Bahamian lawmakers will once again divert their attention from the business of nation building and instead hold a special meeting of the House of Assembly today. The waste of time will allow the government to pass a resolution to grant disgraced Holy Cross Member of Parliament Sidney Stubbs more time to pursue his scandalous bankruptcy matter.
Last week, the House of Assembly was adjourned to April 6.
Leader of Government Business in the House of Assembly Vincent Peet said the resolution to be tabled today would allow Mr. Stubbs a further period of three months to pursue an appeal to the Privy Council against the bankruptcy adjudication.
The statement came as Mr. Stubbs faced the end of a six-month extension he received after the House passed a resolution last September.
Referring to the fact that the relevant article of the Constitution expressly contemplates a right of appeal from a bankruptcy order, Minister Peet said that it was eminently fair that Mr. Stubbs be facilitated in his ongoing effort to test the correctness of the rulings that have thus far been made against him by the local courts.
“In the Bahamian constitution context, Minister Peet said, “this means that Mr. Stubbs must be afforded an appeal to the Privy Council and indeed we have been informed by his attorneys that an application for leave to appeal to the Privy Council is now in motion.
The release said Minister Peet also pointed out that even the most heinous felon is constitutionally guaranteed a right of appeal and said it would “be a constitutionally grotesque result if, in a matter such as bankruptcy, a similar right of appeal did not exist in favour of the people’s democratically elected representatives.
He said it was not a question of whether Mr. Stubbs was correct in his constitutional arguments, but rather whether he should be allowed the opportunity to make those arguments to the final court of appeal for The Bahamas.
“This is all that tomorrow’s resolution is designed to facilitate, Minister Peet said.
The government’s move to bring a new resolution was expected given that Mr. Stubbs has been unable to bring resolution to his bankruptcy matter.
The saga started one year ago when Supreme Court Justice Jeanne Thompson declared Mr. Stubbs a bankrupt after he failed to pay a debt to Gina Gonzalez that reportedly amounted to more than $100,000.
He then appealed to the Court of Appeal, but it determined that it did not have jurisdiction to hear the appeal.
Following that decision, the Holy Cross MP was forced back to the Supreme Court.
As a bankrupt, he cannot take up his seat in the House of Assembly and the government has been trying to avoid a bye-election, although the Official Opposition has been pushing for one.
It prompted the government to bring a resolution in September seeking a six-month time extension for Mr. Stubbs. The controversial resolution passed, but not before heated debated.
Former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, for instance, had told the government that it was seeking to raise “a dead corpse and he advised the prime minister and his administration to bury their dead and move on.
When Mr. Stubbs last appeared before Chief Justice Sir Burton Hall in January, the judge ruled that under the Bankruptcy Act, it was not enough for him to claim to have paid his debt to Ms. Gonzalez.
He would have to satisfy all existing creditors.It meant that the registrar of the Supreme Court was left to advertise for creditors to come forward.
She has reportedly called a meeting of Mr. Stubbs’ creditors for April 5, which would go beyond the six-month extension.
When the House meets today, the government is expected to face serious criticisms for bringing another resolution.
As it is Holy Week and the House had not originally plan to meet, some members are expected to be out of town.
Original story by: Candia Dames, The Bahama Journal
