Relations are apparently still icy between the old guard of the People’s United Party (PUP) and the party’s new guard, and contentions continue over the nearly a million dollars worth of key party assets which had been held by private companies registered by former leaders of the party.
Those assets in question are the Belize Times newspaper, Independence Hall – the PUP headquarters, on Queen Street, and Positive Vibes Radio and TV Production Unit, adjacent to Coney Drive.
The problem is that even though the so-called new guard has partial operational control over the assets, full legal title still rests with the Said Musa and Ralph Fonseca camp.
In a letter to PUP Leader, Johnny Briceño, former Solicitor General, Edwin Flowers of the Musa and Balderamos law firm, writes on behalf of former leader, Said Musa, and former national campaign manager, Ralph Fonseca, demanding the rest of the money before assets can be put into the hands of the Briceño-led PUP.
The letter, obviously leaked by a PUP insider and publicized in other sections of the media this week, is dated January 5, 2009, and states that on the instructions of Musa and Fonseca, the law firm is appealing to Briceño to pay up.
The old and new guards reportedly signed an agreement last May agreeing to close the sale by December, when the final payment of $500,000 was to be made.
But since that deadline was not met, Flowers fired off the letter to Briceño five days into the New Year, calling on him to make good on payment within 10 days of the letter – a deadline which would have expired on Thursday, January 15. Briceño still did not meet that deadline, it appears.
It is evident that the reason why the “old guard’ have not taken back control of the assets is because the two sides are “talking.” At least, that’s what the Musa and Balderamos press release claims.
The release firstly takes issue with the fact that the letter, which they deem private, has been publicized, and it tries to paint the picture that much ado has been made about nothing – that there is no sparring between the old and new guards.
The release blames the leak of the “Dear John” letter on someone wanting “to create political divisions out of a straightforward business arrangement.”
The Musa law firm asserts that Briceño was by no means forced to enter into the agreement to purchase the assets for the party, and had “voluntarily entered into an agreement with our clients in May of 2008.”
The release takes the position that the letter to Briceño is merely a standard legal response to a missed deadline. The parties have been in talks since the letter was sent, it added.
Sources say that at least $200,000 has already been paid towards the contract.
After a major defeat at the polls, the old PUP guard was kicked out of leadership in late March 2008 at a convention that elected an entirely new leadership, and which passed a resolution that the new leaders should take back the assets housing the PUP media organs and headquarters.
Briceño had said back then that he would have asked party supporters to help the party finance the repurchase of the party assets.
“Our clients have always been and remain prepared to discuss a mutually amicable resolution in this matter,” says the release from the Musa law firm.