Supreme Court dismisses Placencia Development Case
The Supreme Court today dismissed a challenge by the Placencia based NGO Peninsula Citizens for Sustainable Development which had sued the Department of the Environment to stop the huge development at the Placencia Marina Limited. Justice Oswell Legall rejected all the challenges brought by the NGO finding that from the evidence, the project would not negatively impact on the aquatic life and birds in the area because of the comparatively small size of the project in the vast Caribbean Sea. According to the justice, the evidence shows that overall there are positive benefits to the population residing in the villages connected to the project. The Court found that the Department of the Environment had properly followed the law. His forty-one page ruling delivered today also concludes that “The claimant has failed to prove that the EIA and ECP do not satisfy the provisions of the Act and regulations and that the Defendant and the interested party acted contrary to the said Legislation.” This means that the investment, one of Belize’s biggest, can continue. Attorney for the Placencia, Senior Counsel Eamon Courtenay told News Five, that his client was very concerned by this hopeless claim filed by Peninsula Citizens for Sustainable Development. It was very clear from the beginning, he says, that the claim was baseless and designed to stop development for the sake of stopping development. During the course of the trial, the parties, including the Judge, visited the site in order to understand the size of the investment and the environmental protection measures that were put in place.
The project never stopped. Also, see the securities case in Ontario filed against the developers by the Ontario Securities Commission that alleges that the developers “engaged in the unregistered trading and illegal distribution of securities contrary to Ontario securities laws and in a manner that was contrary to the public interest.” http://www.osc.gov.on.ca/en/Proceedings_soa_20110329_heir-home.htm – the case is scheduled to be heard in Ontario later this month.
Seems that the developers have additional problems on their hands – such as the securities commission of Ontario’s case against the developers for unregistered trading and illegal distribution of securities contrary to Ontario securities laws and in a manner that was contrary to the public interest. http://www.osc.gov.on.ca/en/Proceedings_soa_20110329_heir-home.htm. The case is scheduled for hearing later this month.
That project belongs to some politician AKA lawyer of the pup or Udp mafia.
AS long as Belize has an open back pocket policy, these types of cases will be NEVER represented properly with a ethically, eco-enviornmental trained lawyer.. How many cases has been brought to the courts and either the lawyer that takes them on, does not know what they are doing, or, the GOB has deep deep pockets to defend what they did not do..
Lets see what happens when this dude splits the country and leaves a marina and ” so called international airport” un-finished. I will have the first laugh.. and you may be right BDF, time will tell..Hopefully the Canadians will grab him, and, hang him high, but, time will tell. time will tell…
Was advised that they are out of money ,and desperately looking for more .The O.S.C. suit is not helping and people are waiting for that to end before even thinking about the project .
It could turn out that the O.S.C. is the PCSD etc biggest supporter .The Canyon boys are taking it seriously and hired one of the best lawyers in Toronto to defend them .You must remember
Canada is NOT Belize