Gov’t In Contempt Of Court:
By Candia Dames -
Nassau, Bahamas:
In what some observers have labeled a stunning and unprecedented move, Supreme Court Justice Jeanne Thompson has appointed a receiver to collect government taxes in order to satisfy a judgment debt awarded to a Japanese man, who was unlawfully imprisoned for eight years by the Bahamas government.
Mrs. Justice Thompson found that the failure of the government to comply with a Court of Appeal order to pay Atain Takitota $500,000 was "contumacious and without any explanation".
Listed as defendants are the attorney general, the director of immigration and the minister of national security.
The order is being considered a landmark one as it is the first time in the history of The Bahamas that a receiver has been appointed to collect government taxes to satisfy a debt owed to a judgment creditor.
The judge has empowered Camille Darville-Gomez to collect income generated by the casinos at Cable Beach and Paradise Island for the account of the government up to the value of the judgment debt; monies of the government held in any accounts with the Royal Bank of Canada or any other commercial bank doing business in The Bahamas; any unpaid dividends owed by any company in which the government has a shareholding; and departure taxes due to the government which have been collected by any airline company or travel agency doing business in The Bahamas.
Mrs. Darville-Gomez is authorized to write such letters, commence such writ actions and take such steps as are necessary to collect the money.
Earlier this year, the Court of Appeal awarded Mr. Takitota $500,000 "for the loss of eight years and two months" of his life.
The Japanese man came to the Bahamas on vacation in August 1992 from Osaka, Japan, according to reports. He reportedly lost between $7,000 and $8,000 gambling before realizing that his luggage containing his passport and money had been stolen.
Police arrested him on a vagrancy charge, but Mr. Takitota was never charged. Instead, he was locked away for years. Reports describe him as an amnesiac and the Court of Appeal said, "What is particularly troubling about this case is that not once during the entire eight-year period that the appellant was incarcerated was he taken before any court at any time."
Mr. Takitota was at some point in the custody of immigration authorities, and the judges said the only reason those authorities gave for detaining the Japanese visitor was that he was "an undesirable and his presence was not conducive to the public good."
Mr. Takitota was a married man with a two-year old son at the time he was arrested, and he reportedly attempted suicide several times at Her Majesty’s Prison due to the deplorable and inhumane conditions under which he was reportedly housed.
The Associated Press reported earlier this year that it was not clear if the man had known his identity, but the Japanese Embassy in the Dominican Republic had said initial investigations in 1994 did not identify him as a Japanese citizen.
The Bahama Journal obtained an affidavit sworn recently, which contained a copy of a letter dated November 1, 2006 written by the man’s attorney, Damian Gomez, to Director of Legal Affairs Debbie Fraser.
In that letter, Mr. Gomez says after the decision of the Court of Appeal, he applied to the court to enforce the judgment and several hearing dates had taken place.
He says representatives from the Attorney General’s Office had said that the judgment debt would be paid and that they were merely awaiting the formality of Cabinet to approve the payment.
According to the letter, Justice Thompson ordered on July 31 that the judgment be paid on or before August 18, 2006.
Mr. Gomez says, "In spite of the said numerous representations and appearances the judgment debt has not been paid. Further to your failure to raise any objection the matter was set down for mention. Her Ladyship (Justice Thompson) fell ill and the matter obviously did not proceed.
"To date your office has failed to even communicate with me concerning payment of my client’s judgment debt. Indeed, I was not even copied with your putative objections misplaced upon a practice direction, which on its face relates only to the setting down of trials. Repeated attempts to reach your legal officers have been futile."
Mr. Gomez adds in his letter to Ms. Fraser, "The contumacy and bigotry of your office ought to be stopped. It is bad enough that your clients have robbed my client of the better part of a decade of his life and have separated him from his wife and son while imprisoning him in the dehumanizing squalor of Fox Hill Prison.
"Now you pretend to hide behind irrelevant procedural rules in order to deprive further a vindicated victim. What is worse is that you with knowledge of the matter hereinbefore recited have cast aspersions on the reputation of Her Ladyship and published the same to the Honourable Chief Justice, thereby presumably inviting him to interfere with the exercise of Her Ladyship’s judicial function."
The attorney concludes by saying, "From your egregious and unconstitutional conduct to date, I am certain you will only have available counsel on the 12th day of never. My client cannot wait that long."
The letter was included in an affidavit sworn by John Deal, of the law firm Deal & Gomez, before the judge ordered the receiver appointed.
"I verily believe that unless the coercive powers of the Honorable Supreme Court are deployed to effect the due execution of the judgment debt herein the plaintiff/judgment creditor will be put to great prejudice and inconvenience by the contumacy of the defendant/judgment debtors," Mr. Deal says.
In an affidavit of her own, Mrs. Darville-Gomez says she has been a practicing attorney for 10 years, has focused in recent years on the law relating to financial services, and has worked for such companies as Fortis Fund Limited.
She is presently a consultant to Oceanic Bank & Trust Limited.
Meanwhile, the Japanese man is reportedly still in the Bahamas working as a parking lot attendant. He plans to appeal to the Privy Council in an effort to get the sum to be paid to him increased, the Bahama Journal has learnt.
11 December 2006
Bahamas Law
