Last night we told you about the settlement agreement that Michael Ashcroft has put on the table, presumably as the price for bailing them out of the BTL imbroglio. According to the agreement Ashcroft would drop his claims under the still secret buyback clause which is being arbitrated in London and in exchange government would have to write off whatever taxes are owing by the Belize Bank which the government says is $12 million, and the unions say is $17 million. Today, the Leader of the Opposition said the proposed trade off is massively against the national interests.
Dean Barrow, UDP Leader
"In order to make the litigation in the UK over BTL go away, government is committing itself to forgo that money, not to pursue any claim over that money. To agree, that for legal purposes under the document, it is as though Carlisle either never owed the money or Carlisle will be treated as having paid the money without government collecting a cent. But Madam Speaker this is going to be the issue that will be most effective in bringing down this government. As the Minister of Investment learnt, those people at BTL noh di play and they have the benefit of the wider public opinion behind them. This government needs to find a way out of the imbroglio, out of the impasse, out of the mess it has created. A way that will allow for re-Belizeanation without making these ridiculous and illegal concessions with respect to tax exemptions such as they have promised."
Said Musa, Prime Minister of Belize
"Madam Speaker to paraphrase an old expression, and I'm really paraphrasing here, but talk or speculative talk without responsibility has been the prerogative of the harlot throughout the ages. And I do not propose to engage in a debate today with the Leader of the Opposition about the status of BTL because the government has a responsibility in this matter. We are acting responsibly, we are going about it cautiously and legally, and therefore I believe I can say to this Honorable House that at the appropriate time I will be making a statement to the Belizean people about the matter. I move the adjournment."
And while the Prime Minister urged caution, he did not deny that the concession is still on the table. And while the Prime Minister chose not to speak on it, the Albert backbencher Mark Espat did weigh in, he said that government has repeatedly sold out and in so doing messed up its chances to set BTL right for phone users.
Mark Espat,
"From the outset, and I have advanced this position when I was a Minister of Government, privately at the time of course, I felt that the way to create competition was to regulate rates and to offer licenses using the Public Utilities Commission. I think that our government back in 1993 when it allowed Carlisle to become a permitted person, I think that was a mistake. We then turned around and facilitated the acquisition of majority shareholding in BTL which led us inevitably to the problem of the majority shareholder not wanting competition. While we were doing that, we adopted this Intelco company, not just giving it a 15 year little secret exclusive contract worth hundreds of millions of dollars but we also put at risk Social Security funds, we gave Intelco a license. In fact many of the schools are still waiting for those 5,000 computers that we were promised to them. That aside now, back to the BTL issue, I think for the right reasons the government decided to buy back the shares but it did so again in secret. The House of Representatives did not approve a loan for the purchase of those shares and I don't think there is any justification for allowing Carlisle to have the option to buy back the shares and then to invite Jeffrey Prosser in and to say that he paid for the shares and then it turns out he did not pay for the shares. This is certainly, I think, an issue that is of paramount concern to Belizeans and many people are asking one question, who is responsible for this and I think whoever it is that is responsible for this litany of decisions has to be held to account."
Espat added that government has squandered every opportunity it had to put Belizean shareholders back in charge of BTL. BTL's Communication Workers Union has also been very involved in negotiations to finally have Belizean interests take over majority control of BTL shares. Yesterday, they were in talks with the government coming to an understanding of a situation where, by government's reckoning, Michael Ashcroft would have to be involved to help government out of the mess. But today Union President Paul Perriot told us that his union does not support any settlement in which so many concessions have to be granted.
Paul Perriot, BCWU President
"We must publicly state that we must denounce that document. As a Belizean it is not in favor of the Belizean interests. We are here talking about taxes and outstanding taxes by the Michael Ashcroft company and we know that wording in document is that he would be relieved of paying back quite a substantial amount of those taxes that he does owe. So we must publicly denounce the document. We are not in favor of a document that gives away more of what we should have. We denounced the document initially but what we have to look at is control of the board of directors and that is the direction we want to go in. If you again look at the document the Michael Ashcroft group would have 3 board members on the BTL board. The other 5 board members are where we now decide if we do get those board members under the employee buyout program then we would in control of the Board of directors."
The unions have asked for time to have their lawyers agree the buyout document before anything is signed. And at this point, as we understand it, nothing has been signed.
7NEWS produced for broadcast by News Director Jules Vasquez
Edited for the internet by Keith Swift
