The government of Belize is staring down two possible cases of international arbitration under the bilateral investment treaty with the UK. The first is from the Waterloo group, signed by Lord Ashcroft himself. And the second is from Ashcroft's former nemesis, Dean Barrow. He's acting on behalf of a company named Countach Technologies Ltd., which is registered in the Cayman Islands - and is a shareholder in Brad's Gaming Group. Cayman is a British Overseas Territory, so Barrow has written to the government saying that if government tries to revoke Brad's lotteries license, basically they will be taking it from a British Company and, quote, "Countach could invoke article 8 of the treaty." So, it's just a warning right now which means that it's an attempt at check mate in a chess game that government and Brad's are playing over who will control Boledo in Belize.
Barrow told us yesterday that the government's moves are all based on vendettas. We challenged him on that:
Dean Barrow, Attorney, BGGL
"I know that it is a matter of a vendetta, it is a matter of carrying through on the promise or threat made from well in advance of the last general elections."
Jules Vasquez
"But the entire vendetta as you call it is based on what they feel is an unjust award to a relative of yours, of the then prime minister."
Dean Barrow, Attorney, BGGL
"Everything was done in the broad light of day, so anybody who wants to suggest that there was something amiss with the award of the license, for whatever reason. Whether it is because to say that Anwar is involved, for whatever reason. That is nonsense."
"You want cancel, me trying to speak now as a Belizean and more than just a lawyer, I invite you to do it. That's your sovereign right, but do it in a way that's consistent with your obligations as a government in and of a democracy. So settle it with the people. Don't come with your cover Benjamin shadow game sort of routine and suggest that no, this is not because we are on a course of vengeance against Brads. No man, it is because seriously they really have not been running this thing properly. Just don't play the fool and think you can trick anyone. Say, we don't want Brads for whatever reasons, we think that Brads ought to have never to have gotten this license, we are taking it away. But we realize that they got the license legally, they got the license transparently and we realize therefore that we have an obligation to compensate. And then we gone clear."
Jules Vasquez
"But you can see the contours of a public argument that could be made that man, you're relative benefitted in the millions from this contract, successive awards of this contract and now the former prime minister's relative must be paid out after that person has profited millions from what can be argued from a political perspective is a related party transaction. But you can understand the political logic then."
Dean Barrow, Attorney, BGGL
"No, I can't understand it at all. Perhaps I can understand it, but that doesn't make it right. It is a completely flawed political logic. Let me tell you why, assume that in deed my son is a shareholder somewhere in the mix with Brads, but view that through the filter of the fact that the license was awarded on a completely transparent basis. Whatever someone might want to think politically is one thing, it would be wrong, but fine, one could perhaps understand why there are people who would want to think that way."
"Remember that I took the government to court over the award of the Speednet license, didn't go to the contractor general and all that. One of my bases for challenging the award though was that Speednet is basically run by the prime minister's brother. You know what the court found, Madam Justice Young, you know what she found? no man, if on the face of it this contract was awarded properly to Speednet, even though it was awarded by in effect the ministry of which the prime minister is minister. That cannot serve to sully the contract. This she said is a small society and if we were to say that anybody who's connected to a minister is going to be disqualified from bidding for and transparently winning public contracts, we'd get nowhere. And that went against me. I was arguing the contrary and the lady said absolutely not. So in the context of the legal precedent that has been set, in the context of the law of the land, whether Anwar Barrow is involved in Brads Gaming Group or not. Let's assume without conceding, let's assume that he is. Once that contract was properly awarded there is no basis for any kind of a legal complaint and the government, this Briceno's administration must know because the case in which that ruling was made by Madam Justice Young involved him and his brother."
And right now Barrow is only giving the government a warning that his client may invoke the Bilateral Investment Treaty. The Ashcroft Alliance on the other has indicated that as it concerns Waterloo and the Port of Belize - failing to reach a settlement - it plans to commence arbitration proceedings against Government no later than 28 February 2023.
