Some note that even if there is no evidence of improper actions, the appearance of a conflict of interest alone can diminish confidence in the ability of a person to act properly.

In this article, we look at three prominent people who have been publicly accused of having a conflict of interest in their professional office:

1. Keith Arnold – former Central Bank Governor, BTL chairman and Director of the Financial Intelligence Unit.

2. Glenn D. Godfrey – former chairman of the Development Finance Corporation of Belize, chairman of Intelco, and director of the International Financial Services Commission.

3. Dean Boyce – former chairman of the Belize Telecommunications Limited, current chairman of BTL?s executive committee, trustee of Sunshine Holdings Ltd.

Arnold

In light of recent controversy over the exchanges of US dollars on the parallel (black) market by the Belize Telecommunications Limited, the Association of Concerned Belizeans had asked Arnold to resign his position as the director of the FIU. They had said, on September 22, that it was, ?both because of his conflict of interest and his apparent failure to discharge his duties as FIU director??

The FIU, a Government agency, was set up in 2002 to investigate ?suspect? financial transactions.

Some have raised the question: How can Arnold sit as the director of BTL and the FIU, when BTL?s parallel market transactions need to be investigated by the FIU? It is the opinion of some that Arnold has not and cannot properly discharge his duties as the director of the FIU whilst he is chairman of BTL.

Noteworthy is that Arnold was a BTL director for three of the four years in question, having been off the board only during Prosser?s reign, from April 2004 to February 2005. The board is accused of having sanctioned the transactions.

Arnold has denied allegations that he has a conflict of interest.

Boyce

Dean Boyce is an Ashcroft functionary and former chairman of BTL?s board. He is also affiliated with Carlisle Holdings? ECOM (reportedly its chairman), and is, along with Arnold, a trustee of Sunshine Holdings, another Carlisle affiliate.

The Prime Minister has said that Sunshine was set up for the benefit of the workers of BTL. However, the workers, under the umbrella of the Belize Communication Workers Union, have questioned how Boyce can serve as trustee of Sunshine, when he is clearly representing Ashcroft and not the BTL workers. They maintain that Sunshine, as long as it is under Ashcroft control, will not serve the interests of the workers, but those of British mogul, Michael Ashcroft.

Godfrey

Glenn D. Godfrey served as chairman of the Development Finance Corporation of Belize from 1998 to 2003. During that period, a group of his companies, including the defunct Intelco, got $40 million in financing through securitization?a process facilitated and guaranteed by the Government of Belize and executed by the Social Security Board and the DFC.

Godfrey used another affiliate, the St. James National Building Society, as the vehicle to obtain the funds. St. James had a business relationship with the SSB, which it used as a ?conduit? to pass the transactions to the DFC.

Notably, Godfrey has denied having a conflict of interest.

?Conflict of interest arises when it is underhanded, when it is not disclosed. That was never the case. Everybody knew of my interest with St. James. Everybody knew of my interest with DFC,? Godfrey had told the Special Select Committee of the Senate, investigating the SSB, in June.

What has also come out in the investigations is that the SSB and the Central Bank were permitted to transfer over $40 million to U.S. banks – Hibernia in New Orleans and the International Bank of Miami, between March 23, 2000 and some time in 2002.

Arnold served as Central Bank Governor at the time, from January 1992 to March 2002. He was also serving as a BTL director.

We note that as we write, Glenn Godfrey is still listed as a director of the International Financial Services Commission. This is a Government agency with a supervisory and regulatory role over the financial services sector, and particularly the offshore sector, which, without proper supervision, is also at great risk of being used as a money-laundering conduit.