BAA must pay a million to evicted duty free

With more people traveling through the International Airport it means that the Belize Airports Authority will be reaping a bonanza in departure taxes. And it looks like they’re going to need every penny. In a decision handed down on Friday the BAA has been ordered to pay almost a million dollars to the operators of a duty free store which was kicked out of the arrivals hall almost a year ago. In its case before Supreme Court Justice Murray Shanks, the company, UETA, and its Vice President, Marie Elena Sylvestre, argued successfully that the Airport Authority cancelled its lease without any valid cause and also damaged a large amount of its goods when the leaseholders were forcibly evicted from the premises. While the BAA claimed that UETA’s lease, signed by the previous Authority Chairman, Michael Godoy, was invalid and had not been approved the Authority’s board, Justice Shanks disagreed. In the end, he calculated the company’s lost profits plus damaged goods and came up with a figure of over $971,000. Lawyer for UETA was Dean Barrow while Fred Lumor represented the BAA.