$1.9 million, that's BTL's profit for last year - down from $18 million in the previous year. And it's not because BTL wasn't making money, it did. In fact, BTL collected more money in the last year than at any time in its history. How much? Well the accounts show that gross revenue soared, from $123 to $130 million which means that phone users paid BTL more money than ever before.
So where did it all go between the top and bottom lines? Well, the drastic falloff in profits is due to a write-off of $27 million and BTL's Board is blaming former owner Jeff Prosser and Former CEO Gaspar Aguilar.
According to the financial notes, in December of 2004 Aguilar, acting as the head of finance used $6.2 million, "in failed attempts to buy U.S. currency." The note explains that in the nine months since that time, BTL has not gotten the foreign currency and neither has it gotten the money back. The note concludes that, "the money is being pursued through law enforcement agencies and other legal channels." It's left to be seen if the company will go after Aguilar for criminal wrongdoing.
In that regard, Minister of Public Utilities and Home Affairs Ralph Fonseca is quoted in today edition of The Reporter as saying that Aguilar could possibly face criminal charges. In his interview with The Reporter, Fonseca also concedes that he knew BTL was buying currency on the parallel market, an extraordinary admission from the Former Minister of Finance because buying any amount of foreign currency in that manner is illegal, and buying it in the tens of millions of dollars as BTL was permitted to do by the finance regulator gives way to suggestions of state sanctioned money laundering.
And while that's where $6 million went, the financials show that much more went Jeffrey Prosser's way. How much more? $21 million! The notes show how this is broken down first there's $8 million for a mystery license fee and it includes $2 million for Jeff Prosser's jet, and living and entertainment expenses for his executives. And while that's the license fee, another $7.2 million is for taking over a portion of Intelco's debt from the Alliance Bank. It's a curious write-off because according to a BTL release in June, government had guaranteed BTL that it would take over that debt if it went bad for BTL, but now, the government and Ashcroft controlled board seems willing to let that guarantee from the Prime Minister just slide.
That's the outline of where BTL is financially, and with that the board will decide whether it will pay a dividend on it's meager profits at the annual general meeting at the end of the month. That decision will largely be left up to Michael Ashcroft, who as the majority holder of the B shares now, under the new amended articles, has sole discretion to decide if a dividend will be paid.
