Headlines:
| NCB blocked from closing Olint accounts |
|
|
| Friday, 18 July 2008 | |
Embattled alternative investment scheme Olint has won a
major round in its legal battle with the National Commercial Bank (NCB).The Court of Appeal on Friday morning granted Olint an injunction blocking NCB from closing its accounts. This will be welcome news for Olint which has been confronted by mounting problems in recent weeks. The panel of judges, led by president of the Court of Appeal, Justice Seymour Panton granted the injunction and ordered a speedy trial of the lawsuit filed by Olint against NCB. In his comments, Justice Panton said he was allowing the injunction because there are serious issues to be tried in the lawsuit filed by Olint. In his biting commentary, Justice Panton said he has serious concerns that banks have the power to close accounts of clients when there is no evidence of illegal transactions taking place. The Court of Appeal President added that the argument raised by Olint of an alleged conspiracy among the banks to destroy the scheme is also of serious concern. Following the ruling, lawyers for NCB applied to the panel of judges for direction on the handling of Olint accounts based on news that the scheme's accounts in the Turks and Caicos islands have been frozen. Olint's lawyers had strongly objected to the application and claimed that NCB was acting on rumours. The panel of judges dismissed this application and argued that the accounts should be allowed to operate at the bank. General Manager with responsibility for General council at the NCB, Dave Garcia said the bank will be filing an appeal to the Privy Council. |