BELIZE CITY, Wed. July 3, 2019– “Something is very wrong in our nation, and that something is the UDP government under the leadership of Dean Barrow,” Leader of the Opposition, Hon. John Briceño declared this morning at his Belize City office, after he welcomed and thanked the media for attending a press conference.

Hon. Briceño went on to cite government corruption and incompetence, saying, “We can certainly indict this entire administration for this rise in barbarism we see in Belize today.”

“Never before has a government been so indifferent to all that has gone wrong. It may soon come to a point where Belizeans will be forced to take more drastic actions, as it relates to our social and economic security,” he added.

Hon. Briceño then went on to say, “As if all this was not bad enough, we now come to find out that BTL, that company that we have paid more than half a billion dollars for, is now under investigation for possibly defrauding the government and may owe almost 30 million dollars in GST dating as far back as 2012.”

The PUP leader, after his introductory remarks, introduced Hon. Kareem Musa, the Caribbean Shores area representative and the PUP’s shadow minister for communications and public utilities.

Hon. Musa began his presentation, saying that last Wednesday, a bomb was dropped on the people of Belize when it was revealed that BTL (Belize Telemedia Limited) has allegedly racked up an unpaid GST bill of close to 30 million dollars, for the period 2012 to 2017.

Hon. Musa said that when we think of this period, we have to be reminded of the fact that the Prime Minister had appointed his son (Anwar Barrow) as the “eyes and ears” to oversee the affairs of BTL, as the CEO.

Hon. Musa characterized BTL as a huge UDP deception, ‘because they have always celebrated what a great investment BTL is for the people of Belize.”

“Yet what we saw for the Settlement Agreement is that we overpaid for BTL, as the Party Leader rightly pointed out. Belizeans paid some 557 million dollars for BTL — the Central Bank has had to put 20 million dollars; Social Security Board, the people’s money, 85 million dollars.”

Hon. Musa added, “When we think of Social Security, let us remember that we have a glaring instance of conflict of interest because the very Chairman of the BTL Board also sits as Chairman of the Social Security Investments Committee, that is, Mr. Nestor Vasquez, so that is a conflict of interest to be investing the people’s money from Social Security; also on both of these boards, the Prime Minister’s son, Anwar Barrow sits.”

“Last week’s bombs came with exploding evidence, pouring out of the tax department. These documents are still being analyzed. What these documents show is that there are some 240 million dollars of investment that has been under-reported by BTL between 2012 and 2017. If that is a lie, please tell us the truth,” stated Musa.

News 5 reported that the BTL Chairman, Nestor Vasquez, reported that BTL pays its GST on a monthly basis and does not owe not even a penny for GST. The Financial Secretary, Mr. Joseph Waight, also weighed in on the controversial allegations in circulation.

Hon. Musa went on to say that what he has confirmed is that the GST Department is in fact doing an audit of BTL. That audit is now concluded and the big question on everyone’s mind is whether the audit confirms that there was under-reporting.

Musa said that if the audit shows that BTL has not been paying the proper GST since 2012, then the GST Department must explain why it has been giving special treatment and protection to BTL in not issuing an assessment.

Musa said that a question asked by the Amandala newspaper is important: “How could BTL not have paid GST for five consecutive years and get away without suffering any penalties, or making an arrangement to pay?”

Hon. Musa said that they have had a certified accountant look at the financials of BTL for 2017-18, and they were able to ascertain, on the basis of BTL’s own figures in its BTL annual report, that 61 percent of its revenues were derived from mobile and fixed line services, 10 percent from roaming and international settlements, and 21 percent from the sales of internet and data packages, with 8 percent constituting other revenues.

Musa said: “If mobile and fixed lines constitute real time voice services provided by BTL, which we don’t see why it wouldn’t, then according to BTL’s own figures, 97 million dollars of its total revenue came from voice, and is therefore subject to business tax at 19 percent; the rest of the revenues would be subject to a tax of not less than 1.75 percent.

“This would yield a total business tax for the fiscal year 2017-18, yet BTL reported business tax liability for that year of only 12.2 million dollars. What is the reason for the difference of 6 million dollars for the 2017-18 period?”

Hon. Musa said BTL potentially owes business tax to the tune of 6 million dollars. He cited the case of the tour guide operator, Yhony Rosado, who was targeted by the GST Department and had to spend years in court to clear his name, and the case of David Gegg, who took his GST case all the way to the Caribbean Court of Justice and won by a majority decision, which established that local tour operators did not have to pay GST.

Musa pointed out that the government passed a law not to pay him, but is now covering up for BTL.

Hon. Musa spoke about a letter that has been purportedly written by the BTL Board Chairman, Nestor Vasquez, in which he allegedly asked the Financial Secretary for a waiver or a write-off.

“We demand answers, and we deserve answers,” he said.

Opposition Leader Briceño also pointed out that the GST audit of BTL, which was leaked into the public domain, had been concluded from last year.