P.A. city councillor Evert Botha, the chief operating officer of Embee Diamonds, has lost a legal bid to have a diamond debt case moved to Belgian courts. (Tyler Marr/paNOW Staff)  

By Glenn Hicks

diamond debt dispute

P.A. city councillor’s company loses legal bid in diamond case

Sep 10, 2019 | 4:55 PM

Embattled Prince Albert city councillor Evert Botha and his diamond cutting company Embee Diamonds, have lost a bid to have a long drawn out diamond debt case moved to Belgium.

The judge decided the attempt to have matters move to Europe was a delaying tactic by Botha’s legal team in a case that has already dragged on for over four years.

Embee Diamonds still owes Belgian company, I.D.H. Diamonds, over US$732,000 including penalties and interest, for the more than US$1 million worth of uncut diamonds they supplied the P.A. company over eight years ago.

…simply a tactic meant to delay…_{– Justice D.E. Labach}

In his decision confirming Saskatchewan had jurisdiction over the case, Prince Albert Court of Queen’s Bench Justice D.E. Labach did not accept Embee Diamond’s argument that a move to Belgium would make it easier for them to retain lawyers there and apply Belgian law.

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Delaying tactic

Justice Labach noted “delaying the matter” along with trying to have the case dismissed because the statute of limitations period had expired under Belgian law were the motivation for the legal attempt.

“That is an abuse of the Court’s process,” Labach wrote, noting Embee Diamonds made the application for the move to Belgium only last year after it lost an appeal on the statute of limitations period here in this province. Labach wrote it was “…simply a tactic meant to delay the plaintiff’s (I.D.H.’s) summary judgment application.”

I.D.H. sold Botha’s company over 350 carats of rough diamonds for US$944,917 on Feb.16, 2011. Embee paid over US$450,000 of that invoice by the following month but has paid nothing more since.

…this fellow has walked away with raw diamonds that haven’t been paid for _{– Jennifer Pereira}

The court documents show Embee Diamonds had “cash flow problems” in 2012 and offered to pay back the debt with some cut diamonds. They have also argued about the penalty and interest charges I.D.H. attached to the debt. The Belgian firm finally brought a legal case against the P.A. company in 2015.

The lawyer who represents I.D.H. had always argued Embee Diamonds was trying to delay matters in the hope of avoiding the debt.

“It was an attempt to delay this procedure,” Jennifer Pereira told paNOW this week. “The reality is this fellow (Botha) has walked away with raw diamonds that haven’t been paid for.”

paNOW reached out to Botha and his lawyer Peter V. Abrametz for comment but neither responded.

Cross-examination to Belgium

The next legal step in the saga is expected to happen later this month. The judge has allowed Embee’s legal team to cross-examine I.D.H.’s managing director in Belgium via a video link by Sept. 27. Embee will have to pay for costs associated with that. Once that process has happened I.D.H. can proceed with their application for a final judgment.

Botha faces another unrelated date in the courts as he’s being sued by P.A. mayor Greg Dionne over claims of malicious allegations made against him. He is also serving a second suspension of certain duties for council code of ethics violations.

—

glenn.hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter:@princealbertnow