The communications director of the company, Fortunato Noble, told Amandala that the company is keeping in consideration all its legal rights; but no decision to file a civil suit has yet been made.
by Marco Lopez
BELIZE CITY, Sat. July 8, 2023
Caribbean International Brewery Limited (manufacturer of Mine beer) has been vindicated of all the charges which arose from the October 2022 raid on the company’s compound in Orange Walk District.
Following a raid in October by local law enforcement agencies of the facilities of the company in Carmelita Village, Orange Walk District, over three million dollars had been in the custody of the authorities, although the company had relentlessly sought the release of the funds to cover its operational expenses. Officers from the Police and Immigration Departments and members of the Anti-Trafficking of Persons Unit, who had a warrant to search for illegal laborers, had raided the factory in a two-day operation in October of last year
Last Thursday, however, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) was ordered to return the confiscated BZD$ 3.1 million found in a vault at the company. During that multi-agency search, nine employees and two employers were also charged with immigration offenses, but those charges were recently dismissed by the courts.
During an interview with the communication director of the company, Fortunato Noble, he said, “The cash that was seized, was seized by the FIU, and they had made several applications to continue detaining the money. So, in the first instance, they got three months. In January 2023 they came back and applied for 6 more months, and that’s what expired on Thursday, July 6, last week.”
The sitting magistrate,, Deborah Rogers, refused to grant the FIU yet another extension to hold on to the funds. According to Noble, this latest decision by the court, along with the recent dismissal of immigration offenses, clears the company. The FIU, according to the company, will now have to wire transfer those funds back to the business. Although the funds were confiscated as cash, the money, which according to the company consists of proceeds from the company’s sales – has since been deposited within the banking system.
The FIU claimed at the time that they had reasonable grounds to suspect that the funds were connected to human trafficking, money laundering, and tax evasion. They failed to provide any evidence to substantiate these accusations.
According to Noble, the company maintains its innocence in regard to the accusations and he opined that the fact that no evidence could have been produced is proof. He stated that CIBL is pleased with the trial results and intends to continue investing in Belize.
As far as the irreparable damage caused to the company’s brand and its operations, CIBL’s attorney, Senior Counsel Dean Barrow, had said there would have been cause to seek compensation through a civil suit as a result of the gravity of the accusations. The company has not yet decided whether they will proceed with a lawsuit against the government. That option is, however, not off the table.
“The company is reserving its rights, definitely looking to see what or where we can go with this,” Noble shared. “With respect to the civil matter, at this moment there has been no decision yet as to where to go. For the moment, we are just happy that the thing is over; we are vindicated. From the beginning we were saying that the authorities were wrong in the way they proceeded, and that’s where we leave it for now.” Noble said.
We reached out to the FIU, but the director was not in office at the time of our call. We sent an email to the department requesting information on their next steps regarding this case, but have not yet received a response.