Day 2 of Sunshine Compensation Case

The case of Sunshine Holdings Limited, Dean Boyce and the B.T.L. Employees’ Trust, and the Attorney General continued in the Supreme Court today. After testimony on Wednesday from Financial Secretary Joseph Waight and B.T.L. director Rafael Marin, Senior Counsel Rodwell Williams, appearing for Sunshine, made submissions as to the merits of Sunshine’s case before the court. According to the Financial Secretary, Sunshine is said to be “impecunious” – a fancy word for broke. It failed to respond to the initial call for compensation to shareholders in B.T.L. at the time of the 2009 and later 2011 acquisitions, despite having potential access to legal opinions from the Government who took it over and a fairly good chance at success. But Williams claimed in court today that Sunshine mostly depended on assurances from the Government that it would be compensated – similar to the Social Security Board, to whom it is indebted to the tune of ten million dollars plus interest for which a judgment has been given. In fact, the claim is that the Government, as the company’s owner, should have been paid directly when it assumed control of the company. It is interesting to note that Government as defendant against Sunshine is not counter-claiming in the current claim for outstanding loan; rather an ancillary claim has been filed. Williams was further questioned on other options Sunshine could have taken, including letting the entire thing go with debt forgiveness. Submissions in reply are expected from Senior Counsel Eamon Courtenay, representing the Trust, and Solicitor General Nigel Hawke, representing the Government, before the case concludes on Friday.