BELIZE CITY, Mon. Apr. 19, 2021– There has been an ongoing feud brewing between Recological Systems Limited (RSL), a company that provides maritime emergency response services and emergency training, and a Belizean businessman and investor, Abram Froese. The conflict started over a twenty-five-year lease issued by the previous UDP administration to RSL, through which they intend to rehabilitate the Commerce Bight Port. Froese, who says he purchased 50% of RSL’s shares along with his brother Heinrich Froese at a value of BZ$2 million while it was being run by Alan Gobie, is calling for the government to revoke RSL’s license for a number of alleged wrongdoings.
Froese claims that he has yet to receive returns on his shares and had also found that the remainder of the shares had been sold to persons whom he had never met, despite his constant efforts to reach out to Gobie to find out who the principal owners of RSL were. The Froese brothers have recruited Indira Mejia as their spokesperson, and Mejia claims that when she reached out to Gobie, he stated that he was only the front man of RSL, which he claims was actually owned by former Minister Frank “Papa” Mena and his CEO, Dr. Peter Allen.
After Gobie made those alleged statements, Froese held a press conference on April 19, 2021 at which he presented his case to the government and to the Belizean public, urging them not to support RSL in their endeavors. Following Froese’s press conference, RSL rebutted with a press release of their own, refuting the claims made during Froese’s alleged “smear campaign.” The release first notes that RSL has a valid license to develop and manage the port and intends to continue their work to carry out the improvements that will transform it into a world-class facility.
The release additionally states that Indira Mejia was primarily hired by RSL as a legal representative but that she no longer works with the company. Further, the release asserts that Froese’s shares were sold to him illegally and in violation of the company’s articles of association.
The document issued by RSL then makes four serious allegations regarding Mejia. In essence they claimed that she was complacent in carrying out her duties as the legal representative for the company. Mejia told 7News that she is prepared to sue anyone who publishes the details of those allegations, calling them false and libelous. She calls on her accusers to present written proof of the allegations.
Annexed to the lengthy release issued by the Managing Director of RSL, Paul Martin, is a written declaration penned by Gobie that states that he made an error when he purported to transfer 20,000 shares of RSL to the Froese brothers’ company, Belcaribe Enterprise Limited. He shared that on October 18, 2019 he transferred the shares in contravention of the Articles of Association of the company, effectively making the transaction null and void. He said he was later informed of his mistake.
Abram Froese is adamant that the reversal of that transaction was never effective and is insisting that the documents at the Companies and Corporate Affaires Registry will list him as a shareholder.