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Hayward's Threat
posted (August 25, 2009)

And while Hulse had no tears for Telemedia's former owners, we received a cautionary press release from the Hayward Charitable Trust this evening. Hayward is the inscrutable trust which holds 70% of the shareholdings in Telemedia.

We can't say that they own it because the companies register shows the same old set of Ashcroft familiars as the owners of record: those are ECOM, BB Holdings Limited, BTL International Inc., BTL Investments Ltd., Valkyrie Communications Ltd., Thiermon, New Horizon Inc, and the employees trust Sunshine Holdings Ltd. Combined, those companies own 26 million shares, about 95% of the issued share capital in BTL which is what government is acquiring. There are one thousand other small shareholders who hold who hold 5% whose holdings are not being acquired.

But back to the Hayward release which, to our reading, seems to very much carry the tone of Michael Ashcroft. It warns that there will be more litigation, in Belize and London and states that Hayward will invoke the investment treaty between Belize and the United Kingdom. But, the release says it's all for the charitable causes that Hayward wishes to pursue not for Lord Ashcroft, who, the release informs, "has no economic interest in Telemedia." Strange though that Ashcroft's corporate mothership BB Holdings shows up as one of the owners of record in the Companies register. Nonetheless, Hayward's position is that it is now only interested quote, "in ensuring that the charities it was set up to help..receive full and lawful compensation."

And while on the subject of charitable trusts and the public interests they so happily serve, it seems odd that when what the Prime Minister says are Ashcroft-affiliated charitable trusts recently acquired the majority shareholdings in Speednet that no glad-handing release was issued to inform Belizeans of the beneficial acquisition. Of course, those trusts may be for "corporate charity." Interesting also that no denial has been issued either from Ashcroft-dom or from the Briceno's on the Prime Minister's claim that "Speednet is owned by Michael Ashcroft." A key point because it exposes as a sham the whole notion of competition.

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