The buzz around town on Friday was that Dean Boyce, the head honcho at Belize Telemedia Limited (BTL), was a wanted man, as Magistrate Edd Usher proceeded to enforce an order, using police, that he had made to BTL two weeks ago ordering the company to pay $2.3 million plus interest by July 1.
The arrest warrant forced BTL to hurriedly pay its tax arrears, despite a law suit challenging the Magistrate’s June 24th ruling made in the Revenue Court.
BTL had filed suit against Usher, challenging his order, and so they held back payments, claiming that they were doing so because they had filed their appeal. Not so! says the magistrate.
The magistrate interpreted the law to say that taxes must be paid up when due, even if there is a dispute, and so when BTL failed to pay by the court-ordered deadline, the magistrate issued a committal warrant for the detention of Dean Boyce, who heads BTL’s executive committee.
On Friday afternoon, at about 1:30 p.m., assistant Superintendent of Police, Linden Flowers, accompanied a court bailiff to serve the committal warrant on Boyce at BTL’s St. Thomas Street office. They were told that Boyce was “out to lunch.”
Roughly two hours later, BTL paid up the due amount.
Magistrate Usher had also ordered that another $2.3 million in tax arrears must be paid by Tuesday, July 8. The court would, likewise, hold Boyce accountable for any default.
On Monday, June 30—the day before BTL’s first installment was due—BTL filed its challenge in the Belize Supreme Court, asking the court to set aside the orders of Magistrate Usher.
BTL, BTL Digicell, and BESL (Business Enterprise Systems Limited) say that the orders of the Magistrate are null and void – of no legal effect – and they say that the Magistrate acted beyond his jurisdiction in the case.
BTL’s tax arrears are now in excess of $6 million.
The company claims that it has a legally binding accommodation agreement (along with its amendments), granted by former Prime Minister Said Musa, which says that the company is entitled to a 15% rate of return, and is entitled to withhold taxes from government to make up for any shortfall in returns.
BTL is challenging government over that agreement via foreign arbitration and Government’s insistence – under the administration of Prime Minister Dean Barrow – that the company must pay its taxes. The new administration has said that the accommodation agreement and its amendments are null, void and outright illegal.
In related news, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) is investigating BTL in relation to the financial transactions with the Belize Bank Limited, an affiliate company, which has been slapped with 79 charges under the Money Laundering (Prevention) Act. We are reliably informed that the FIU has run into a number of snags in trying to access BTL information in Belize City and Belmopan, including the assertion by the company that the company which the FIU wants to investigate – Belize Telecommunications Limited – no longer exists.
Last March, BTL changed its name from Belize Telecommunications Limited to Belize Telemedia Limited, under a widely controversial, Parliament-sanctioned Vesting Act. Information to our newspaper late Thursday was that the FIU had sorted out some of the glitches and had been able to make some progress with its investigation of BTL.
The Belize Bank’s money laundering case is due to come up again in the Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, July 8.
At the last session on June 18, the bank pleaded not guilty to all charges.