One big payout that was agreed to this week is the 76.5 million Belize dollars that government is paying as compensation to the Ashcroft Alliance.
This is the settlement of a dispute going back to 2013, when the Barrow Administration nationalised the ships and companies' registries - collectively called BISL - Belize International Services Limited. A damning 2020 judgment by the Caribbean Court of Justice found that it was unlawful. The case was going back to the Belize Supreme Court for it to determine compensation and damages. According to government, the final figure could have topped out at almost 200 million dollars.
So they went into negotiation to arrive at a settlement - which was finalized last week. The Prime Minister signed a settlement deed yesterday and the matter will go to the house for approval tomorrow.
And while the final figure is huge - the registry is also a big earner for government - and profits since nationalization are more than twice the settlement figure.
Still, today the UDP Chairman said he doesn't agree:
Michael Peyrefitte, Chairman, UDP
"Personally, I don't agree with it. To be honest with you it's close to 80 million dollars it is a matte that will be before the senate and we'll make sure on Monday but my question is this. Why do we become so efficient, why are we such in a rush when it comes to paying Michael Ashcroft. That is 80 million dollars. This man is a billionaire this man has made 100s of millions of dollars from Belize. He can't donate that? He can't give that to us? This is a man who used to give millions to his party in England, you can't say listen I've had enough from Belize let me just leave that with the people of Belize, 80 million dollars is a lot of money for us, 80 million dollars is nothing for him."
The Ashcroft Alliance and the other former owners of BISL are estimated to have earned hundreds of millions from the registries in the decades since it was created in 1993 during the Price Administration.
