CCJ will decide on Awich in ongoing Telemedia Appeals Court case

The Court of Appeal has been busy this week with a courtroom full of lawyers arguing the constitutionality of the 2011 acquisition of Belize Electricity Limited (B.E.L.) and the 2011 re-acquisition of Telemedia. Arguments continued today and were centered around the validity of the enshrinement by Government of those nationalizations in the country’s Constitution via the passage of the controversial eighth Amendment. After the lunch break, matters shifted from weighty constitutional jurisprudence to more entertaining fare when English Queen’s Counsel, Nigel Pleming representing British Caribbean Bank, applied to the Court to stay proceedings until his clients could appeal to the CCJ Monday’s decision by the Court of Appeal to allow Justice Awich to remain on the panel. The Court of Appeal considered the matter and determined that they would grant the leave sought by Pleming to appeal the decision to allow Awich to remain on the panel to the CCJ. They also decided that they would stay delivering a judgment in the appeal until the CCJ determined the issue of Awich’s presence on the panel. The number of lawyers filled up the small courtroom since the case began on Monday; arguments continue on Wednesday.