In a
statement issued to the press Thursday, the Liquor License Board claimed 3
November press reports that said the LLB granted a liquor license transfer for
Jacques Scott’s West Bay location were untrue.
The
statement said that “the Deputy Chairman of the Board did not approve the
application pursuant to section 13 of the Liquor Licensing Law (which in any
case would have to be ratified by the Board acting in quorum), but instead
actually only agreed to a reconsideration of the application by the Board in
quorum.
Peter T.
Dutton, managing director for Jacques Scott, said that he is “as surprised as
anyone” by the LLB’s statement.
“Jacques
Scott does not believe the Board’s press release is accurate,” he said. “On 3
November, 2010, we received written confirmation from the Attorney-General’s
chambers that, in accordance with the order of the Chief Justice, the license
application had been granted (subject only to the usual conditions as to
planning and health consents when the new building is
completed).”
The letter
from the Attorney General’s Chambers does, in fact, say that the variation of
the liquor license “is hereby granted, subject to the requisite approval being
obtained to the laws and regulations, including, that affecting building, town
planning and public health…”
“If it was
true that no reconsideration of the application had taken place within 14 days of
the Chief Justice’s order (i.e. by 4 November), then the Board would have been
in breach of the Judge’s clear direction to make their decision quickly,” Mr.
Dutton said. “No one from the Attorney General’s chambers or the Board has
suggested to us that the letter of 3 November was written in error, and of
course we would have heard about it before now directly from the Attorney
General’s chambers or the Board if that was indeed the
case.”
In the LLB’s
statement, they claim that “the Board understands that the Courts may guide the
Board in its decision-making but that ultimate responsibility and power to grant
any variation vests solely with the Board in the exercise of its administrative
duties for which the Courts as guided by the Cayman Islands Court of Appeal
cannot substitute its own decision on an application.”
The chairman
of the Liquor Licensing Board, Mitchell Welds, and another board member recused
themselves during the initial hearing of the liquor application in April due to
a potential conflict of interest.
“The panel
that made the original decision is the same panel that is making the current
decision,” Mr. Welds said.
The Jacques
Scott store in West Bay was proposed as the anchor tenant for the shopping
centre near Foster’s grocery store.
The LLB
denied the original liquor license transfer in April for the new West Bay
location for several reasons, citing a concern for public
safety.
The decision
was brought in front of the chief justice in September where a procedural
irregularity stalled the court’s decision.
Justice
Smellie ordered the board in October to reconsider the transfer based on the
evidence already gathered and submitted.
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