The Belize Companies Registry Limited, it's a private company that collects revenue which used to go to the public purse. On 22nd September 2005 that private registry came into a windfall when government paid $2.2 million in stamp duty on the E-com/Sunshine shares. At first it looked like a favour for Lord Ashcroft and his affiliates, but it turns out to be more than that: it was a favour to the well-connected private owners of the Registry who collect 80% of stamp duty receipts, and pass only 20% on to government.
In a letter to the Prime Minister yesterday, the Leader of the Opposition called that a scandal. According to the UDP leader, the scandal is that the Registry was privatized in 2003 as a get rich scheme for two government ministers. But as we pointed out, that alleged act of corruption also involves a senior UDP-affiliated personality. Who is it? Well tonight, we can confirm that it's no less than the Opposition Leader's brother, Denys Barrow.
That's right, Denys Barrow and Belmopan businessman David Jenkins are listed as the directors of record for the Belize Companies Registry Limited. That company is owned by Jenkins and another company, BELIPO. And who owns BELIPO? A further check into the records show that it's brother Barrow and Jenkins again. So, Denys Barrow is the owner of record for BELIPO and, by extension, the part owner of its subsidiary Belize Companies Registry Limited. How does that sit with big brother Dean Barrow? Not too well and today he squarely confronted the personally delicate and politically explosive matter.
Hon. Dean Barrow, UDP Leader
"If my brother dies they won't bury me. The point is, we're two completely separate individuals. We have no joint business or economic interests. I am a politician, he is not. His involvement in the Companies' Registry is in no way connected to me or the United Democratic Party. It did not come about because of any action or facilitation on the part of the UDP. This was something that was engineered by the People's United Party in government and clearly to benefit principally two of their Ministers, two members of Cabinet. That's not a matter of only of what I am saying, it is a fact that they are involved.
Two ministers of government at the time were the chief participants in engineering this deal, one is no longer a minister. That is an absolute fact. But that was a deal that was cooked up in the corridors of Belmopan by people who were ministers of government, who were public servants, and who had a duty not to engage in deals of that nature.
It now is public knowledge that my brother is involved. I will certainly refrain from saying anything because that really, politics apart, is a matter between the two of us. It is a family thing. But I do want to remind people that at the time it became known to me that the Registry had been privatized, I also learnt that my brother was involved and I went on record in the National Assembly immediately to say I had learnt of this privatization, that it was wrong, that it was corrupt, that it was totally against the interests of the Belizean people, and that I knew that those who engineered the deal had involved a family member of mine in order to provide some cover for themselves."
Jules Vasquez,
If it was a wrongful privatization, or done for all the wrong reasons, done basically, my language, as a hustle, what if you were elected to office? Your brother is an owner and a director of BELIPO...
Hon. Dean Barrow,
"When I am elected to office the next day, if not the same day, the arrangement with that privatized Registry will be put at an end."
