This afternoon, we spoke with attorneys for both sides. We start first with the preliminary comments from Eamon Courtenay, the attorney for BISL who has been pressing this case on behalf of his clients for 7 years.
Here's what he had to say:
Eamon Courtenay SC- Attorney for BISL
"The court has found that the government acted unconstitutionally and illegally in a high-handed way in taking over the registries without any court order permitting them to do so. They have remitted the matter to the supreme court for the supreme court to calculate the amount of damages that should be paid. I think it is important for Belizeans to appreciate that once again the court has found that there was a valid and binding agreement and the actions of the government has caused Belize to be liable for tens of millions of dollars in damages. Anybody who has a dispute about any agreement, the proper thing to do is to go to court and determine who is right or wrong. No, abusing state power the government took these registries forcibly, the result today is we have to go back to court for the supreme court to determine how much the government should pay. I would point out to you that during the trial, the original trial, the expert from the government said that he believes that they should get nothing because the agreement was unlawful. But if the court finds that what has happened is wrong then the minimum that BISL should get is US$24 million. My client's expert said they should get US$45 million. So now, when we go back to the supreme court it will be between that US$24 million which the government says and the US$45 million, of course there is interest and expenses and all of this. The second part of what you asked me, I think the court has used extremely strong language to condemn what the government has done because the government has acted in a very high-handed and unconstitutional way but more importantly or perhaps just as importantly, the court has signaled that when the government behaves like this it undermines investors confidence, it undermines the business community's confidence, it undermines the sanctity of contracts, it erodes people's confidence in Belize as a jurisdiction and the court will not allow a government to continue to do this and it will insist that damages be paid for someone who has suffered like Belize International. One judge said that there was great damage done to this company as a result of the government."
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