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The Prime Minister made the case against Courtenay yesterday:

Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"It would have the effect of, if not crumbling the reserves, certainly jeopardizing those reserves considerably, I have to think that that is not consistent with his position as a member of the government. Right now, forget the challenges to the laws that we pass, right now he is leading the charge to eliminate the injunction that the supreme court gave us, which injunction, as long as it continues, prevents the Ashcroft Alliances from attempting to collect against us in the states, either in terms of regular government assets or, which we are very more concerned about, the assets of the central bank. As a private lawyer that is fine for Mr. Courtenay to do, even though there are some of us who might say we would not accept such a brief. But the problem comes in when you try to reconcile that and it's irreconcilable with the fact that he is a member of the government. I think the People's United Party really needs to do something about that."

But, you'll remember that when Senator Courtenay finally granted an interview on the call for his removal, he pointed fingers right back at the Prime Minister for his law firm's alleged connection to the Ashcroft Alliance. According to Courtenay, there is evidence that the Prime Minister's Law firm is a shareholder in an Ashcroft company. You'll remember also that the PUP continues to accuse the Prime Minister that his law firm still has Lord Ashcroft as a client. We asked him about those allegations yesterday, and here's what he had to say:

Isani Cayetano - reporter
"There's been the issue of a conflict of interest being tossed around, in so far as Mr. Courtenay's position, but there are those who would argue that the same can be said for your law firm in terms of doing business with Mr. Ashcroft's group locally. Can you speak to that?"

Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"That is a red-herring, or maybe a blue herring. Listen, in the long ago and far away, I appeared in court on a couple occasions, when I was a practicing attorney, on behalf of the Ashcroft Alliance. At the time I was leader of the opposition or certainly an opposition parliamentarian. And I made it plain. I stood up in the house and I declared, if not declaimed, I might do one thing as a lawyer, but I will never stand against Belize. The briefs that I accepted had to do with the Ashcroft Alliance and the private disputes. I am here to tell you, that even before I got into the government, there is simply no way as a private lawyer I would have accepted briefs from the Ashcroft Alliance that would have had as their object and as their end result, crippling the finances and the reserves of this country."

Daniel Ortiz, 7News
"Mr. Courtenay has brought up the issue, that he says he has proof that your law firm is a shareholder in an Ashcroft company."

Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"I don't know about that, we can check with my partner who runs the firm, has always been the managing partner and who has run it on his own for all these years I've been in government. But I'm telling you, do not let that distract from the real issue, which is that nothing any other firm in this country has done can compare to what Courtenay is doing by way of his relentless continuing efforts to empower the Ashcroft Alliance to in fact place in extreme jeopardy the finances the strength of the currency of this country."