The complex, extended battle between two millionaire Israeli brothers has gotten even more complex as one of the brothers is claiming that the presiding judge favoured one brother over the other.
In a protracted legal battle that has highlighted nearly every aspect of the corrupt dysfunctional justice system in the Bahamas, two Israeli brothers have been battling, for years, over millions of dollars from a company they once owned together.
In the latest twist, one of the brothers, Rami Weisfisch, now claims that Bahamian Justice Stephen Isaacs has shown bias towards his younger brother, Amir Weissfisch, in a recent ruling.
Rami, an Israeli metals trader, used to operate Metal Resources Group Limited (MRG), an English company, which became a dominant force in the global cobalt market in the late 90’s. His brother, Amir Weissfisch, who spells his last name differently for some reason, was his partner. The company closed down in 2000.
The legal battle has been ongoing since 2006, when Amir initiated a legal battle with brother Rami over claims that the big brother failed to properly account to his younger brother for the profits from their partnership.
It stemmed back to an agreement the brothers had made in 2001, when Rami was scheduled to undergo a life-threatening heart operation. Rami wanted to make sure his family would be accommodated should things go wrong on the operating table.
So, Amir transferred some $88 million dollars to Rami and his daughter, as sort of a guarantee that Rami’s family would be looked after should Rami die. The agreement allegedly also specified that if Rami survived the surgery, he would repay Amir $37.5 million within three months, plus additional sums to be identified.
Well, Rami survived the surgery but apparently failed to live up to the alleged repayment part of the deal. Thus, the legal battle began.
Now, Rami’s attorney, Nicholas Lavender, QC, wants Justice Isaacs to recuse himself as they feel that the judge has been favouring Amir.
The judge has refused to recuse himself, going so far as to call the recusal application “corrupt and sinister”.
“It appears the judge had already made up his mind in relation to the recusal application,” Mr Lavender said.
These arguments were denied by one of Amir Weissfisch’s lawyers, junior counsel Courtney Pearce, who has said that Mr Lavender took the judge’s use of the word “corrupt” out of context.
“This is an attempt by them to build a case where no case exists,” Ms Pearce said.
“They have gone back more than a year, they have raised things that the case never raised.
Now, everyone knows that the Bahamas’ legal system is unbelievably corrupt and dysfunctional, so no wonder people are concerned.
Justice Stephen Isaacs is the fourth judge to be assigned this case, and this latest application for recusal is the third one that Rami has submitted.
A formal application was made for Justice Jon Isaacs to drop the case, which the judge did back in 2009, as his wife, who runs a business services company, worked for one of the parties involved.
Earlier the Appeal Court upheld an application that Senior Justice Anita Allen should recuse herself from the case.
Another Judge, Jon Lyons, probably one of the sharpest judges in recent Bahamian history, was “set up” in a nasty way. A woman was allegedly hired to seduce the judge in an effort to sway an audit of the financial aspects of the case. Judge Lyons resigned when it was discovered that he has assigned the audit to his “girlfriend’s” brother, for an outrageous fee of one million dollars no less.
So, there has been all sorts of subterfuge and legal shenanigans in the case over the five years that it has been in front of the Bahamian courts.
Brian Moree, QC, who represents Amir Weissfisch’s children, said there was no evidence to support a case for Justice Stephen Isaacs to step down.
He urged Justice Isaacs to resist any temptation to drop the case and instead, live up to his judicial responsibility by continuing with it, so as not to delay the proceedings any further.
“The conduct of the court to date is remarkable,” Mr Moree said.
Well, he’s right about that, but not in the way he meant.
