The activist group, COLA, brought in their politician attorney and asked him to interpret the arbitration judgement. He says that the Barrow Administration chose to fight an extensive legal battle dragged out over years, and costing hundreds of millions of dollars, only to retract their defense before this international arbitration tribunal.
For COLA and their attorney, they see all that time and money spent in court as especially wasteful, since – in their opinion - the Prime Minister as an attorney – should have known better. They explained that today an impromptu press briefing:
Geovannie Brackett - President, COLA
"What we've been saying is that we felt from the very get go that if the government had been more strategic in taking over BTL and if they had just settle from the time that they had the time to settle as you will hear our attorney will explain that the government could have settled this matter a long time ago; rather than dragging this through the mud and dropping it at the mercy of the tribunal."
Hon. Kareem Musa - Legal Advisor, COLA
"What the tribunal considers in its decision at page 14 is the fact that in 2015 the prime minister went to Miami Florida to settle with Mr. Ashcroft and this again is after 7-8 long years of a legal battle that had no chance of success. And the first clause says the respondent and the respondent is Belize; the respondent shall withdraw any and all of its objections to the tribunal's jurisdiction and to the merits of the claimant’s claims."
"We have no objections to the claimant’s case, the merits of the claimant’s case, we have no objections, we are presenting no legal arguments we are laying down dead at your mercy to just tell us what we are to pay. That is the effect of the settlement deed that the prime minister signed in 2015. So why take the people and country of Belize from 2008 to the Supreme Court? Why take us to the court of appeal? Why take us to the CCJ? Why take us now to the tribunal if you knew all along we had a losing case. You knew from the get go we had a losing case but you took us all the way there only to then lay down dead at the footsteps of Mr. Ashcroft and this tribunal and have them give their decision which we now know is damaging to the financial feature of this country."
"And now end up costing the Belizean people 75 million US dollars in interest alone. Let is not forget that had Mr. Barrow settle this matter in 2009 when we acquired the company it would have saved the Belizean people a hell of a lot of money."
And COLA, very much like the PUP, interprets the SSB purchase of shares in BTL and BEL, as the Prime Minister's hasty attempt to try to find money to pay a part of the judgment debt. Later on the newscast, we'll show you what COLA had to say on the Social Security Board's decision to buy a portion of Government's shares in the two utilities.
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