NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The securities industry regulator has secured a Privy Council decision in its favor in a decade-old legal battle with Fundhaven (formerly Accuvest Fund Services) and South America Investment Fund Ltd.
In a release yesterday, the Securities Commission of The Bahamas (SCB) noted a judgment was issued by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC).
The Privy Council decision in late April upheld a Court of Appeal judgment made on June 22, 2016, that the appellants had not met the legal requirements for the court to hear the matter, and for its dismissal of the case with costs.
The matter stemmed from a fine imposed on the appellants under the Securities Commission of The Bahamas disciplinary process, effective March 29, 2011. The appellants had been found guilty and fined in respect of several regulatory breaches.
Fundhaven and South America Investment Fund Ltd appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, which reduced the fine, being satisfied that breaches had been made out for only two of the three years. The appellants then sought from the Supreme Court a “certificate of a point of law alone of general pubic importance”, which is a legal requirement to appeal the matter to the Court of Appeal.
The Court of Appeal determined the standard was not met and dismissed the case.
The issue before the Privy Council was whether the Court of Appeal erred in declining to certify the appellants’ application for permission to appeal under section 21(1) of the Court of Appeal Act as raising a point of law of general public importance.
The Privy Council, in upholding the Court of Appeal’s decision, found that “the general importance of a point of law is very much a matter for the local court to consider and determine rather than the board and considerable deference will be given to views of the Court of Appeal on such a matter”.
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