7NEWS has confirmed that this week Bill Lindo, the People's United Party's own Deputy Chairman for Public Relations, filed a $60 million breach of contract lawsuit against the Government of Belize. His lawsuit comes just about a week after the Development Finance Corporation sued Lindo for failing to repay a $1.3 million loan.
In papers filed in the Supreme Court, Lindo contends that government reneged on an $18 million contract he signed with them in June of 1999. That contract was to dredge an area around mile 3 on the Western Highway. Government also promised to sell Lindo 660 acres in the area which he would then develop. But Lindo claims that after he borrowed money from DFC to buy a dredge and invested in his company Western Development, GOB turned around and signed a dredging contract for the same area with a company related to David Courtenay for $36 million.
Lindo claims he was left holding a dredge and million-dollar loan at DFC. So why is he suing for $60 million? That apparently includes the price of the dredge, the $18 million he lost when he lost the contract, and money from developing the area.
We should note that while the DFC has decided to sue Bill Lindo rather than his company Western Development, it is Western Development which is suing the government for $60 million. Lindo's response to the DFC case is that they should be suing his company and not him personally. He is represented in both matters by senior counsels Dean Lindo and B.Q. Pitts. Glen Godfrey, the Chairman of DFC at the time when Bill Lindo received the loan, is representing the DFC. More than likely the Solicitor General will represent government in this new suit.
