Sidney Stubbs, Holy Cross Member of Parliament Has Four Days To Resolve Bankruptcy Matter

Friday is a holiday, leaving Sidney Stubbs just four working days to settle his bankruptcy matter

Stubbs Has Five Days To Resolve Bankruptcy Matter

 

 

By Candia Dames

Nassau, The Bahamas

March 21, 2005

 

 

Holy Cross Member of Parliament Sidney Stubbs has reportedly started paying costs associated with his defeat in the Court of Appeal against his bankruptcy order issued by Supreme Court Justice Jeanne Thompson last year.

Mr. Stubbs is approaching the first anniversary since he was declared a bankrupt.  Meanwhile it will be one year since he took up his seat in the House of Assembly.

Wayne Munroe, who represents Mr. Stubbs’s former creditor, Gina Gonzalez, has confirmed that his team will be seeking payment from Mr. Stubbs as a result of the case arising out of the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, the Holy Cross Member of Parliament also faces an end to the deadline of March 25 granted to him after the House of Assembly approved a resolution for him to appeal the bankruptcy matter.

Mr. Munroe said on Sunday that he was not aware whether a court date had been set for the matter to return to court.

Back in January, Chief Justice Sir Burton Hall determined that under the Bankruptcy Act, Mr. Stubbs first had to settle debts with existing creditors before the order can be annulled, and that a settlement of debt with the creditor who brought the original action was not enough for an annulment.

Mr. Stubbs has argued that he has paid his debt to Ms. Gonzalez, which ought to have been enough to clear him.

If the matter is not settled before this Friday, the government would have to make a determination as to whether it would bring another resolution seeking more time for the Holy Cross MP.

It is something government officials have been trying to avoid, given the controversy the first resolution caused in the House of Assembly in September.

While some of Mr. Stubbs’s parliamentary colleagues appear confident that he would soon be able to put the matter behind him, they had been hoping that it would have been settled before the end of the six-month extension.

But that is appearing more unlikely as Friday is a holiday, leaving Mr. Stubbs just four working days to bring the matter to a close.

Government Leader in the House of Assembly Vincent Peet told The Bahama Journal last week that officials remained hopeful that there would be no need for another resolution, and indicated that that decision could not be made as long as there was still time remaining on the extension.

Some observers have pointed out that the resolution past last year is in fact ineffective given that Mr. Stubbs is not presently engaged in the process of pursuing an appeal.

A source close to Mr. Stubbs’s case claimed that ever since leaving court in January, he has been working hard to address the matter of outstanding creditors and attempting to pay off his debts.