In another significant case heard at the Court of Appeals today the Belize Bank was rejected in its claim for the enforcement of the $33.5 million Loan Note signed by former Prime Minister Said Musa.
To understand the significance, we’ll have to give you some background. You may recall that back in April of 2007, this newscast made an explosive revelation that to extinguish the already controversial guarantee of Universal Health Services debt to the Belize Bank, the PM had secretly signed a loan note. That converted the guarantee into a loan from the Belize Bank to government. It led to a great divide in the Musa Cabinet and subsequently the departure of many key figures culminating in the Deputy Prime Minister Hon. Briceno resigning from Cabinet.
But, despite all that the Loan Note stood until the Association of Concerned Belizeans, Godwin Hulse, the Medical and Dental Union and the National Trade Union Congress challenged it in court. They won in April of 2009 when in Justice Minette Hafiz ruled that the agreement is unlawful under the Finance and Audit Reform Act because it was never approved by parliament.
Today that decision was upheld by the Court of Appeal. It’s a significant defeat for the Belize Bank who is now on the hook for $33.5 million while the Government of Belize is off the hook. That may only be for the time being as the bank is likely to raise subsequent claims – after all they do have a document signed by the then Prime Minister Said Musa and duly witnessed by his Attorney General, Francis Fonseca. But right now, because of the court’s ruling they can’t collect from government because there was no approval by the House of Representatives.
