Tomorrow the House of Representatives will meet and the main item on the agenda will be a motion authorizing government to sell its 37% holding in BTL. Up to the end of business today, that motion had still not been sent to members of the House along with the supplementaries. It will presumably be given to them tomorrow at the last minute, which is just before the meeting.
But while the representatives don't have it, 7NEWS has obtained a copy of that motion. In part, it reads, "the purpose of the sale is, in the public interest, to enable the government to meet its expenditure and service debt." That makes it apparent that the proceeds of the sale, some US$36 million is not all going to the Capital Markets Financial Services, which the government owes directly for financing the share transaction; some of it will also go to, "meet expenditure."
But who will government "dispose of its shareholding" to? Well, the only man with the money on the table right now appears to be Michael Ashcroft. Through one of his affiliated companies, he is expected to buy the shares for the BZ$5.24 per share, 20 cents less per share than he sold them to government for at the end of 2003, meaning that on the sale and buyback alone, Ashcroft profits a tidy $6 million or put conversely, government loses $6 million - the costly lesson learned for ever trying to test Ashcroft. Add that to the $12 million tax write off or 17 million if you go by union figures and you'll estimate the cost of tangling with the man the Musa administration designated a knight commander.
Of course, even as a desperate government moves to finalize this transaction, there are two very pertinent court actions which continue to factor heavily. First, the Communication Workers Union is challenging in the Belize Supreme Court (See BTL Workers Attempt to Block Sale to Ashcroft) that no private interest can hold more than 25% of the company. With this transaction, Ashcroft's interest would hold 40%. The hearing on that case will be held on Monday. Second, Jeff Prosser's ICC is suing government in a Miami court, arguing essentially that it is entitled to those shares and if not, it should be awarded damages.
And while those matters weigh heavily, government hopes that it now becomes the vastly resourceful Michael Ashcroft's problem as much as it is theirs. As an aside we note that the government is obliged to present the transaction to the House under the new Finance and Audit Act because it is a transaction valued at over $2 million.
