The old Creole saying goes that 'slowly, slowly bra-nancy ketch tiga'- and that's what it's been like for Michael Ashcroft, who bided his time and played his cards cleverly....and sure enough, tonight, Ashcroft is back in control of the majority shareholdings of BTL. Government will receive US$37 million from Ashcroft, selling him back at a discounted price the same shares it had bought from him on April 1st 2004. The share purchase agreement between E-com and various Ashcroft Holdings was finalized on Monday.
In today's Cabinet brief, government confirmed that E-com will buy 10% of BTL and hold 2.5% for re-sale, most likely to Another of Ashcroft's shelf companies. The transaction had to be conducted in this manner to avoid any conflict about the limitation of shareholdings at 25% of BTL. Still, with this 10% acquisition, by our estimate, E-com alone holds 25.2% while affiliated Ashcroft companies hold another 9%.
And while E-com's holdings will accrue to Ashcroft, 20% of the shares that he will pay for will be held in a trust called Sunshine which, it is proposed, the employees to buy into. The remaining 5% will be offered for sale to the public, through Ashcroft's Belize Bank.
And while a share purchase agreement has been signed, today Minister of Information Godfrey Smith confirmed that government has not yet handed over the share certificates, nor has Ashcroft paid the US$37.5 million purchase price. That's because there are still some pending matters, and prominent among those is the proposed guaranteed rate of return for Ashcroft. Today the Information Minister confirmed that this is on the table.
Jules Vasquez,
Would you be able to say if the proposed agreement includes a rate of return surety, a guarantee on his investment?
Godfrey Smith, Minister of Information
"I can say that negotiations are still underway for that. No such agreement of that nature has yet been signed. The share purchase agreements were signed. There are negotiations underway to deal with some of the matters you raised. Nothing has been concluded on that. When that is concluded we will report on that."
Jules Vasquez,
It is on the table.
Godfrey Smith,
"It is on the table."
Jules Vasquez,
And the second issue, my information is that Mr. Ashcroft has indicated his willingness to take up some of the Intelco debt which the GOB stood for. Is that also under negotiation?
Godfrey Smith,
"On the negotiating table."
Jules Vasquez,
Would you be able to say how much?
Godfrey Smith,
"No. No we can't say how much."
Jules Vasquez,
If there is a guaranteed rate of return it does, it would seem, a disservice to the rate payers because the rate of return on investment will thus include assuming Intelco's bad debt and the cost of that will then be subsequently passed on to ratepayers or consumers, so a guaranteed rate of return in that way. And the reason for all this is because government wrongly, without approval, without any public knowledge went and made a public guarantee for the private debts of Intelco.
Godfrey Smith,
"The answer to that is this: the government of Belize won't comment on that at this time. The matter of any entity assuming Intelco's debt, as I indicated earlier, is on the table. When anything is concluded in relation to that we'll have a discussion on it, on the merits and/or demerits."
Jules Vasquez,
But you're avoiding it because the reason it is on the table and along with it on the table are the interests of ratepayers, the reason it is on the table is because the government secretively, circuitously, and without the approval of certainly the House of Representatives made the guarantees that it should not have in hindsight.
Godfrey Smith,
"Yes I am avoiding it merely because I am not accustomed to venturing, commenting, and answering questions for which data and the facts which would lead me to conjecture has not been finalized. So you're asking me to speculate on something that's entirely fluid and I'm not prepared to do that at this time."
This evening, Smith and Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance Joe Coye met with the unions to discuss the Sunshine proposal.
And while that develops on one front, on another, Jeffrey Prosser's Belize Telecom Limited has given notice that it is challenging the Chief Justice's decision two weeks ago, which permitted Monday's E-com transaction. Prosser has received special leave to appeal the Chief Justice's decision, arguing that he wrongly ignored the preliminary objection made by Prosser's Attorney Lionel Welch. Welch had argued that no case could be hared until the judgement on the appeal of the constitution of the board of directors was given. This now become one more wrench thrown into a tempestuous tangle of hostile maneuvers on the part of Ashcroft, Prosser and the Communication Workers Union.