On Tuesday's newscast, we showed you what Ivan Williams, the former Labour Commissioner had to say on the behalf of the 55 open vote workers who were terminated from the Ministry of Transport. They should have received their severance packages within a week of their termination, but they are still waiting for the Briceno government to pay them off.
That press encounter with Williams allowed us an opportunity to discuss a fight that he is having with the PUP-controlled Independence Village Council. It involves a pricy piece of heavy equipment that both he and the village council are claiming ownership of. Until about 3 days ago, the grader used to be parked on his farm, just off the Southern Highway. But, on Tuesday, the police confiscated it on behalf of the village council. The origin of the dispute dates back to his candidacy for the UDP in Stann Creek West. Less than 2 years ago, when he was campaigning in the division, he had a natural ally in the form of the UDP-controlled Independence Village Council.
His version of the grader's purchase is that his company, GutWil, entered into an agreement where the UDP council would carry out the logistics of the sale agreement and the grader's shipping to Belize. He claims that his company more than covered the cost that the council incurred to get it to Belize by carrying out road maintenance and land clearing works for the village council.
He asserts that after the most recent village council elections, a PUP-controlled council came into power, and now, they're claiming his company's property. Here's how he explained the dispute to us:
Ivan Williams - UDP Standard Bearer, Stann Creek West
"Today, on my way to Belize City, I got a call that police officers were at my gate. I have a farm at mile 8 on the Southern Highway. And I asked a relative of mine, an in-law of mine, to go and find out what was the issue there. I was told by an officer - I won't call his name right now - that he came to pick up a grader. I asked him 'Which grader'; he said 'a grader that is on your property.' I said, 'You have a warrant? He said, 'yes.' I said, 'Well, I'm not there. My gates are lock, and I'll be there tomorrow morning.' If I would have known, I would have stayed there. I have nothing to hide, and I am not trying to stop the police from doing their job. But, we have constitutional rights. We have ways how we do things. I was not served with any summons. Later on, it was reported to me - and I'm going to confirm it as soon as I get home - that a young man was seen following the grader. In other words, the police went in and took the grader out. I don't know how they took it out. They must have damaged my fence. They loaded it on a truck, and it's way to Independence."
"The grader, we have a bill of sale, and we have a title in the name of Gut Wil Organization. That's an organization that is legally registered in regard to some lots. The people of Belize participated in a project that we had in which they paid certain monies. It was the view of the directors of the company that we don't like to help people with land, and they don't have access to it. So, the grader was bought for the purposes."
"The grader is in the name of Gut Wil Organization. At the time, we needed to wire some money to the United States to purchase the grader. And at that time, we asked the then Village Council to wire the money for us. So, the village council wired the money, no village council money. We also had the village council act in a certain regard. And so, they incurred, I believe, about $7,000 expense. And the Gut Wil project incurred about $20,000 in expense in doing work for the village council, which means we grade all their streets in Mango Creek, Independence - we do a lot of village work. So, if they're claiming their $7,000, then we're claiming - Gut Wil claims its $20,000. But, they're saying that they own the grader."
This afternoon, we contacted Cliff Garbutt, the Vice-Chairman of the new PUP-controlled Independence Village Council, for comment. He told us, quote, "We have documentation to show that the acquisition of the grader was done in the name of Independence Village Council (IVC)." End quote.
He shared those documents with us, and in one of them, there is an invoice that says that the village council incurred a little under $7,400 for shipping. Another document says that the Independence Village Council was billed 22 thousand, 500 dollars for the purchase of the John Deere Road Grader and its shipping to Belize. Then, there is an April 2019 letter from the former Village Chairman to the Ministry of Finance asking for the exemption of the grader's full import duty, quote, "for the exclusive use of Independence Village". End quote.
Now, you just heard Ivan Williams explain that his company's money was used to purchase the grader and that the Council incurred the cost to get it to Belize. He said that the former Council simply wired the money for the grader's purchase. He specifically asserted that "no village council money" was used in this purchase
Via WhatsApp, Vice-Chairman Garbutt refuted that and asserted that public monies were used to purchase this grader.
He added, quote, "The grader did materialize but ownership was placed in a GutWil View Project name, an organization that is NOT registered in [the] Company registry. As recent as 26th November 2020, they registered a company [that] is completely different in name [than what] is on the certificate of title."
Williams told us that he has retained an attorney to dispute the Village Council's confiscation of this grader.
