For the past two nights we've been telling you about the massive judgments secured by the Ashcroft Alliance after the United States Supreme Court refused to hear Government's appeal of lower court judgments for BCB Holdings Limited, and Belize Social Development. Combined, the two of them amount to a staggering 50 million US dollars.

Last night we publicly questioned whether the Barrow Administration was too shell shocked to respond; well it seems a scathing press release from the PUP rang the alarm in the Prime Minister's office.

A smoking hot release issued today from the Prime Minister's Office goes on the political offensive; it is headlined "Government of Belize will not pay for PUP Corruption."

Most strikingly, the release states, quote,"while the US courts have upheld the awards, those courts have no authority to overrule the CCJ and certainly the Ashcroft companies can never collect on those awards in Belize. the Government of Belize under the current administration, refuses to subject the Belizean people to this monstrosity of the PUP's making, and has no intention of paying a penny of these Ashcroft awards." End quote.

The release goes unto say that the arbitration awards stem from the PUP Accommodation Agreement given to Belize Social Development, and the PUP Settlement Deed given to the British Caribbean Bank. It adds, quote, "Those awards are unenforceable in Belize since the Caribbean Court of Justice has ruled that the PUP agreements on which they are based are scandalous, outrageous and utterly illegal."

The release then blasts the PUP for sending out a statement blaming the Barrow administration for the awards when they are, quote "the legacy of their unconstitutional and unbridled hustling and self-enrichment."

The PUP on the other hand has says the awards are the product of the Barrow Administration's, quote "arrogance and incompetence."