Caricel poses no threat to national security – company secretary
IN RESPONSE to yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling, Minett Lawrence, company secretary for Symbiote Investments Limited, operators of Caricel, said in a statement, “we are comforted by the legal basis on which the court found that the matter should not go forward for judicial review.
The court found that the errors or mistakes in the notices were harmless, and agreed with the agencies (Office of Utilities Regulation and Spectrum Management Authority) that they were merely informing us of their intentions. It is in this regard that the judge determined the matter would not go forward.”
The statement further said there was unanimous agreement between all parties and the court that the notices were bad. However, the court found that the process embarked on by the agencies was not one which required any notification to the company and did not affect the rights to the licence or the company’s rights to be heard and to defend itself, at all the stages that a proper investigation or regulatory proceeding must entail.
PREDETERMINATION
Lawrence went on: “We were especially comforted by his finding that the alleged threat to national security was not apparent, or in existence at this time, and he felt that on the evidence the agencies could only proceed to look at issues pertaining to the company’s operations and licence. “He clarified for our benefit that our apprehension that there was a predetermination that the company had breached it licence was unfounded. He found that the process, properly understood from the letters, was one in which the agencies would investigate whether or not there was a breach and he reminded us that the law guarantees us a right to be heard even in that process.”