Attorney believes P.M. is buying time for renationalization of BTL

The government is also claiming that there is no formal enforcement order from the Court of Appeal, giving Dean Boyce and his team the go ahead to reclaim their position in the company. Smith says, however, that the order is not necessary since the ruling was declaratory. He predicted this morning that PM Barrow is simply creating a distraction and buying time for the re-nationalization of the company.

Godfrey Smith, Attorney for Dean Boyce

Godfrey Smith

“Our view is that that bit about the enforcement order is a ruse. It’s a distraction that has been successfully deployed by government to get into people’s mind to say that why didn’t they wait, why did they have to rush? Our position was and remains that the kind of judgment issued by the Court of Appeal, that declaratory judgment needed nothing more. It took immediate effect, which means that Mr. Boyce had the authority to go in and take possession. You will recall that the prime minister himself conceded and so did Net Vasquez. It’s not a very complex point. It’s very basic. We are being told to get an enforcement order precisely because an enforcement order can’t be given. There is nothing to enforce, this is not a situation where we are requiring the government to pay some money or to do some duty. By sending us or attempting to send us back to the courts for an enforcement order, we will be told but Mr. Smith this is a declaratory judgment. The court has done what it needs to do. The rights have been declared, the act and the order are unconstitutional, there nothing to be enforced. Then we will have to run around like chickens without heads and fall into the trap that the government is setting. In the meantime, they will plan to—based on my interpretation of what the prime minister said last night—to renationalize.”