Senior Counsel Anthony Astaphan, speaking on Boom FM last week, said that he can’t remember a time when the St. Vincent government lost a case and refused to carry out the declarations and orders of the court.
However, lawyer Jomo Thomas says he is surprised that Astaphan says that this government believes in the rule of law.
Thomas’s reaction to Astaphan’s statement was in light of the court ruling made by Justice Esco Henry on Monday, where the learned judge ruled that the government’s vaccine mandate was unlawful and unconstitutional.
“Am surprised that Tony, my brother and friend, don’t know that this government is notorious. I mean, we have matters that go all the way back to 2016, where the court made orders, declarations, and issues as it relates to costs and damages, and this government has refused to pay”.
“I have said on Boom FM time and time again that there was a particular case that we were involved with, and the court awarded $512,000 to the litigant. The government refused to pay, and by the time they paid part of the award, the interest was more than what the court awarded.”
Thomas said if Ralph Gonsalves had to pay money out of his own pocket, he wouldn’t go for any appeal.
