Disgruntled BTL minority shareholder, Jeffrey Prosser is suing the government for US$24 million in damages, taking GOB to international arbitration for US$200 million and this week, a U.S. Federal Judge ruled that the meter is still running on the contempt charge.
If you forgot what that was...on March 30th Judge Ursula Ungaro Benages found government in contempt of her order to re-organize the board of directors, and she instituted a fine of US$50 a day. Since then, government has re-organized the board - but not to her suiting, and Ungaro-Benages has confirmed that government is still being fined at a rate of US$50,000 per day, every day.
The ruling came after government's attorney tried to prove to the court that it had cured the contempt. Not so, said Benages, and as of today, the contempt has now been running for 99 days, meaning that the total fine payable to the Florida Court is now just under US$5 million. While that continues to run, weekends included, Ungaro Benages is expected to make her ruling on the US$24 million in damages being sought by ICC shortly.
And while it gets progressively worse for government on the ICC front, government continues to move apace to conclude it's almost US$40 million transaction to sell Michael Ashcroft and his varied companies, its 37% shareholding in BTL.
That transaction could have been closed as early as today, but 7NEWS confirmed that it has been delayed until possibly over the weekend. Of note in this regard is a letter from ICC attorney Lionel Welch who has written to government and e-com warning them that there can be no transfer of shares without the approval of the BTL board by a formal resolution. Which is to say that there can be no approval at all because the board is presently deadlocked with four Prosser directors and four for the government and Ashcroft. We will know something new about the board next Friday, at which time, Ashcroft's director, Dean Boyce has ordered company secretary Wilman Black to call a board meeting.
By that time, E-com, the company owned by a so-called charitable trust is expected to be the owner of about 25% of the company. But who is E-com? That's a question we've been trying to answer ever since a press release last week portrayed it as a charitable trust. We have found that it is owned by two companies registered in the British Virgin Islands called Northtown and Southtown. Well today, a check on the Securities and Exchange commission website showed that Northtown and Southtown are listed as affiliates of the publicly traded and highly profitable Carlisle Holdings, Michael Ashcroft's flagship enterprise.
