We note that when Lord Michael Ashcroft?s ECOM purchased a 15% block of BTL shares in March, GOB sold him the 5.5 million shares to ECOM at a discounted price of US$2.62 per share.

In February, 2004, Government purchased 52% of BTL?s shares from Ashcroft at a price of US$2.95 per share. Government credited those shares to Jeffrey Prosser for US$2.739 each. However, Prosser failed to pay and Government repossessed the shares from him.

At the same time that Government was negotiating with a group of telecommunications executives under the banner of ?Sunrise,? to sell them the 52%, it was also negotiating with Ashcroft to sell him the same shares.

Sunrise never got the 52%, but Ashcroft?s ECOM got 15%. Later, Government pledged the remaining 37% shares to the BTL workers, under the banner of the Belize Communication Workers Union (BCWU). Out of that 37%, GOB sold 20% to another Ashcroft company, Sunshine [not to be confused with Sunrise].

Keith Arnold, Sunshine trustee and BTL chairman, this Tuesday issued a bulletin to BTL?s employees, individually offering them US$20 million worth of shares in BTL for US$2.71 per share. The workers are being offered the shares through Sunshine, but won?t own the shares until a 15-year syndicated loan from Ashcroft?s Belize Bank, GOB and Social Security closes, which would be in 2020. They have also been told that they won?t be able to exercise any voting rights until the shares are paid for.

?Although there will not be any immediate cash benefit to BTL employees under the Trust, it is expected that over the long term and once the three loans are repaid, there will be significant capital growth to benefit all BTL employees,? says the bulletin.

The workers are being asked to write to the Belize Telecommunications Limited Employees Trust by October 4, 2005, if they don?t want the shares. Conversely, the workers who don?t write will be deemed to consent to the proposal?a widely used tactic in other countries to get people to buy into dubious schemes.

On the same day that Arnold issued the bulletin, the BCWU met with its membership and decided that any negotiation for the sale of BTL shares to workers should take place through the union. The BCWU had refused the Sunshine offer last Thursday and intend to reject the September 27 offer as well.

The Prime Minister told the media on Monday, September 19, 2005, that he would offer the shares to the Belizean public if the BTL workers don?t want the shares. At that time, he had said that the Sunshine agreement would be finalized in ?the next two days.? Arnold?s bulletin to BTL employees, however, says GOB had sold Sunshine the 20% shares since that Monday, September 19?the day of the Prime Minister?s interview.

Sunshine?s other trustee is Ashcroft functionary Dean Boyce. Arnold?s bulletin says that Sunshine is fully owned by ?The Belize Telecommunications Limited Employees Trust? ? a trust that the BTL workers say they have nothing to do with.

GOB has yet to explain how it is that it can readily sell off 35% of BTL shares to Ashcroft?s ECOM and Sunshine, but must wait until October 14 to offer a mere 5% of the shares to Belizeans.

According to GOB, the offering of 1.8 million shares will be open from October 14 to 28. We understand that the shares would be underwritten by the Belize Bank, which means that GOB transfers ownership of the shares to the bank, which would then transfer ownership to the Belizean public.

GOB had borrowed US$50 million at 9.25% to 11.75% interest from the International Bank of Miami to purchase the 52% shares from Ashcroft. The earliest the bank can make a call on that bond is November, though the maximum life of the loan is 7 years.

We also note that since last December, Ashcroft bought out over 200 Belizean shareholders under the banner of a new company, Mercury Communications Limited, which he registered in December 2003, while GOB was negotiating the buy-back of his 52%. Ashcroft registered the company under Northtown and Southtown of the British Virgin Islands, two Carlisle Holdings subsidiaries.

Currently, Ashcroft controls about 62% of BTL?s shares. Prosser controls about 31% and Belizeans just under 7%, 1.5% of that being through the Belize National Teachers Union and Public Service Union.

Just prior to GOB?s so-called ?buy-back? of Ashcroft?s shares, Belizeans owned over 40% of the company, 25% through the Social Security Board, 16% through private individuals and companies, and the remainder through the Development Finance Corporation of Belize, the Central Bank, the Financial Secretary and other Government offices.