Prime Minister Dean Barrow has confirmed to Amandala that NEWCO Ltd. has sought to enforce against the Government of Belize the US$4.26 million judgment awarded in June at the conclusion of arbitration proceedings in Miami. That’s because, since the judgment was handed down in Miami six months ago, the money has not been paid. Barrow told us today that Government had not paid the monies – demanded in July – because of “legal issues” he says need to be sorted out.
The Government has been in touch with their US lawyers, and has invited NEWCO to meet and talk about the issues, but NEWCO refused to talk, said Barrow, who told us that he could not elaborate for us on exactly what those “legal issues” are.
NEWCO had launched enforcement proceedings earlier this month, and according to the P.M. the Government’s Miami-based lawyers have 60 days to respond.
The Government of Belize, under the administration of former Prime Minister Said Musa, was sued by NEWCO for canceling a 30-year contract for the privatization of the Philip Goldson International Airport. Citing a slew of implementation problems which it partly blamed on NEWCO – including changes in its management structure, the then administration gave the concession, instead, to a group of local business people under the name Belize Airport Concession Company (BACC).
Back in July Barrow had indicated that, since BACC had benefited from the cancellation of the NEWCO contract, the Government would try to get the company to offset some of the legal costs. However, Barrow said that the only off-setting BACC agreed to do, after meetings with point men – Joe Mena and Chris Roe, was in the form of a prepayment to the Government of BZ$2 million.
BACC is covered by an indemnification clause in its contract with the Government, which protected it from being sued by NEWCO.
NEWCO, a locally incorporated company, is represented by the law firm of Glenn D. Godfrey, informed the Prime Minister.
As we reported back in June, interest continues to accrue on the bill for as long as Government does not pay, which, by now, would be in the region of BZ$300,000.
NEWCO complained to the arbitrators that 10 days after GOB wrongfully terminated its contract, GOB announced that it was awarding the deal to a group comprised of local companies owned by Samira Musa (niece of the then Prime Minister Said Musa), Pablo Espat (then Belize Airport Authority chairman), David Espat (brother of Minister Mark Espat), and Chris Roe. The directors of the new group, they said, included Musa’s brother, Edward “Billy” Musa.
For its part, the Government of Belize representatives – led by former BELTRADE executive director and subsequent Minister of Investment of Foreign Trade/Foreign Affairs, Eamon Courtenay – contended that things kept going wrong with the investment arrangements.
It contended that the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), which was supposed to provide initial financing for the privatization, allegedly took too long to finalize the loan transaction. Government entered into a service contract with LC (Lufthansa Consulting), and later decided to give them a 30-year exclusive concession to run the airport. But even before the arrangements were solidified, one of the major partners in the LC group went belly-up, major directors moved on to new jobs, and the tribunal noted that even though those changes made GOB uneasy – GOB still proceeded with the arrangements. The frustrations on Government’s side continued to mount, resulting in what arbitrators noted to be “a crisis of confidence.” The Government terminated the agreement in October 2003.