45 million US Dollars, that's how much the Ashcroft controlled Belize International Services Limited is asking the court to award it in damages. This is the revenue they claimed that they lost since the Barrow Government seized control of the IBC and Ships registry back in 2013.
Well, for the past 2 days, BISL's attorneys, including Senior Counsel Eamon Courtenay, have been before Justice Michelle Arana trying to convince her that the former registries managers deserve this award of damages.
Lead Government Attorney Denys Barrow, has been defending the Barrow Administration in this claim, and this evening, he outlined the case to us as it has unfolded so far. Here's how he explained it:
Denys Barrow, attorney for GOB
"The case concerns the takeover by government of the two registries; the Ships Registry and the International Business Companies Registry. That takeover occurred in June 2013 when the government decided that the contract which existed for BISL to manage the two registries had come to an end and that a purported extension of the contract from 2013 - 2020 was an unlawful and illegal extension. Therefore government is not bound by it and they decided that they will take over the registry. Interesting thing is, that extension was signed in 2005 to take effect in 2013. The claim is for damages and they have quantified their claim as being US45 million dollars. The position of the government is that we don't owe you any money. We should not be ordered to pay any damages, because what you had is an illegal contract and therefore the contract should be held as not having properly existed as having no existence and therefore there is not anything to damage and to break."
Daniel Ortiz
"Where do the legal arguments turn at this time? What is the points being made to the judge?"
Denys Barrow, attorney for GOB
"Both sides filed pre-trial submissions. In our submissions we contended that the contract is unlawful because, 1) It allows a body which is not a government official, which is not a government department, which is not administered by any civil servant or any person in the employment of the government of Belize to collect millions of dollars every year and every collection that is made of public money, these are taxes, fees and penalties payable by law - the contract allows the people who operated, manage the registries to put that into their own accounts, called escrow accounts, but as emerge in the testimony, nobody from government could sign on those accounts."
The evidence-taking portion of the case has finished, and both sides need to file their written submissions by next week Friday. The court will then decide when is an appropriate time to hear them on these legal arguments. After that, the Justice Arana will reserve judgment.
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