B.T.L. Employees Trust weighs in on CCJ Ruling

On Tuesday the CCJ judges came off of vacation to issue a stunning injunction against any further sale of B.T.L. shares by the Government. The decision was unexpected because neither the Supreme Court nor the Court of Appeal had seen fit to grant any injunction. The CCJ did so in one day. The government promptly reeled off a press release clearly aimed at minimizing the impact of CCJ decision to grant the injunction and leave to appeal to Dean Boyce and the British Caribbean Bank. Well, the war has moved from the courts to the media as this afternoon the B.T.L. Employees Trust issued its own press release responding to the Government’s reaction to the CCJ decision. The Trust press release stated “The CCJ did not say that the appeal would be futile unless the Supreme Court struck down the 2011 Act which purported to reacquire Telemedia.  As the CCJ said, they granted leave to hear the appeal because this is a serious case that requires immediate attention. Second, the reason why the CCJ did not grant an injunction to stop the Ninth Amendment Bill was because, as they said, a challenge to that Amendment could still be brought after the bill had passed, so there was no need for an injunction.  The CCJ certainly did not say that it did not have the power to strike down this amendment. Third, the injunction preventing the government from selling any more Telemedia shares will not “fall away” once the Ninth Amendment Bill is passed.” The release concludes by saying that the B.T.L. Employee’s Trust welcomes the CCJ’s opinion that the courts will still be able to decide whether the Ninth Amendment is valid, even if it is enacted.