Nassau Grapevine, 23 April 2009

THE bitter court battle between two Israeli brothers has given The Punch "plenty play" as they say.

Rami and Amir Weissfisch - both permanent residents of The Bahamas - are fighting over $100million. But Rami, 62, has told judges who have heard the case that "somebody is leaking information on him to The Punch". Rami often comes into court clutching a copy of Punch. And a seemingly paranoid Rami has waved a copy of The Punch in the air and told the judge: "They've been talking to The Punch about me again!" Appeal Court President Dame Joan Sawyer denied a request by Rami's lawyer to have the case heard in private "behind closed doors". Rami reportedly didn't want Punch reporting the proceedings on his appeal against a ruling by Justice Anita Allen on the case with his younger brother Amir, 48. But Dame Joan told Rami that details of the case "had already been in The Punch, the paper with the biggest circulation". Rami is reportedly concerned that certain details of the $100million dispute may cause problems for him with the IRS, or the U.S. taxman. Rami has a $20million house in Palm Beach, Florida. The two other Appeal Court Justices hearing the Weissfisch case along with Dame Joan are Ammanuel Osadebay and Hartman Longley. On one occasion some time ago, Justice Osadebay said during a court hearing: "The trouble with civil servants is that on Mondays and Thursdays they spend all day reading and talking on the point about the gospel according to The Punch. And on those two days, they don't do any work" That's the power of the paper, soaraway knock-out Punch, folks! Punch is a London-style popular quality tabloid. There are 125,000 loyal readers of each edition of The Punch. Dame Joan also had a bit of "biblical advice" for the warring Weissfisch brothers.

She told them to read Psalm 133 in the Bible, which says: "How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!" The case has been raging on for five years in courts in Nassau, London, New York and Geneva, Switzerland.

So far, the two battling brothers have reportedly spent $20million on legal fees in a bid to settle the dispute over $100million. The two brothers were 50-50 partners in Metal Resources Group (MRG) - a Bahamas-based company. The Weissfisch boys are thought to be worth $200 to $300million each.

Originally published in The Punch, 23 April 2009.

Nassau Grapevine, 20 April 2009

THE appeal of Justice Anita Allen's ruling on a case which was presided over by Justice John Lyons will be heard this Monday. Appeal Court Justices Dame Joan Sawyer, Emmanuel Osadebay and Hartman Longley will hear the appeal.

The case involves a fight over $100million between Israel-born brothers Rami and Amir Weissfisch. The brothers are both permanent residents of The Bahamas. Lawyers for Rami have claimed that Justice Allen should recuse herself from the case on the grounds of her being biased. In her ruling, Justice Allen rejected the request for her to step down. She also commented on the actions in the case of Justice Lyons. She said that he had appointed accountant Daniel Ferguson to examine the two brothers' financials even though Justice Lyons was dating Ferguson's sister Shontell Ferguson at the time. She also pointed out that Ferguson was not qualified to conduct a forensic accountancy examination of the brothers' finances. Yet, he was allegedly paid $6million for supposedly compiling an "inadequate" report on the finances. And his sister Shontell was one of the team who worked on compiling the report. Justice Lyons recused himself from the brothers' case in September 2008. He reportedly said he was too busy to preside over the case any longer. Rami Weisfisch, 62, is represented by Wayne Munroe and PLP MP Philip "Brave" Davis. Rami was reportedly a big donor to the PLP's election campaign in 2007. He resides at Bay Roc apartments on Cable Beach. He also has a $20million house in Palm Beach, Florida. His younger brother Amir lives in Lyford Cay. He bought the home on a canal in LyCay from a member of the Bacardi family. At one point, the brothers were among the leading traders of metals in the world.

Originally published in The Punch, 20 April 2009.

Court To Hear Challenge Against Judge

The Court of Appeal will today hear a challenge of Senior Justice Anita Allen's refusal to step down from a civil case involving Israeli brothers Rami and Amir Weissfisch.

Justice Allen last month refused to step down from the case after she voiced concerns about the integrity of a forensic report prepared by Daniel Ferguson.

Ferguson is reportedly the brother of a close female friend of Senior Justice John Lyons, who appointed him to prepare the report.

Lyons, who originally had carriage of the matter, stepped down from the case in September 2008, claiming that he was too busy. The case was then transferred to Justice Allen.

While before Justice Allen, lawyers for Amir Weissfisch claimed that the appointment of Ferguson, whose sister is a close friend of Justice Lyons, created a conflict of interest.

During cross-examination in the case before Justice Allen, Ferguson admitted that he had no experience in forensic accounting. He said he worked an average of 50 hours a week, which amounted to $50,000 a week or $2.5 million a year.

Justice Allen said in her ruling on the recusal application that she had "serious concerns about the appointment of the accountant and, as a consequence, the integrity of the report."

Justice Allen determined that Ferguson's report was not "sufficiently thorough and complete to provide much assistance to the court".

Originally published in The Nassau Guardian, 20 April 2009.