And what he also didn't speak about is another government guarantee arrangement that's waiting to rear its ugly head. This is actually a trio of guarantees for Glen Godfrey companies valuing - and brace yourself for this one - $28 million.
Reports from multiple senior government sources say it's comprised of three government guaranteed loans: the biggest $15 million for LGS, and a combined $13 million for Northern Data Pro and Galleria Maya. Our reports say that those companies got loans from Provident Bank - and government signed what's called a put option, meaning that if the companies can't pay Provident, then GOB must.
The good news about this one, if you can call it good news, is that the Provident Bank has not exercised the put option, or called up the guarantee.
But we do know two things: that Provident Bank has sent notices reminding government of the guarantee, and one more thing: this too was not disclosed in the debt restructuring exercise.
All in all, it's enough to make you say "whew" and we expect these issues to factor into future considerations, particularly the multi-million dollar Universal payables as Cabinet considers the Universal renegotiation with the Belize Bank.
