THE Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) has dismissed an appeal by Jhawnie Gage, Arah Paula Cecil Davis, and Edgar Augustus Peltier against the Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Dominica.
Gage, Davis and Peltier sought to appeal the December 2014 decision by the Dominican AG to freeze their assets, including a property at Shawford Estate, Dominica, under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
The appellants applied to the High Court to discharge the freezing order but were unsuccessful. The decision of the High Court was upheld by the Court of Appeal. The appellants then appealed to the CCJ.
In a media release sent on Tuesday, the CCJ stated, “The main issue before the CCJ was whether the Attorney General’s failure to register the freezing order ‘as a charge’ on a piece of registered land called Shawford Estate should result in the discharge of the freezing order as it pertains to that property. Issues of delay and a 2022 Amendment Act were also considered by the CCJ.”
It stated, “The registration would note that the Attorney General was claiming a legal interest in that property under the Proceeds of Crime Act and therefore that ‘charge’ had priority over any subsequent dealings on the property. Failure to register the freezing order ‘as a charge’, therefore, did not result in an automatic discharge of the freezing order. The Court noted that the parties remained bound by the freezing order until it was discharged by a court.”
The CCJ acknowledged the AG’s delay in registering the freezing order, but it did not warrant the dismissal of the order.
The release stated the CCJ addressed the impact of the 2022 Amendment to the Proceeds of Crime Act, which “removed the provision from the former legislation that a freezing order would be ‘of no effect’ if not registered as a charge and replaced it with a provision that allows the Registrar of Titles to order the entry of a caveat on an application by the Attorney General.”
The court ruled that the Amendment did not affect the outcome of these proceedings as there was no question of the amendment “reviving a ‘dead’ freezing order as the freezing order never ceased to exist.”
As such the CCJ dismissed the appeal and ruled the freezing order remain in place.
The matter was determined by the CCJ President, the Honourable Mr Justice Saunders, and the Honourable Justices Anderson, Rajnauth-Lee, Barrow, and Ononaiwu. Mr Douglas L Mendes SC and Mrs Gina Dyer Munro represented the appellants and Mr Rishi P A Dass SC, Ms Sasha Bridgemohansingh, and Mrs Tameka Burton appeared for the respondent.
In 2010, Gage and Peltier were arrested for suspected money laundering at Shawford Estate and other properties. Davis, Gage’s mother, was arrested when she arrived at the police station to secure his bail.
All three were charged for alleged money laundering.
In 2014 the AG dropped the charges against them after a judicial review, but filed civil proceedings to seize certain assets, under the Proceeds of Crime Act, Chap 12:29, Revised Laws of the Commonwealth of Dominica as amended by the Proceeds of Crime (Amendment) Act No 7 of 2013.
