Justice Muria’s last rulings

Our viewers have been asking for details of judgments made on Wednesday by departing Justice John Muria. In the first, the judge ordered that the settlement deed also known as the accommodation agreement years ago between the government and the B.C.B. Holdings and the Belize Bank is legal and binding.  The issue had initially gone before the London Court of International Arbitration in 2009 but government did not participate in the proceedings saying it wanted the matter settled in our local courts. Well that has now happened and the result is that the Supreme Court is saying that an L.C.I.A. award of some forty-three million dollars to the B.C.B. Holdings and the Bank should be enforced. It is a major victory for the bank, one which the government says it will appeal. Justice Muria also ruled on Wednesday in another case in which seven claimants sought a declaration from the court that the Supreme Court Judicature Amendment Act is unconstitutional and void because it contravenes their constitutional rights. The Act came into effect in April 2010 establishing a new section regarding the offence of criminal contempt of court. It imposes fines or imprisonment on a number of persons in the employ of companies. In that judgment, the Justice found that while the Act was valid, there were certain sections that were ultra virus of the Constitution.