It's a sovereign state, but the Government of Belize could be found in contempt of a U.S. court because of a deal between Speednet and BTL.
Prosser's attorneys told a Miami federal court that on March 1st, 2005 BTL's Acting CEO Gaspar Aguilar signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Speednet Chairman Jaime Briceno to work out technical and administrative details for interconnection. According to Prosser's attorney, that MOU defies a temporary restraining order granted by that court, and puts the Government of Belize in contempt. That's the matter now put before federal judge and bush appointee Ursula Ungaro Benages and when the court re-convenes on Wednesday, she is expected to announce her judgment on that issue.
The matter is complicated by the fact that the Belize government's attorney in Miami Juan Enjamio was completely blind sided by the revelation of the MOU. Government sources claim he knew nothing about it because the government controlled board chaired by Financial Secretary Dr. Carla Barnett knew nothing about it.
And while they await that decision, things took another embarrassing turn for the Government in court on Wednesday when the managing director of the Royal Bank of Trinidad and Tobago, Lynden Guiseppi testified. Guiseppi said that his bank has not come through with the $57 million for Prosser because government failed to live up to its commitments to the U.S. investor. That's one heck of an indictment form the man in charge of a bank from which the government has borrowed and still owes close to US$300 million.
It should be noted that Guiseppi replaced Former Managing Director Mark Singh, who stepped aside late last year supposedly because of over- exposing the bank by lending Belize too much money.
And if you are asking how did it all come to this where the conduct of the Belize government controlled BTL now falls under the control of a Miami Federal Court...well that's another not too clever clause that the Government consented to in one of its secret agreements with Prosser.
