Earlier in the news, we showed you what former Prime Minister Dean Barrow had to say about the major 145-thousand-dollar, Supreme Court award he successfully advocated for on Hugo Patt's behalf, against the Government of Belize.
We also took the opportunity to ask about Prime Minister John Briceno's disclosure last week to UDP Senator Michael Peyrefitte.
Prime Minister Briceno was responding to the Freedom of Information request from Peyrefitte, who asked the PM to disclose how much his Government has paid to the law firm owned by two of his Ministers: Eamon Courtenay and Chris Coye.
Within that response, the Prime Minister alleged that firms owned by the former Prime Minister's relatives earned over 20 million dollars in legal fees during the Barrow Administration's time in government. First is the Barrow and Company firm formerly led by Dean Barrow's brother, Denys, allegedly earned 14 million in legal fees; while the firm formerly owned by his ex-wife, Lois Young Barrow, earned 5.6 million dollars in legal fees, a figure she disputes.
PM Briceno's letter also claims that the Government of Belize paid 5 million dollars to Dean Barrow's firm, Barrow and Williams.
We asked about all those figures, but here's what the former Prime Minister had to say about his successor's claim that his administration handsomely paid his law firm Barrow and Williams:
Dean Barrow, SC
"Daniel first of all he didn't provide you with any details or any documentation supporting the amount he claimed were paid but two things. With respect to Barrow and Williams, he said we were paid millions of dollars as lawyers for clients that sued the government of Belize and won and so had to receive compensation, how can you say there is anything improper with Barrow and Williams in fact collecting money from the government for and on behalf of clients. He did say that there was also an amount and I am saying that he is utterly misspoke, let me not say he lied, let me try to be kind. Let the prime minister disclose proper records and you will see that when I was prime minister Barrow and Williams may have gotten something here, something there in extremely exigent circumstances, they were not go to lawyers and would not have been. I was clear about that, would not have been for the government of Belize as long as I was prime minister."
So, what about Prime Minister Briceno's claim of millions of dollars that were allegedly paid to the law firms connected to his brother and his ex-wife? Well, former PM Barrow says that the total sum alleged is being exaggerated and that the general public received fair value for money from two top attorneys. Here's that justification:
Dean Barrow, SC
"In terms of my brother and Lois Young, again the figures - I don't walk with the records in my time in office but I think Lois put out a statement saying it is nonsense, greatly exaggerated and again Lois Young, Denys Barrow, those firms are not firms for which I as prime minister had any kind of interest and it is perfectly proper, there's nothing immoral about hiring these firms, retaining these firms to do government work when in fact, those firms were top firms. My brother, you see where he is, on the CCJ, you couldn't have gotten better. Lois Young, just given an award by the CCJ. They were retained during that saga that I and the government were fighting with respect to the so called Ashcroft Alliance, that was as it should have been."
Daniel Ortiz
"I want to get straight to the figure the prime minister published. Are you categorically insisting that his claims of a total of 30 million dollars which seems obscene."
Dean Barrow, SC
"Nonsense. I don't know that there is any liable in lying on the quantum, the fact is that yes, Lois Young's law firm and Deny's Barrow law firm, Barrow and Company and Marshalleck who is the prime minister's favorite lawyer on the hook in terms of this particular case was a partner in Barrow and Williams at the time but yes, I am not in fact trying to get away from our having retained Barrow and Company and in particular Denys Barrow and having retained Lois Young."
Daniel Ortiz
"Are you insisting that Belizeans got value for money whenever those law firms connected to your family members represented Belize?"
Dean Barrow, SC
"Yes I do, first class lawyers and it was a great deal of work, I'm saying we were involved in what we consider an absolutely righteous and necessary struggle based on sovereignty and nationalism, it cost us but I do not regret one penny of what we had to spend to defend the rights of Belizeans."
We've received documents with detailed breakdowns of payments to the Barrow family of law firms, and we'll share that information with you in subsequent newscasts.
