A High Court judge this week ruled that Western Broadcasting Services, the owners of the radio station, HOT 102, had reached an out-of-court settlement with Opposition Leader Edward Seaga over his libel claim against the station. But the decision by Justice Norma McIntosh appears headed for appeal, legal sources said last night.

If Justice McIntosh’s ruling stands that there is a formal settlement in place, Seaga would be entitled to $3 million in cash and $17 million in advertising, his lawyers said yesterday.

But Observer sources said that while the Opposition leader has already received cash payments from the radio station, HOT 102 owner’s did not consider that there was a final agreement, despite Justice McIntosh’s ruling on the management proceedings. At this phase of the case, parties have an opportunity to attempt to settle matters without going to trial.

“Cash has been paid out, but for what?” asked one source. “The station is contending that there are several issues outstanding to be settled and that there was no final agreement. They believe that there are several appealable grounds.”

Western Broadcasting is part of Neville Blythe’s newly-formed CVM Group, which covers the radio station, CVM TV and Blythe’s newspapers, Teen Herald and XNews.

The case between Seaga and HOT 102 relates to a libel action filed by Seaga in 1999 against one of HOT’s flagship programme, the Breakfast Club and the progamme’s co-host, Anthony Abrahams for questions posed to the former prime minister about convicted Israeli money launderer and drug dealer, Eli Tisona. Tisona and his brother, Ezra, were named in a 1997 Israeli Knesset committee report as being the country’s two most powerful drug lords.

Tisona, now serving time in a US federal prison after a 1999 conviction, operated the Spring Plains Farm in Clarendon between 1982 and 1988. The farm was to have been a showpiece in the use of the latest Israeli technology growing winter vegetables for the US market.

The farm, which had substantial government support, eventually went bust, leaving Jamaica holding the bag on millions of dollars.

Abrahams, a tourism minister during Seaga’s administration of the 1980s, highlighted Tisona’s conviction on several shows after the jailing of the Israeli in Miami and wanted to know if the Jamaican government knew of his reputation before he was given concessions to operate his farm.

Yesterday, one of Seaga’s lawyers, Stacy Powell, said that lawsuits would continue against Abrahams and his production company, Breakfast Club Ltd as well as against two Americans, Laurie Gunst and Jeff Stein.

Gunst, who wrote a book, Born Fi Dead, about crime in Jamaica and Stein, who wrote about the Tisona case, appeared as guests on the Breakfast Club.

“Those matters may come before the court next year,” Powell told the Observer.

This is latest of a flurry of libel issues involving the Jamaican media in recent months.

In July, the UK Privy Council upheld a $35 million judgment in favour of Abrahams against the Gleaner for its publication of a wire service story 16 years ago about his behaviour, while he was tourism minister.

A month ago, Bruce Golding resigned from a talk show on HOT 102, claiming infringement of his editorial independence and the station’s decision to apologise to the Bank of Jamaica and its governor, Derrick Latibeaudiere, for remarks Golding made about the central bank on his programme.

In May, CVM TV was ordered to pay $20.8 million in damages after it was found to have to libeled Detective Corporal Fabian Tewari.