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St. Lucian Prime Minister Vindicated by OECS Appeals Court

Contact: George Jude

Wednesday, March 31, 2004 - Prime Minister of St. Lucia, Dr. Kenny D. Anthony and his Government have been vindicated by an OECS Appeals Court ruling on an undertaking to guarantee debt service for a local hotel resort developer.
Dr Anthony had been accused by a local human rights lawyer of acting outside of the law in giving the guarantee without first going to parliament.

A civil case had been brought against Attorney General Senator Petrus Compton by the complaining attorney-at-Law, Martinus François, claiming Dr Anthony had breached both the island’s Constitution and the Finance Act.

The case was heard by Justice Indra Harriprasah-Charles in the High Court in Castries late last year and the learned Judge ruled in favour of Mr Francois.
Following the ruling of the High Court, which the Attorney General appealed, the government came under intense criticism and there were even calls in some quarters for the Prime Minister to resign.

However, the Court of Appeal on March 29, 2004 quashed the earlier High Court ruling.

In a rare act, all three Justices of the Appeals Court wrote separate judgments that took the High Court judge to task on several counts.

The OECS Court of Appeal quashed all the claims by Mr Francois and upheld the grounds of appeal by the government’s team of lawyers, which was led by Dominican Senior Counsel Anthony Astaphan.

Mr Astaphan was assisted by a team from the AG’s office including Crown Counsels Jan Drysdale, Dwight Lay and Rene Williams.

The respondent, Mr. Martinus Francois was accompanied by Mr. Clarence Rambally and Dr. Nicholas Frederick. Watching brief for RBTT were, Mr. Anthony Mc Namera, Q.C. and Mr. Stephen Singh.

The appeal was heard by Acting Chief Justice of Appeal Hon. Mr. Albert Redhead, Justice of Appeal Hon. Mr. Adrian Saunders and Acting Justice of Appeal Hon. Mr. Hugh Rawlins.

Justice Redhead said in his 19-page summation: “The learned trial Judge erred in law and/or misdirected herself when she held that the Minister of Finance acted ultra vires in even seeking a resolution from Parliament, and further that the Parliament acting ultra vires in approving that resolution, presumably on the erroneous basis that the said resolution did not concern or relate to the Government’s capital or recurrent expenditure and which in any event was not pleaded by the respondent”.
Justice Redhead cited several examples where he found that Justice Harriprasad-Charles had “erred in confusion”, had made “no critical analysis” of some of the claims by Mr Francois and said he had “difficulty in appreciating the judge’s argument or reasoning” on some issues.

According to Justice Redhead, the High Court Judge had “fallen into error” as she had “failed to distinguish the difference between the ability of the Executive in entering into a contract and the performance of that contract…”
The other two Justices concurred with Justice Redhead and also offered several grounds on which they felt the High Court Judge ought to have dismissed the case brought by Mr Francois.

Prime Minister Anthony’s Press Secretary Earl Bousquet said: “The Prime Minister was seriously vilified by politicians and media personnel. Some even asked that he be made to pay back the sums owed as a result of the guarantee from his own pocket.”
Bousquet continued: “The Prime Minister will not gloat about this victory, but suffice to say the judgement of the appeals court reflects what he has always said – that he followed the law and acted within the law at all times.”

The resort in question was the former first class, 300-room Hyatt property in the north of the island, next to the world-famous Pigeon Island National Park, home of the world famous St. Lucia Jazz Festival.

The property has since been taken over by Gordon “Butch” Stewart’s Sandals Resorts International chain and is currently being run successfully, with average occupancy of over 70 per cent.

Since the issuing of the Appeals Court’s Judgement on Monday (March 29), Mr Francois has poured scorn on the judgement, claiming appeals court judges in the Caribbean operated under the political influence of governments.

He said that was “one reason why we oppose the establishment of the proposed Caribbean Court of Justice” and indicated that he had already made his intention to appeal known to the British Privy Council, although he admitted that he still had not read the Judgement of the Appeals Court Justices.

Attorney General Petrus Compton says Mr Francois “would be free to pursue that constitutional right,” but doubted “whether he would get leave from the court to do so.” According to the AG, “the findings and rulings of the three Appeals Court judges were so clear-cut that there may simply be no grounds left for appeal.”

“But if Mr Francois was to go to the Privy Council,” Senator Compton said, “we would have no problem with that, because another victory for us at that level would be even sweeter than that which derives from the ruling of the three learned Appeal Court Justices.”
 

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