Barrow hopes Miami judge will consider judgment

Attorney for E-Com, Dean Barrow, agrees that while the ball is ultimately still in the Florida court, today’s judgment by the Chief Justice offers G.O.B. some hope and says it was important for Belizean interests to be protected in Belize.

Dean Barrow, Attorney for E-Com
?In so far as the question of interpreting the Articles of Association is concerned, because it is a local incorporated company–B.T.L.–because the articles relate to our companies act, in effect he had to have jurisdiction to make this particular ruling, to deliver this particular judgment. He also said that even though the Government of Belize, who was one of the claimants, had expressed a surrendered jurisdiction, other shareholders in B.T.L. hadn?t, including of course E-Com, whom I represented, and who therefore of course launched its own application. I understood the Chief Justice to be saying in order to protect those shareholders, including but not limited to E-Com, including the minority Belizean shareholders, the Belize court has to have jurisdiction. But this was by way of explaining things to the Miami judge, in my view, to try and get her to accept the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and the judgment given. If she does that, and she had indicated earlier that if the Belize Supreme Court were to produce a judgment which could be validated in the States, and which she could rely on, then that would settle matters. If she goes that route, it would allow us to escape from the sanctions that she is currently proposing to impose against Belize.?