The House of Representatives met today for a first ever Monday sitting. The urgent business was that the government had to roll over $78 million in debt with the International Bank of Miami, US$32 million of that is due tomorrow. That $32 million is the balance remaining for the disastrous BTL buyout in which gov3enrment has been left holding the debt and the company, while would be owners Jeffrey Prosser and Michael Ashcroft are taking the government to court in Miami and London.
It's quite a mess, but the Prime Minister made it clear today that the first part of getting over that mess is buying some time and getting some breathing room on the BTL matter. The Opposition had a very different view of the roll over, here's the story from the National Assembly.
Alfonso Noble Reporting,
According to the Prime Minister the re-financing, or as it's now called, re-profiling of $78 million in debt is the product of three loans taken from the International Bank of Miami amounting to US$98 million, US$50 million of it used in that $57 million transaction to buy the Carlisle Shares from Michael Ashcroft. The Leader of the Opposition complained that government never told the public or the House about the other two loans.
Dean Barrow, Opposition Leader
"You come to the House, you ask us to authorize you to do this re-profiling with respect to loans that you have earlier made, and that have come due and you need to rollover but you don't tell the House or the Belizean people what the loans are. And when you first made those loans, you didn't come to the House for any authorization. None of the three loans that are being re-profiled, none, was ever initially brought to the House. It is only when the government gets into trouble in terms of not being able to repay these loans that they come to us now for authorization, forced to do so by events in the States."
But he came today as a condition of the Capital Markets Group which is re-profiling the debt. The Prime Minister said that it is important because it will give them a breather on the BTL matter.
Said Musa, Prime Minister
"With this approval, government will have the time necessary to attempt to settle all disputes surrounding BTL amicably while aiming to accomplish the objective of allowing Belizeans interested and capable of purchasing BTL shares in US Dollars to so do. Our obligations are in U.S. dollars and any sale of shares must be covered in U.S. dollars."
Dean Barrow,
"But he lets us know that Belizeans can only buy if they have U.S. dollars. Now imagine that, our Prime Minister in our country where, except for specified circumstances, you're not even supposed to have U.S. dollars, our Prime Minister is telling us that Belizeans will be allowed to buy back some of these BTL shares only if they can do so in U.S. dollars. Think of the enormity of that."
And U.S. dollars or not, the overall justification just didn't wash with the Opposition members, not with the past deeds of PUP governments.
Dean Barrow,
"When BTL was first privatized by the UDP the articles of association were written in such a way as to preserve legally and for all time majority Belizean ownership of the company. Under the privatization of BTL done by the UDP no one entity, and especially foreigners, could own more than 25% of that company. Only a permitted person could own more and only the government was the only permitted person; the government or anybody designated by the government to hold shares for an behalf of the government. It was this PUP administration that designated Belize Holdings a permitted person and so allowed them to own more than the 25% which led eventually to the alienation of the majority share holding in BTL from Belizean hands. This government did that and now you come to us and suggest that because there might a chance for people to buy back that is some kind of victory."
Patrick Faber, Collet Area Rep.
"When he claims Madam Speaker that he has taken back BTL to give back to Belizeans, is that so? Why then did he sell off majority control of BTL to the Carlisle Group in the first place in 2000? Why weren't ordinary Belizeans given the opportunity to buy BTL then? Why did he later try to broker an agreement for the Carlisle Group, the then owners of BTL, to buy out Intelco? Wouldn't this buyout have resulted in the elimination of competition Madam Speaker? How would the acquisition of Intelco by BTL have served the national interest then when Intelco was in the first place created to introduce competition? Why did the Prime Minister later buyback the Carlisle Shares at a premium to the seller and hand it off to Prosser for promissory notes that we now know weren't worth
the paper they were written on. Prosser had no money. Government facilitated him because he promised to buy Intelco which was a stillborn. You see Madam Speaker, if government had merely wanted to offload BTL, all it had to do was say to Prosser give us the money and we will give you the shares and that would have been the end of that. But that could not happen simply because Jeff Prosser had no money. The government facilitated him simply because he was taking care of the stillborn and the government said never mind that you don't have the money, I am going to help you, we are going to borrow the money until you can pay us back. All this Madam Speaker in order to cover the clandestine operations and deals that they had made in respect to Social Security monies and Intelco. For the Prime Minister to come now Madam Speaker and make the point now that Mr. Prosser has no money and has defaulted is simply bogus of the Prime Minister since he knew from the very beginning that he was dealing with a broke man and that he thought that by sweetening the pot there was no way that even a failed businessman could mess up the deal. Well guess what, he did and now you are exposed."
Exposed, and also blocked because no matter how much the Prime Minister says he wants to sell shares in BTL, the truth is he can't because of the extraordinary provisions of a buyback clause that the government secretly signed with Ashcroft.
Dean Barrow,
"Carlisle was able to get that injunction against the government tying up the shares again because of an agreement that he the Prime Minister signed, an agreement that again has not been disclosed but that the Belizean people need to know about. A buyback option that Carlisle is able to say is triggered because it turned out that when this House, the nation, and Carlisle were told that the agreement with Prosser had been completed, all of us were lied to since it turned out Madam Speaker that when we were told that the monies had been paid, the monies had not been paid. That injunction was obtainable because the Prime Minister and this government signed an agreement with Carlisle with respect to the buyback option to say that if there is any dispute over the exercise of that option, this government can have no recourse to its own jurisdiction, to its own sovereignty, to its own courts of law for the settlement of that dispute. That Instead that dispute must be dealt with in England by an English Tribunal under English law."
But the Prime Minister wrapped up the debate saying what passed is passed, and he is unafraid and unfazed by those legal challenges.
Said Musa, Prime Minister
"I think when you put aside all the rhetoric of past things about BTL, the fact remains we are moving ahead. The fact remains that BTL remains a very successful company and with this re-profiling, the government will be put in a position where we can take deliberate, careful, cautious measures. I am not scared about lawsuits here and there, whether it be Florida or London or wherever. The point is that we as a sovereign government will be in a position to deal with these matters and deal with them in the interest of the Belizean people."
Later on we'll have more fireworks from the National Assembly as government discloses the details of a new $136 million bond.
