| And we also asked the PM about a request for an urgent injunction that the Feinstein Group has filed to stop the compulsory acquisition of Stake Bank.
No date for a hearing has been set, but the compulsory acquisition won't be complete until a second publication in the gazette six weeks after the first publication - which was at the end of August.
As with any question concerning litigation, he reiterated that it's their right, but added that the indemnity protects taxpayers in the event money needs to be paid out.
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"Since they're right, as I said, we all have rights under the Constitution, and they have a right to file for injunction, then that would be for the courts to decide. Obviously, it's going to be a fight, and it's going to go all the way to the CCJ, by the time that decision is finished, probably, all that thing done wash away, and all of that 270 million."
"The construction that's there, nobody's going to invest there until this is settled, and we need to finish that. So we believe, in the national interest of this country, to be able to acquire this land, pass it on to the receivers, and the ones that better have control of the company, but we did, under one condition in cabinet that they have given, made a deposit of $7 million in an account, for and on behalf of the government of Belize, plus they have signed an indemnity bond that should, in the future, the courts rule against the acquisition, and the owner, the present owner, Mr. Michael Feinstein, has to be compensated. We will have that money to be able to compensate Mr. Michael Feinstein, and it will not cost the people of this country, taxpayer is not a single cent."
We'll let you know when the injunction gets a hearing date in court.
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