7 News Belize

The Newco Ghost of Previous Government’s Past
posted (May 25, 2016)

You may remember Newco, as a European Consortium which had a brief 30-year concession agreement with the Previous Musa Government over the Management and control of the Philip Goldson International Airport. That business deal eventually led a legal dispute which for which a 4.2 million US dollar award has been hanging over the current Government’s head. Well, it appears that this ghost of the Musa Government past is coming back to haunt the current Goverment once again.

It’s a dispute that dates back 11 years ago to May of 2005 when Newco, sued the the Musa Government. The company’s claim is that the then Government of the day entered into that concession agreement and  11 months later, they terminated it without cause. If that deal hadn’t ended abruptly, Newco would have been entitled to operate the airport and make improvements to it. You’ll remember that the Belize Airport Concession Company, the group of well-connected local investors, got the deal to run the airport after the canceled Newco agreement. 

Well, as you would remember, Newco went ahead and initiated arbitration in Miami, Florida, and the Arbitration Tribunal found that that the Government breeched the concession agreement. It awarded Newco $4.259 million US dollars plus costs and interests. To counter this litigation, the Government started a lawsuit in the Belize Supreme Court, and it successfully obtained a world-wide anti-suit injunction. They were seeking a declaration that the the International award was deficient, and they moved to stay the the US action to confirm the award. 

In 2013, the Belize Supreme Court found that Newco’s claim for an enforcement order was “well foundedâ€￾. As a result, the US District Court for the District of Columbia concluded that it had the jurisdiction to confirm the award. All other defenses by the Belize Government were dismissed and the court then proceeded to grant Newco’s motion to confirm the award and enter the judgement. 

The bottomline is that this 4.259 million US dollar award, plus the interest, is now owed by the current government.

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