Julius Espat Says Two More Suits Against GOB are Languishing Before the Courts

Julius Espat

Cayo South Area Representative Julius Espat has filed separate claims before the Supreme Court against the Government of Belize.  Those lawsuits are in addition to pending litigation in the high court, following a decision by the Court of Appeal on Thursday.  The bench ordered that a previously dismissed matter involving the firebrand politician being thrown out of the House of Representatives in August 2016, be heard in the Supreme Court.  The additional cases, he says, are languishing in court.

Julius Espat, Area Representative, Cayo South

“There are two other court cases that are still pending that I have in the courts.  One is the land issue in Cotton Tree where land was unlawfully distributed by political motives.  That claim is on the Chief Justice’s desk for the last three years, going for four and we are hoping, we are praying, we are requesting that a decision be made.  It is important because that one will also set precedence as to the rule of  law and  how you distribute land.  Secondly, there’s another claim which we have, it’s government’s unlawful and illegal spending of the people’s money through the Supplementary Allocations.  That one, I think, we have a date already in July.  I think the middle of July will be the first day that the claim will be heard.  So we have other cases coming up that are important when it pertains to the rule of law and we will do everything possible to make sure that those decisions are carried out.  We’re just hoping and requesting that the courts be a little bit more timely in their judgments because this scenario worries me.  I’ll tell you why it worries me, in our case and in my case, we might have the time and we have the patience and attorneys that cooperate with us.  You see how long these decisions take and then I start to worry about the people that I represent that have no access to attorneys or minimal funds to be able to hire an attorney.”