On Wednesday's newscast, we took you on a deep dive into the leaked documents, which appear to have originated from the Ministry of Finance. These documents list the payments that the former Barrow Administration made to the law firms connected to family members of the former Prime Minister.
The sums of money the former 3-term Government paid to Barrow and Williams, Barrow and Company, and his ex-wife Lois Young's law firm became the subject of disclosure by Prime Minister John Briceno. He was responding to a request under the Freedom of Information Act, to disclose the fees paid to Courtney Coye LLP - the law firm owned by Minister Eamon Courtenay and Minister of State Chris Coye.
We showed you what the documents say that the former Government paid to Barrow and Williams. Tonight, we take a closer look at the sums of money that the Barrow Administration paid to the former PM's brother, Denys Barrow.
Our Daniel Ortiz has been reviewing the numbers, and here is his story:
In Prime Minister Briceno's letter to Senator Michael Peyrefitte, he is most critical of the sums that the Dean Barrow Government Administration paid to Barrow and Company. That is the law firm owned by the former PM's brother, Justice Denys Barrow
From our count in the document, there is a catalog of 187 different payments which the former Administration made to Barrow and Company during the last Administration's three terms in office.
Strictly speaking, the total sum - as indicated by the leaked document - is allegedly 20 million, 900 thousand, 901 dollars, and a few cents. The breakdown is contained in a dizzying density of numbers. If there are absolutely no human errors or attempts to lie or mislead with the quoted sums, then the Barrow government paid Barrow and Company almost 21 million dollars over 13 years.
That's why the Prime Minister, in disclosure to Senator Michael Peyrefitte, said, quote, "Barrow & Co. seemed to be the largest beneficiary of the former UDP Prime Minister's government's largess to Barrow family members, having received over 20 [million dollars] from the Government of Belize, of which roughly 14 [million dollars] was for legal fees." End quote.
So, the Prime Minister acknowledges that not all of the quoted 20+ million were for lawyer fees.
He's conceding that approximately 6 million... "was primarily in connection with the former UDP Prime Minister's brother's law firm securing payments by the UDP Government to his law firm's clients on land acquisitions by the same UDP Government."
The catalog of payments does advance that argument, but we haven't been able to find all 6 million dollars. Out of the 187 different payments received from GOB, we were able to locate 24 separate payments that are specifically labeled as "payment towards land acquisition", plus the accompanying lawsuit ID number and the year the case was filed in court. From our review, the total sum of such cases is a little over 3.1 million, not 6 million dollars as the PM's letter implies.
Then, there is an extended list of payments for which the details are vague. We found a grouping of 91 payments that had a specific invoice ID number connected to them, but no other explanation. Some of them were simply explained as "payment for professional services" or "payment of legal fees"; others said "payment for all work in connection" with X, Y, or Z cases that went to the Supreme Court or the Court of Appeal. Some also said, "Payment of compensation" or "payment due to Barrow and Company" along with a specific month and year. In total, those payments came up to a little more than 7.82 million dollars.
Then, there is a list of payments that are connected to court cases which were listed with ID numbers and the year they were filed. In total, 7.1 million was paid by the former Administration to Barrow and Company for those.
In one specific case, Claim #795 of 2009, the former government paid Barrow and Company 1.4 million dollars over the course of 11 different installments.
Then, there are the sums listed with a specific description, "Payment for Professional Services Rendered to GOB." Those 19 payments came up to a total of 838 thousand dollars.
We stress that these leaked documents do not provide any sort of context under which all these payments were made. However, while the sums of money under review are astronomical, if you ask the former Prime Minister, he makes no apologies. His justification is that Belizeans got value for a very high price.
He insists that Denys Barrow was just the attorney Belize needed whenever the stakes were at their highest, such as the protracted BTL Nationalization Saga with the Ashcroft Alliance.
Dean Barrow - Former 3-Term Prime Minister
"Those firms are not firms in which I, as prime minister had any kind of an interest and it is perfectly proper. It is -There's nothing immoral about hiring those firms, retaining these firms to do government work when in fact, those firms were top firms. My brother, you see where he is?"
Daniel Ortiz
"On the CCJ."
Dean Barrow
"On, the CCJ, you couldn't have gotten better so that 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. But, yes, I am not, in fact, trying to get away from or having retained a Barrow and Company, and in particular, Denys, with respect to this long, drawn-out battle that I considered a battle of nationalism. And so it cost us. We ended up with BTL. We ended up with what I think we needed to end up with. And there is no shame in that."
Daniel Ortiz
"Are you insisting that the Belizean people got value for money whenever those law firms connected to your family members represented Belize?"
Dean Barrow
"Yes, I do. Yes, First class lawyers and it was a great deal of work. I'm saying we were involved in what we considered 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."
During our frequent interactions, Justice Denys Barrow, who is now a judge of the Caribbean Court of Justice, was always willing to discuss the people's business as the Government's attorney. He even took on the tough questions about his lawyer fees:
File: October 6, 2015
Daniel Ortiz
"They are also suggesting that from time to time you've been overpaid for that service."
Denys Barrow, Attorney for GOB
"No. Um, it is political mischief and one expects it in the course of a political campaign. Regrettably, there is not any kind of corruption, any kind of shady dealings on the part of Dean Barrow that they can point to. I regret that they have seen fit to do this because they all know that the fees that I charged are the same fees as lawyers at my level of practice, my experience of practicing would charge. I would love to give you a bill of cost for instance that Lord Goldsmith submitted and is seeking to get the Government of Belize to pay. He is charging 1,000 pounds an hour for his services, whereas I charge along with other senior lawyers at the rate of BZ$1,000 per hour. I think 1,000 pounds an hour works out to maybe BZ$3,400 an hour. So it is what is charged that the government pays to me and it is far less than what it could have been required to pay if it had employed somebody such as Lord Goldsmith or some English QC."
We note that now that Justice Barrow is on the Bench of the Caribbean Court of Justice, his law partner, Senior Counsel E. Andrew Marshalleck is now Barrow & Company's Managing Partner. Marshalleck is currently a prominent fixture in Prime Minister Briceno's Administration. So, isn't Barrow & Company receiving the benefit of any billable hours that Marshalleck provides to the Ruling Government as their attorney?
Dean Barrow
"Denys Barrow's law firm, Barrow and Company - and Marshalleck, who is the Prime Minister's favorite lawyer and on the hook in terms of this particular case, was a partner in Barrow and Williams at the time."
Former Prime Minister Dean Barrow points out that the Briceno Administration currently retains the services of Queens Counsel Douglas Mendez. He says that he finds no fault with that decision, and in the same way that the ruling Government is hiring Mendez for complex legal cases, his administration turned to Denys Barrow.
