We spoke with three legislators today, who all told us that they knew nothing of the handsome revenue sharing agreements with BCRL/BELIPO.

Amandala has also learned that a ruling party Senator had been collaborating with non-partisan Senators to challenge the BCRL/BELIPO contracts within the Senate. What has truly sparked this move is uncertain.

Private sector Senator, Hon. Godwin Hulse, told us today that while he discovered GOB?s intent to privatize the registry in 2003, when he found the relevant piece of legislation embedded in 44 other bills consolidating the Laws of Belize, he had no idea that the Government would give 80% of stamp duties to the owners of the registry.

Senator Hulse described the contracts as ?outrageous,? noting that when he first learned of the privatization of the registry, he immediately objected to it, maintaining that GOB had no need to privatize it.

Senator Rene Gomez, who represents civil society, also told us that he did not know of the revenue sharing formula. However, he recalled that Senator Hulse had raised objections to the privatization in 2003.

Another legislator from the House told us that the Government had mentioned the privatization of the registry in passing, but legislators did not approve the actual contract.

Despite Hulse?s objections in the Senate over the privatization of the companies? registry, he was outvoted. The Senator told us that the bill was delayed due to concerns over it, and it was Solicitor General, Elson Kaseke, who is now a director of BELIPO (which owns the privatized registry), who argued that the amendment was in order.

According to Hulse, he knew at the time that David Jenkins and Denys Barrow, brother of Opposition Leader, Hon. Dean Barrow, were said to be the official owners, but he had heard of ?silent partners,? allegedly two Ministers of Government at the time, one of them still in office.

Senator Hulse recalls that prior to the new law, Barrow had mentioned the move to privatize the registry in the House of Representatives, but on the day that the pile of legal amendments?with the registry privatization law embedded?were passed, no one addressed the matter in the House.

In an interview with Channel 7 News last Friday, October 21, 2005, Hon. Godfrey Smith, who penned the agreement for Government while he was Attorney General, said that both the Cabinet and the National Assembly approved the privatization. Smith also said that he takes responsibility for ?the germination of the idea, for the implementation of the contract, and for seeing to it that the end product delivers what it was envisioned to do…?

Still, in a draft settlement deed signed by GOB?s financial advisor, Joseph Waight, posted this week on freebelize.org, the Government of Belize claims that the agreements with the BCRL and the Registry were executed ?without proper authority and did not constitute valid and enforceable obligations of the Government.?

The agreements, GOB claim, are ?repugnant? to the Constitution and Laws of Belize, and were invalid and could not be enforced.

Last week, Cabinet announced its decision to rescind the contracts with BCRL and BELIPO and Government took back control of both the companies registry and the intellectual property registry.

At last report, it was working on a settlement with the parties with whom it signed the agreement.

What Smith has also revealed is that the agreements he signed with BELIPO/BCRL were patterned off pre-existing agreements with IMMARBE (The International Merchant Marine Registry of Belize), which registers international ships to fly the Belize flag, and the International Business Companies (IBC) Registry, established in 1989 and 1990, respectively.