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Feetham's clients feel very strongly
in claiming back the property that may
have belonged to their ancestors
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Following our report yesterday on the Odyssey saga, lawyer Daniel Feetham has told Panorama that there is no gold in Gibraltar but there are a number of silver coins which were brought into the jurisdiction by Odyssey in March 2007.
He adds that the exact nature of the artefacts is not a secret and it is contained in a list produced and circulated by Odyssey in early 2007. It has been verified in the presence of lawyers representing Odyssey, the descendants, H.M. Customs and an independent notary public.
He adds: "I would be very surprised, indeed, if the list was not known by the Spanish authorities as far back as 2007, but that is irrelevant to my clients and their case.
"My clients are the descendants of the merchants who owned the coins on board the Nuestra Seņora de Las Mercedes when it sunk in 1804. It is one of the fundamental principles of Anglo Saxon law that you do not refuse representation to those who wish to be represented by a lawyer unless there is a justifiable reason. There is no reason why I should not represent them and I will continue to do so fearlessly, whatever the pressure from newspapers in Spain caught in a frenzy of nationalistic fervour over this issue.
"The Courts in Gibraltar are independent institutions and Spain is perfectly entitled to claim that sovereign immunity applies to the coins. At the end of the day the Courts in the United States did not decide the merits of the various claimants, be they Spain, Peru or the descendants. The United States courts declined to exercise jurisdiction because they said the principle of sovereign immunity applied to the Mercedes and her cargo. The decision has been criticised by legal observers in the US because the Mercedes was travelling on a commercial mission at the time that it sunk, namely carrying private commercial cargo.
"There are cases decided in the US Supreme Court as well as the English House of Lords, which state that the principle of sovereign immunity cannot apply to cargo carried by a state vessel on a commercial mission or purpose.
"My clients feel very strongly that they are entitled to claim back the property belonging to their ancestors. "There may be many people in Spain that feel strongly that the coins belong to Spain despite the fact that they may have belonged to private individuals in 1804. Equally there are many people in South America who feel strongly that Spain is not entitled to the entirety of the treasure.
"It is however for the courts to determine the merits of the case."
21-03-12
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