After an intense back and forth, the Supreme Court reversed those orders and freed up those frozen monies on the premise that there was not enough evidence presented to substantiate any money laundering offences. Going further than that, several of these defendants have launched lawsuits against the Government of Belize seeking damages for effect that the state's actions has cause. The only agency which has been quiet on this case since the time it broke was the Financial Intelligence Unit. As we told you, the new director broke long his silence and granted a press encounter yesterday, It was his first since taking office as the successor to Marilyn Williams. Here's what he had to say about it when we asked him about it:

Eric Eusey - Director, FIU
"Belize has a mutual legal assistance treaty with the United States and under that treaty, when the US makes a request which is legal for their system, Belize is obligated to respond and assist. And the request under this treaty was to assist in a search and seizure of records for Titan and Unicorn, and that was the extent of it. We were not aware which companies or which individuals were being targeted until the day the operation unfolded. So the action by the Attorney General's Ministry which is the legal entity to carry out enforcement was quite legal. The issue was before the court to convince the court that A, these entities were involved with money laundering and other activities, but the FIU was not given sufficient time to make a case. So the court rule that there was not a case to restrain the funds of these entities."

So, what about these claims for damages? Tax-payers money are at risk of being awarded to the claimants should the court agree with them that the state agencies acted beyond their authority and jurisdiction to take such drastic action against them. We put that to the director, and here's how he responded:

Daniel Ortiz
"At this current moment tax paying dollars are at risk for a claim to damages, the basis on which they do that is that FIU which is an agency of the state, took certain actions against them which they believe is unlawful. How does one assure the public that the FIU acts in its best interest and in the interest of the countries which we have obligations to, but at the same time it is not acting irresponsibly?"

Eric Eusey - Director, FIU
"Well, they are claiming damages but it doesn't automatically mean that they will succeed. The Attorney general's Ministry and the FIU are vigorously fighting, resisting those accusations and we have representations in the court. And we are guided by the laws and act strictly under the law. An entity might not like certain activities when it happens but we have a legal basis on which to make our actions. It would appear that the FIU was the lead agency in this activity when in fact it was not. It's actually the government of Belize by the Attorney General's Ministry, which under the Mlat Treaty, they are the principal entity that has to respond to a request."

Daniel Ortiz
"Do you think it hurts our image internationally when a case like this, some would describe it as a bungle, we dropped the ball. Where 500 million US dollars is said to have been pocketed from US taxes that should have gone in."

Eric Eusey - Director, FIU
"No it wasn't a bungle because it wasn't a Belize case, it was a US case and the American government was very clear as to their request. They were very clear in respect to that and to the extent that is request, then that is as far as we go."

Eusey reminded that these cases aren't completed as yet. He also added that the nature of the cases they investigation are sensitive and as such, they must keep details on them confidential. This he says, is the reason why the FIU does not come to the public with them.