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Last night, at the end of a very full news package, we told you about the dispute over a newly registered company called the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association. Now, that is also the name of the real Cane Farmers Association - the BSCFA in Orange Walk. The suggestion made by Prime Minister Dean Barrow is that those who incorporated the company were trying to basically steal the BSCFA's assets and identity. That points to Fred Ortega, the Director for Orange Walk. With legal advice from Audrey Matura Shepherd, he was supposedly the moving hand behind the whole maneuver. Today - speaking with CTV-3 in Orange Walk in Spanish - he defended his actions as completely benign and said the Prime Minister's plan to strike out the company is what's wrong:..

Fred Ortega, Director - BSCFA (translated)
"The certificate is in favour of the caneros, in favour of the association, to clearly establish it, equal to the other associates within the Companies and Corporate act. This is all we were trying to do with the BSCFA. This is not a case of anyone trying to hijack BSCFA. Because this is not a new institution or new members, it is the same membership that would be covered within this name. For me, it is a pity that the prime minister wants to make this move, because for me what was done was to protect or to give validity to the association under the laws of Belize."

But the Prime Minister had a very different take on it. He says the stated objects of the new company make it clear what was the intention from the outset:..

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"The objects in the memorandum of association for this new company, state that the BSCFA has been abolish by law - the existing BSCFA, and so when this company is formed, the BSCFA, having become extinct, this new company can appoint a committee of management for the same BSCFA that has been abolished. Now, I don't know, I say again, which lawyer, offered that sort of advice. If you looked at amended legislation, there is a saving clause that makes it absolutely plain, that the BSCFA, which pre-existed the amendments, continues to be a recognized entity under the law - continues to be a legal entity and continues to operate under the egis of its bi-laws, except and until the members would vote to change the bi-laws. So, this argument that the BSCFA fell by the wayside and even if it did, that you can form a company using the name and take over. Presumably, that's what they want to get at - the assets of the BSCFA is absolute madness."

The PM told the media yesterday that he will try and de-register or de-list this company on the technicality that it does not include the word "limited" in its name. He added that two of the Directors - who are also Directors of the BSCFA - have indicated that they were misled into signing on.