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Last night, we gave you both sides of the very public departure of Shyne Barrow out of the Belize Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (BSCAP).

The former CEO says that he cannot continue to support management of BSCAP because their spending practices have saddled the organization with hundreds of thousands of dollars in unsustainable debt, much to the detriment of the struggling artists who need every penny they could get in the fight to get the country copyright compliant.

Barrow is accusing the Board, and specifically, former CEO Heather Cunningham of financial mismanagement. A leaked internal Financial report say that over the course of her 4-year tenure, BSCAP spent just over $389,000. That same report says that Cunningham is claiming $260,000 in salaries as compensation for her years of service. 

The over 100 BSCAP members will be asked in October to share only $2,500 for their distribution after several years, and from Barrow’s perspective, the disparity is outrageous. Well, we’ve put together their main points and counterpoints for you to decide who is right and who is wrong in dispute. Here’s what the two former CEO’s had to say yesterday:

Shyne Barrow - Former CEO, BSCAP
"When you get off of this first page with that $600,000 and you get to the page of revenue generated which was $2,400 how could anyone spend, how could anyone rack up that type of expenses and demand that from an organization when all they have to show after 13 years is $2,400 in revenue generated. That is outrageous, that is egregious."

Heather Cunningham - Former CEO - BSCAP
"For me it’s like after working all these years to help the Belizean artist I get this turnaround of a slap in the face, kick in the butt by a gentleman who obviously is just angry. Why? I don't know but it's not helping the artists and it's certainly not helping Belize overall."

Shyne Barrow
"As CEO, I have collected not one penny. My salary was scheduled to be $36,000, but I was not in it for that. So, my salary was not going to be collected any time in this generation, because the fight for copyright compliance is a dogged fight."

Heather Cunningham
"Shyne before he came on as CEO went back and forth with the board, he was insisting that he should get paid the same amount that I got paid even though he is not a lawyer, knew nothing about copyright management, matter of fact negotiations fell before Shyne came into the position because Shyne wanted the money but now a whole year and a half later, his story has changed. Of course you don't know that."

Shyne Barrow
"Cunningham became CEO in 2010. I don't know who approved that she would get $50,000 in 2010, $60,000 in 2011, $70,000 in 2012, and $80,000 in 2013."

Heather Cunningham
"My salary is what it is. It's been approved by the board. Let's be very clear on that. I think that my background, my credentials and all that I brought to the table speaks for itself. It speaks volumes."

Shyne Barrow
"I don't know who approved her expenses of $82,000 in 2010 - because an AGM is supposed to take place every year, to avoid this type of financial irresponsibility and mismanagement."

Heather Cunningham
"It was financial mismanagement, Shyne knew this before coming on as CEO, Shyne knew the debt that was outstanding at the time and he still chose to lead the organization. When the 2016 financials came out in February, he knew it then too, so why all of a sudden is financial irregularities an issue? None of this information is new to Shyne, he didn't just come upon this and discovered on my gosh. If there were really financial irregularities that says a lot about somebody that is about to head up an organization that he feels has financial mismanagement problems. What does that say about this character?"

Shyne Barrow
"I don't know who approved the $115,000 in 2011, the $85,000 in 2012, the $105,000 in 2013. I know for 2016, I spent $10,000 the most on expenses, and I believe that's an exaggeration, I am inflating the numbers If I say $10,000, so where they got those type of numbers from, I don't know."

Heather Cunningham
"The board also approves all salaries and expenses which include annual payments to CSAC and ACCESS, all of which are organizations that aid BSCAP in international copyright royalty collections."

Shyne Barrow
"I put my credibility on the line for the work that I have done with the office of the music ambassador, I believe I have earned the respect of the nation, certainly of the music community and I use that capital to go and try to work on behalf of the artist, the members not the CEO."

Heather Cunningham
"It’s like I paid over $150,000 to get my education and to know what I know and I decided on my own accord to help the Belizean artists, to help them understand how to navigate about rights and the value of the rights and to have somebody turn around and shout out or put out to the public that there is a mismanagement of funds, funds we don't even have. I think anybody in their right mind would get emotional."

Shyne Barrow
"In my opinion I could be wrong, I doubt it - I get the feeling that they just come to collect. There is nothing that demonstrates any concern for their members."

Heather Cunningham
"Once we get the financial audit completed, I said that whatever the auditor says is not justified will be excluded, but what we were told to do is to make sure we put on the record all expenses. So I'm not taking anything away from Shyne, Shyne is about the artist but my question is if he is so much about the artist why would he stand to destroy any opportunity that these artist have for any monies right now?"

Barrow tells us that after Heather Cunningham left the post of CEO, she went on to become a member of the board at BSCAP, where she is now the Chair.