And there's an accompanying piece of legislation that got less attention today. It's called the Crown Proceedings Act and it seeks to protect the government's property - not the reserves - from being claimed in settlement of any award. The Prime Minister explained:
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"So now, this particular bill, if it passes will make clear that no one can properly enforce abroad an arbitral award, once that award has declared unconstitutional, illegal and void by our courts. We are obliged to do everything we can to protect not juts Belize, but the Caribbean from this sort of depredation. And so what this bill is saying is that in circumstances where an award has been pronounced upon by our courts negatively, in circumstances where an award has been ruled out of order and unconstitutional, anybody who seeks an award that's made against the crown, against the government, anybody who seeks to enforce that award not withstanding our pronouncements by our court, anybody who seeks to enforce that award abroad will also be guilty of an offence."
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