat.

The hearing before Justice Courtney Abel lasted about 4 hours - and Saldivar and his attorney were scolded by the court for not disclosing that there is another case on this same matter where a default judgement has been issued.

At the end of arguments, the judge decided against Saldivar - determining that the court will not get involved in party politics.

We spoke to both sides outside the courtroom:..

Reporter
"Today you've lost."

Arthur Saldivar, Bid for PUP Candidacy Failed
"No, no."

Reporter
"You have not lost? You don't consider this a lost?"

Arthur Saldivar, Bid for PUP Candidacy Failed
"That's not a lost. The challenging of the system is a good in of itself."

Henry Usher, Chairman - PUP
"From the very beginning, we believe that this claim was a sporous one. It was unsubstantiated and we are glad that Justice Abel was able to give a decision so overwhelmingly in our favor and dismiss all 14 claims in this matter. I think it was important that Justice Abel pointed out that this is really an internal political matter and the courts have no business interfering in internal political matters."

Arthur Saldivar, Bid for PUP Candidacy Failed
"This is where the cookie crumbled. We had the previous case which ended in a default judgement. The view of my attorneys were that there was a requirement to bring a new claim, as opposed to attaching this application to the old one. So that was done. In relation to that being done, the court is saying no. That it should have been a continuation of the case that we perceived to have been finished. That is where the whole duty of candor was deemed to have been breached. So in that regard by breaching the duty of candor, we were placed on a sticky wicket."

Reporter
"At the end of the day - Sunday Belmopan convention day, you won't be on the ticket."

Arthur Saldivar, Bid for PUP Candidacy Failed
"I will not be on the ticket for the convention of the People's United Party in Belmopan and sadly, not only for me, but for my supporters who are PUP members."

"I respect the court's decision because as an officer of the court, I understand how the process works. But I cannot accept nor agree with the position that the party, the People's United Party and I are at odds. The executive is not the party. The totality of the members is the party. Remember, it is the People's United Party, not the national executive party, not the special interest party, but the People's United Party."

Henry Usher, Chairman - PUP
"It's unfortunate and really discouraging to see a member of the party make claims against a sitting member of the national executive, a member of the ODS and of course the chairperson of the vetting committee. But it seems they would have stoop at anything to get their way. So I am glad that the court was able to see through it and give us the judgement that we believe is the right one."

Reporter
"Will you still be suing for that $294,000 plus other types of damages?"

Arthur Saldivar, Bid for PUP Candidacy Failed
"As you heard in court, that is a dead issue at this time. It a matter of terms. But this was never about the money. If I was allowed to run we wouldn't be talking about money."

Henry Usher, Chairman - PUP
"Certainly we can continue to work with Mr. Saldivar, but there are certain steps he has to make to come back. Because he made some very serious allegations against members of this party and I think it's important for him to have a frank discussion with the members of the national executive, with the party leader, with myself, with the chairperson of the vetting committee before we make any final determination or how we are going to move forward."

As for the default judgement which came out of Saldivar's first law suit - the PUP says it will apply to have that set aside.

The convention proceeds as normal on Sunday.

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