Attorney for the Caribbean International Brewery Limited, Dean Barrow, SC, intends to take the matter to the Supreme Court, and has indicated that his clients will pursue a constitutional claim against the government.

ORANGE WALK, Wed. Oct. 26, 2022

Magistrate Deborah Rogers ruled this week that $3.1 million seized from Caribbean International Brewery Limited’s Carmelita facility in Orange Walk during a raid by multiple law enforcement agencies on October 6 and 7 will be held by the Financial Intelligence Unit, pending an investigation into allegations of money laundering, tax evasion, and human trafficking. The attorney representing the company in its attempt to prevent the FIU from seizing the funds, former prime minister Dean Barrow, has called on Magistrate Rogers to state the case to the Supreme Court, in order for that higher court to hand down a determination on the matter.

This is a process that will take place over a period that will likely stretch beyond three months—meaning that the company will nonetheless be bereft of funds needed to cover its operational expenses for an extended period. Barrow has acknowledged that this is the case and said that the company has had to secure bridge financing in order to keep its operation afloat. “They’ve said they had to go and borrow money at, I don’t know the rate of interest, but no doubt extortionate, but they’ve done that, and so they continue to operate. It is still one hell of a strain, and they are being prejudiced, but they are going to be able to survive …,” he said.

Barrow noted, however, that the application will set the stage for a constitutional claim for his clients against the government of Belize.

“Look, in my view, this magistrate was never going to do other than accede to the application for continued detention, so nothing is lost by getting ahead, and we would have to go to the Supreme Court. Nothing is lost by getting a head start on now. By the time we get to the Supreme Court, as I said the application she is considering will be moot, because 3 months would have passed, but we will then have the chance to establish that she proceeded absolutely wrongly … and that if she proceeded correctly, either her procedure is unconstitutional or the law permitting such a procedure is unconstitutional. Either way, my clients will be then be entitled to demand and receive redress,” Barrow explained.

Attorney for the FIU, Godfrey Smith, says that a case to decide an interim matter has been blown out of proportion by the company and its attorney. He said that the FIU had simply sought to hold on to the cash temporarily pending its tax evasion investigation, and the company had not been facing any imminent forfeiture of the money to the government. While he said that neither guilt nor innocence are being determined in this proceeding, the company, which manufactures “Mine Beer” and whose owner was charged for employing nine foreign residents without proper permits, has called the raid and seizure of their money a direct attack, and their attorney has indicated that while this portion of the case is effectively over, he is confident that they will be vindicated in the Supreme Court.

Barrow will seek to challenge the constitutionality of the Magistrate’s interpretation of section 38 of the Money Laundering Act and the constitutionality of the section itself.

Smith, the attorney for the FIU, says that they will resist the case-stated application. He agrees that this portion of the case is effectively over, but interestingly pointed out that Barrow, in his role as former Prime Minister in 2016, was the one who spearheaded the amendment of the Money Laundering Act to allow for the inclusion of section 38, a provision that he is now willing to challenge in the High Court.

“Mr. Barrow made an application for the case stated, in the Supreme Court, challenging the constitutionality of the law and certain things the Magistrate did. We have given notice that we intend to oppose to show that it is actually frivolous and vexatious, and there are good reasons to not allow it, “ Smith said.

The parties will go back to court in November to address that new development in the case. The FIU will remain in possession of the cash until their investigations are complete.