Another issue we took the opportunity to ask Barrow about was the accusation from the Opposition that the Barrow Government has supposedly overpaid him for his services. As you will have noticed, he is the Government's lead attorney on many of the cases that go to the high courts.
Recently, an opposition ad started circulating on Social Media which discloses the sum of money that they Government paid Denys Barrow for handling the case of the Palencia and Paranga cargo ships. Viewers may remember that the Paranga ran aground on the reef, 2 miles south east of English Caye in 2012. Last year, The Government detained the Palencia Cargo Ship, and held it in Belizean waters until the owners, who also are in charge of the Paranga, paid the environmental fine, which amounted to 2.7 million dollars.
For his legal work in getting the payment, Denys Barrow was paid just over a half a million dollars, which represented 20%. The PUP used that internal memo from the Ministry of Finance, to suggest that brother Barrow cashed in at the public's expense.
So did he? Here's how Denys Barrow answered it:
Daniel Ortiz
"The opposition has made an issue of the fact that you are the Prime Minister's brother and that you have been one of the prominent attorneys for the Government of Belize and they are also suggesting that from time to time you've been overpaid for that service. We have to ask the question, is that in any way accurate?"
Denys Barrow, Attorney for GOB
"No. Um, it is political mischief and one expects it in the course of a political campaign. Regrettably, there is not any kind of corruption, any kind of shady dealings on the part of Dean Barrow that they can point to. So what they do is they say because I charged the usual fee that a very senior attorney will charged and the government pays this for my services, they are saying that this is nepotism - that this is something which should reflect badly upon Dean Barrow. I regret that they have seen fit to do this, because they all know that the fees that I charged are the same fees as lawyers at my level of practice, my experience of practicing would charge. I would love to give you a bill of cost for instance that Lord Goldsmith submitted and is seeking to get the Government of Belize to pay where he is charging 1,000 pounds an hour for his services, whereas I charge along with other senior lawyers at the rate of BZ$1,000 per hour. I think a 1,000 pounds an hour works out to maybe BZ$3,400 an hour. So it is what is charged that the government pays to me and it is far less that what it could have been required to pay if it had employed somebody such as Lord Goldsmith or some English QC."
In relation to the money he collected for the cargo ship case, Barrow said that he simply charged the Government the standard 20%, which is what most, if not all, banks charge.
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