Improper summons delays case against Belize Bank

The case against the Belize Bank and its president, Philip Johnson, on seventy-nine counts of failing to report a suspicious transaction, has been adjourned until Friday. That’s because, as pointed out by attorney for the defendants, Senior Counsel Eamon Courtenay, the summons served on the bank last week was erroneously worded as a summons intended for a witness, not a defendant. Courtenay went on to explain that the Summary Jurisdiction Procedure Act allows the court to exercise flexibility and make amendments where necessary on such documents for the purpose of clarity but only where the errors are minor. In this case, he successfully argued, the Act does not allow for the conversion of a witness summons to a defendant’s summons. Because of the procedural error, Magistrate Sharon Fraser was also not able to issue a bench warrant for the arrest of Johnson, who did not show up in her court. In adjourning the case, Magistrate Fraser said that until the correct summons is served on the defendants, she cannot read the charges. Meanwhile, Courtenay explained that Johnson was not disrespecting the court by his absence and assured the court that if the matter was cleared up today, Johnson was prepared to face the charges. Prosecutor in the case is Merlene Moody. The charges are in connection with a series of deposits that B.T.L., then Belize Telecommunications Limited, made to its account at the Belize Bank. The Financial Intelligence Unit claims those deposits violated Section thirteen of the Money Laundering (Prevention) Act because the bank failed to report a suspicious transaction to the F.I.U. The deposits are said to date back to as early as 2002 when the government introduced a system of Casas de Cambio to facilitate foreign exchange transactions.