Yesterday we told about the Court of Appeals overturning the Chief Justice's April decision on BTL. Well, as predicted, Jeffrey Prosser is taking that to the bank, or at least to the board. Prosser's company ICC today sent out a release saying that the effect of the judgement is to restore him as Chairman of the board.
By Prosser's interpretation, he is restored to that post along with another director, which again puts the board in a four-four deadlock. Prosser's statement goes further; it says that the ruling effectively nullifies all the sale of shares to Michael Ashcroft's E-com. And now Prosser will take this declaration by the Belize Court of Appeals to the Florida Federal Court, asking it to amend its findings.
As we noted, this is Prosser's interpretation and government has its own. Minister of Information Godfrey Smith today told us that government's lawyers advise that the judgement does not have any meaningful effect on the pending sale of government's shares to Michael Ashcroft. Smith says his government's lawyers are of the opinion that the fourth declaration of the Supreme Court which the Appeals Court did not set aside is the most meaningful and as long as that remains in place, so does government and Ashcroft control of BTL. But something has changed, because the Ashcroft board meeting set for Thursday has been postponed again.
As it is now, all sides have to wait for the written, unanimous judgement of the court, which will be handed down when it next convenes in October. Until then the decision of the Court of Appeal, whatever the contesting sides believe it to mean, will stand until and unless it is overturned by the Privy Council.
