Deputy Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis, who made his mark by performing legal work for drug kingpins, could be headed to Fox Hill prison, if a billionaire metal trader gets his way.
A Bahamas Supreme Court justice has allowed for an application by a billionaire metals trader “for the committal to prison” of Deputy Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis for alleged contempt of court.
This is the latest chapter in the bizarre decade-long lawsuit between two billionaire Israili brothers over money made when they operated a metal trading business together.
In 2006, in England, Rami Weisfisch was accused by his younger brother, Amir Weissfisch, of refusing to account for his partnership profits. (The brothers spell their surnames differently. Rami Weisfisch dropped an ‘s’ from the family Weissfisch surname in spelling his own name).
Their firm, the Metals Resources Group, was a dominant force in the global cobalt market in London in the late 1990s. The company closed in 2002.
The firm was registered in the Bahamas, where litigation has continued.
The case had made a mockery of the courts and has highlighted the dysfunctionality of the Bahamian leagl system.
The latest order, dated Friday, July 24, was made by Justice Rhonda Bain, the fifth Bahamian judge to be involved in the case.
Three prior judges have recused themselves at the request of Rami’s legal team, Justices Anita Allen, Jon Isaacs and Justice Jon Lyons, who started the case, have all stepped down in the past.
The most recent jurist, Justice Stephen Isaacs, refused Rami’s request to recuse himself. Rami had alleged that Justice Isaacs had shown bias towards his younger brother, which the judge denied. However, Justice Isaacs, later of his own volition, removed himself from the case.
Justice Bain’s order refers to the plaintiff, Amir Perez Weissfisch (among others) and the defendants, Philip Edward Davis (and others).
It says: “The plaintiff have permission to make an application to this court for an order for the committal to prison of the defendant Mr Philip Edward Davis, for his alleged contempt of this court by breach of his undertaking given to the court on the 28th day of August, 2009.”
In 2010, an action was filed in the Supreme Court against Mr Davis, a lawyer, by a Liechtenstein foundation accusing him of wrongfully claiming ownership of shares in Metals Holding Corporation, thereby interfering with the investment of that company’s assets. Mr Davis was being sued in his capacity as trustee of the APW (Amir Perez Weissfish) Trust and as director of Metals Holding Corporation.
Wayne Munroe, the sole director of SFP Metals (UK) Limited, a private limited company incorporated an England, in his director’s report on the company’s 2010 accounts said that Mr Davis was the trustee of the APW Trust which owns the entire issued share capital of SFP Metals SA.
