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Foreign Minister Wilfred Elrington got his big day in court today.  The owners of the company named Progresso Heights, a real estate company  of which Elrington is a minority shareholder - are suing him to get a caution lifted against more than a dozen land titles.

So, Elrington is the defendant - and he appeared today along with is nephew OJ Elrington.  

But when the man suing him,  Lawrence Schneider appeared via teleconference from the US, Elrington was the one who took the lead in cross examination.  

He spoke as an attorney - but one who is also an aggrieved and embittered shareholders who feels that Schneider and his son did him wrong.  

So, the cross emanation often turned into argumentation - with Schneider becoming exasperated and angry.  The entire cross examination often verged on the bizarre with Elrington referring to himself in the third person - and Schneider often accusing him of being directly responsible for leading the company awry.  

After almost two hours of strenuous back and forth, Elrington asked for a lunch break; he said he was feeling feint.  Outside the court, we asked him if it was the heat of the cross examination:…

Hon. Wilfred Elrington - Defendant, Defense Attorney, Fmr. Shareholder
"This sweltering heat is not the best and then this clothes doesn't help."

Jules Vasquez
"But also the heat of the argument that you and your former client/shareholder."

Hon. Wilfred Elrington
"You notice I'm not the one losing my cool. I'm not losing my cool."

Jules Vasquez
"Sir but it's an extra ordinary day in court where you are both the defendant, the defense attorney, the litigant and a shareholder."

Hon. Wilfred Elrington
"Yes, a very unique situation."

Jules Vasquez
"It's a first as far as I have seen, especially with you being a minister of government."

Hon. Wilfred Elrington
"Might be, I make all kinds of records."

But records are exactly what he accused Schneider of not keeping.  Elrington pulled out the companies law to show that as a principal of Progresso Heights -  Schneider had made procedural irregularities in the management of the company.  He said failure to get board resolutions was a key issue:

Hon. Wilfred Elrington
"For everything a company does, it has to has resolutions. It has to keep minutes, it has to have records and you can't say that is the responsibility of the company's attorney. No, company has an attorney to give them advice on certain issues but that is out in house management of the company. If a company does not authorize you to sell its land and you engage in the sale of its land, even though you are a director, you're acting unlawfully without the authority of the company."

Reporter
"Both of you are in agreement that you were the one responsible to deal with all legal issues in Belize for them to be in compliance with cooperate law here, correct?"

Hon. Wilfred Elrington
"Well you see what happen when I try to explain to them, look you’re not acting properly because they're working in the United States and I'm in Belize, how can I know what they are doing? There's absolutely no way of me knowing what they are doing. When I got wind of what was transpiring, I met with them in Miami and I said look, what you are doing is not correct, it's not proper. You can't be paying out the companies monies out just like that and immediately they said well we have to get our own attorneys because you're threatening us."

Reporter
"So why wait so long to say unno no the hold AGMs when you're supposed to?"

Hon. Wilfred Elrington
"Actually it's really my fault to have been to lax but the problem I have is I'm not motivated by money, I was working and they were not..."

Jules Vasquez
"Sir you've spend hundreds of thousands on this case so far."

Hon. Wilfred Elrington
"Yes if you know the amount I have to pay out in legal cost, it's not anything to sniffle about. It's a lot of money but I will sell everything to pay my legal cost in my quest to get justice."