On Wednesday Smiling publicly declared war against the Minister presently responsible for Free Zones, Hon. Mark Espat, after the minister?s directive prevented him from admitting fifty to sixty proxies in the Free Zone elections. Smiling said that were it not for the Minister?s stance, he would have won the elections hands down, but instead he came in last in the elections.

Smiling told the media on Wednesday that, ??this is open war with the Minister.?

When we spoke with Minister Espat this evening, he told us that his Ministry?s position stands, that proxies are not allowed under the law in the elections.

On Wednesday Luke Espat issued a statement, under his name as the deputy of the National Free Zone Authority (NFZA), declaring the elections to be ?null and void,? and furthermore condemning the Ministry for not holding meetings every two months, as required. He goes on to say that the Ministry has failed to nominate its representative to the NFZA and a chairman from among the members of the authority. Lastly, he contends that the appointment of Sunil Sadarangani to the Corozal Free Zone Board is invalid, and that the representative should not be drawn from the private sector, but from government.

According to Minister Espat, the chairman of the NFZA is Hugh O?Brien, his chief executive officer, with whom Smiling also has a bone to pick. He claims that O?Brien did not allow him to enter the proxies which he contends would have put him on top.

Luke Espat accuses the Minister of placing his constituents to run the board, particularly members of the Hindu business community on Albert Street. He furthermore accused Hon. Mark Espat of acting like a rogue Minister.

But the Minister is standing his ground. He told us that elections are held every two years for private sector reps to be elected by the businesses registered in CFZ. He said that the team conducting the elections informed Mr. Smiling that he could not use the proxies because the Ministry felt it should not have been allowed.

According to Minister Espat, there are about 230 registered businesses in the Zone and over 100 investors witnessed the counting on Monday. He said that he is convinced the elections were fair and transparent, and carried out in accordance with the law.

The Minister said that he spoke with the Prime Minister on Monday and explained his position. The Prime Minister, said Espat, was supportive.

Also on Monday morning, however, Smiling himself called the Prime Minister out of a Special Cabinet meeting and had him speak with O?Brien, who had rejected his proxies. Smiling reported that O?Brien refused to change his position without a directive from the Minister, which, apparently, never came.

According to Smiling, it was shortly afterwards that the Prime Minister left for an overseas trip. Now, he thinks that he has been unfairly robbed of another term on the CFZ board.

?The law does not speak about any proxies being allowed,? said Minister Espat.

He said that 21 days before the elections, Joel Cervantes, CEO of the Commercial Free Management Agency, published the names of the entities that were eligible to vote. Everybody in the free zone has an ID, he added, and anyone on the list could have sent a rep with an ID and a letter from the company, saying they are from that company. They would have been given a ballot with six names to vote for.

?Smiling was there campaigning and there for the voting, and I don?t see what the problem is, quite frankly,? he concluded.

The Ministry of National Development, Investment and Culture, under which free zones fall, said Wednesday that Luke Espat?s statement was issued without proper authority?without the authority of the chairman and membership of the NFZA, and as such cannot be issued on behalf of the NFZA.

The Government release further reaffirmed the chairmanship of Mr. Hugh O?Brien over the NFZA.

The officers elected on Monday for the Commercial Free Zone in Corozal were Curtis Arnold, Gulab Sharma, Anil Hotchandani and Carlos Parra.

Florencio Marin, Sr., continues to chair the Corozal CFZ Management Agency and his vice is Sunil Sadarangani.

Smiling told the media that the decision to disallow proxies was a conspiracy against him.