Government today suffered a major setback when it lost a 41.7 million US dollar international arbitration case to the Ashcroft Alliance.
The arbitration was heard in Costa Rica between Ashcroft's British Caribbean Bank and the Government of Belize.
The case centers over a loan that the then Ashcroft controlled BTL made from the bank in 2007, together with interest and costs.
The government owned BTL has maintained that the loan was illegally entered into and the company should pay it back. But, the bank is still out tens of millions of US dollars - so they went to ask an arbitration panel to compel Government to pay.
The arbitrators agreed that the debt stands and the bank must be compensated - but only for the face value of the loan, not for any additional amounts, which the Bank was claiming.
But in a release today Government noted that that matter is still being decided in a case pending before the Supreme Court of Belize, brought jointly by Telemedia and Government against the Bank, arguing that the loan was illegal and may not be enforced.
And while that is awaiting a court date, Government says it has received legal advice and will also challenge today's award.
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