The anti-gang group CARTEL has suffered a defeat in the Supreme Court after its lease of White’s Island was declared void.

Chief Justice Ian Kawaley ruled that the lease, which had been intended to cover a period of 21 years less one day, hadn’t received Cabinet and legislative approval.

CARTEL was granted the lease, effective October 1, 2010 to September 29, 20131, by former Public Works Minister Derrick Burgess.

The organisation, headed by Pastor Leroy Bean, took charge of the Hamilton Harbour Island for a “peppercorn” lease of $1 rent.

But the inclusion of an automatic renewal clause effectively took the lease over 21 years, meaning that it wasn’t valid without approval.

Although Mr Burgess argued via affidavit that the inclusion of the renewal option had been an “oversight/misunderstanding”, Mr Justice Kawaley in his ruling yesterday didn’t accept it as a mere clerical error.

In an apparent further slip, the lease named the lessee as “CARTEL Charitable Purpose Trust”, naming Pastor Bean as trustee along with Leyroyce Bean and Shelly Steede — whereas Pastor Bean had been intended as the lessee, with the Trust managing the projects on the premises.

The error meant that the purported lessee was not in fact a legal entity, and Mr Justice Kawaley accordingly ruled that CARTEL “yield up vacant possession forthwith”.

Defence lawyer Charles Richardson asked the court to consider exercising discretion in awarding costs to the winning side, since the first defendant represents the group.

“He’s in possession of a lease drafted by a Government Department which he is entitled to assume was validly granted,” Mr Richardson added.

The Chief Justice noted that while the defendants were required to do their own due diligence in ensuring that the contract was valid, “as a practical matter, a charity negotiating with Government is most likely to rely on Government to do the right thing”.

“It is an extremely unfortunate situation that the defendants find themselves in,” he added.

The court encouraged the Minister to take public interest into account in requiring the losing side to cover legal costs.

“Hopefully, these proceedings will have clarified the law, and will possibly be of assistance to those who draft Government leases in the future, to avoid such matters recurring,” he said.

Pastor Bean wasn’t available to comment, and a Public Works spokeswoman told this newspaper it was too early to comment on costs, or possible future uses for White’s Island.