Government and Michael Ashcroft have won a major victory against Jeffrey Prosser in the Belize Supreme Court. This morning Chief Justice Abdulai Conteh ruled on the application of the Government of Belize and Michael Ashcroft which asked him to interpret the Articles of Association of BTL as it relates to whether Prosser has sufficient standing to allow him two "C" share directors and two Special Share Directors. Well the Chief Justice ruled that Prosser has no standing for two "C" directors and, at best, his hold on the Special Share is shaky - shaky because the Chief Justice found that government had no right to sell that Special Share. Lawyer for Ashcroft's E-com is Dean Barrow. He is holding the brief for Lois Young Barrow and he explained the consequence of Conteh's judgement.
Dean Barrow, Attorney for E-com
"What the Chief Justice has said is, first of all, he feels that he is wellabled, without disrespecting the Miami Court to assume jurisdiction in this matter in so far as the interpretation of the Articles of Association of the company is concerned, and he is saying he is able to do this because notwithstanding that GOB surrendered jurisdiction, there are other shareholders, including the shareholder that I represent, who did not surrender jurisdiction and who are clearly affected by what the Miami would have to say with respect to interpretation of the articles. His interpretation is that in fact the moment the combination that Prosser had, when he appointed the two C directors, of being the holder of the special share and also the holder of 37.5% of the overall shares in the company by virtue of C shareholding, the authority he had in those circumstances to appoint his two directors has fawned away because he no longer has that 37.5%. I was saying that has to be the case and therefore his two directors have to fall and the court has found that that is completely the position. Prosser's two directors are out, the holders now, the majority holders of the C shares can replace Prosser's two directors as they purported to do so those appointments stand. Prosser was only able to make himself the non-executive Chairman of BTL because of that same combination of having the special share and the 37.5%. Because again the 37.5% has disappeared, Prosser is no longer able to continue as non-executive Chairman of BTL so control of the board has been wrested away from Prosser. Far more important to me is the fact that the Chief Justice was careful to pay deference to the Miami Court and to its jurisdiction in so far as the suit brought by Prosser against Government for breach of contract and for fraudulent inducement and that sort of thing is concerned. One can therefore hope that since he says to the Miami Court that I am only reserving jurisdiction in so far as this question of the interpretation of the Articles is concerned, I respect you otherwise, that in turn the Miami Court will say it respects this particular ruling of the Chief Justice. If that happens then hopefully we can get out from under this threat of the sanctions that are being imposed against Belize because of government's breach of the injunction. This as well clears the way for government to live up to its stated commitment, not to backslide again, with respect to the 37% of its original 52% shareholding that remains with respect to the Belizeanation that we all have been plugging for. But let me just express the hope that everybody concerned will seize the opportunity, created as a consequence of today's judgment, to move with a purpose towards this substantial element of re-Belizeanation."
Alfonso Noble,
While as the lawyer it may be obvious you may be gloating, as the Leader of the Opposition do you have reason to be this optimistic with regards at least this case that happened today?
Dean Barrow,
"I think so because I am saying that to me the objective is always to secure the larger Belize national interest and the larger Belize national interest, in this circumstance, is comprised of two things, one securing control of BTL away from Prosser who hasn't paid and who has said from the start he doesn't want any Belizeans in the company, and creating at least a window of opportunity that might see us get away from under the threat of sanctions that are to be imposed by the Miami Court. At least this ruling today creates a glimmering of hope."
As it relates to Prosser's entitlement to the 2 other appointments to the board because he holds the Special Share, Conteh noted that "how this inestimable piece of special share came to be out of the possession of the government of Belize may be an unsolvable mystery." He continued by stating that he is "confident however, it is not beyond the means or ingenuity of the government to regain the Special Share from Belize Telecom Ltd." Still, however, Prosser's Belize Telecom remains the holder of the Special Share, though it's clear, as we've been maintaining throughout, that government sold it to him illegally and now they are trying mightily to get it back.
