Caribbean Court of Justice to hear Belize nationalization case

Last Updated on Tuesday, 9 December 2014, 22:18 by GxMedia

San Juan, Dec 9 (EFE).- The Caribbean Court of Justice will take up on Wednesday the nationalization case pitting the government of Belize against British Caribbean Bank and businessman Dean Boyce.

The court will spend three days listening to arguments in six consolidated appeals lodged against Belize by Dean Boyce & Trustees of the BTL Employees Trust, British Caribbean Bank Ltd and Fortis Energy International (Belize) Inc.

In 2009, the government of Belize enacted a number of statutes citing a public purpose for the compulsory acquisition of utility companies BTL and BEL properties, belonging to Boyce and British Caribbean Bank Ltd.

Boyce and BCB successfully challenged the constitutionality of the government’s actions in the Court of Appeal.

The government responded in 2011 by passing additional legislation to address the problems cited by the Court of Appeal, whose decision to uphold the nationalizations based on the amended statutes prompted Boyce and the other plaintiffs to appeal to the CCJ.

The 12 CCJ member states are: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago. EFE