Landy Habet Versus Chief Elections Officer to be Discontinued in Supreme Court

Orlando Habet

The Supreme Court has postponed one case and discontinued another as a result of the announcement of general elections on November fourth. The case of P.U.P. Cayo Northeast standard bearer Orlando Habet versus the Chief Elections Officer Josephine Tamai is to be discontinued with no order made for costs. Attorney Lisa Shoman, on behalf of Habet, says that events have now overtaken the case, making the exercise now academic. Former representative Elvin Penner is no longer a member of the House of Representatives and was disqualified from standing for election for the U.D.P.  Habet and two of his constituents applied to the court to review – and possibly overturn – the decision of Tamai to reject hundreds of signatures collected for the recall of Elvin Penner in 2013.

Josephine Tamai

Residents of the division signed the petition in a bid to trigger a recall of Penner for alleged wrongdoing in the issuance of a Belize passport to South Korean businessman Wong Hong Kim while he was in a prison in Taiwan. A total of three hundred and thirty-seven signatures were rejected, causing the petition to fall short of the threshold for recall by seventy-nine. Anthony Sylvestre and Senior Counsel Michel Chebat appeared along with Senior Counsel Shoman, and Nigel Hawke, Deputy Solicitor General, appeared for Tamai and the Attorney General.