At a press conference today, the Prime Minister expressed relief and rather less triumphalism than when he took it over 6 years ago:

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"That the government of Belize has settled the BTL issue. We have reached an agreement with the former shareholders of BTL. I have been aware every live long day that this is a matter that has been with us for 6 long years. We are absolutely satisfied that what we did was right and we consider what's happening now as vindication."

That vindication comes at a steep price for BTL. The phone company will have to pay the British Caribbean Bank for a mortgage debenture, which was already in default when government took the company over. It was 22.5 million US dollars then - and government had resisted paying the debt because they maintained that it was illegally undertaken. But they lost that case resoundingly at arbitration, and six years of default later, the debt to Ashcroft's bank has more than doubled because of interest. The Prime Minister catalogued the history and the bottom line today:..

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"The arbitration panel found that we had to in fact pay the BCB loan, not just in the principal amount, but together with the interest under the loan and costs. That interest within the loan terms provided for a12% annual rate. But in the event of default, it became 16% and since we hadn't paid, that was deemed by the arbitrators to have constituted default. So the 16% interest ran. And we thought, well, if they come to enforce their award in Belize, then we will have another bite at the cherry in terms of our argument that the loan was illegal. Of course, that would have meant that the interest at 16% per annum would continue to run and if we were again unsuccessful, before the local courts as we were before the tribunal, within after the 3-4 years it would have taken for challenged to run their course, you can imagine where the sum would have been."

"It is now 48 million US. In order to settle this matter, to have the former shareholders acknowledge once and for all that BTL is now and forever more the property of the government and people of Belize. We will pay the award that the tribunal issued in the BCB matter. Others words, we will not any longer seek to skip and jump and dodge and run and postponed the inevitable for another day while interest continues to run. So we will pay that 48 million US dollars and settle the BCB award. So that 48 million dollars will not be paid by us ultimately. It will be paid by us in the first instance as a sort of bridge, but it is the liability of BTL and BTL will then have to repay the government of Belize."

Nestor Vasquez, Chairman - BTL B.O.D.
"We see no problems whatsoever in meeting a debt like the one that we have undertaken right now."

And so while BTL will take the nearly 100 million Belize dollar debt on the corporate chin - what is the overall bottom line on the cost of this settlement? The Prime Minister ran down the figures:..

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"We are paying the 97 million 4 hundred thousand dollars, which is where the award of the tribunal with respect to the original 22.5 million dollars US loan to BTL stands and we are paying with respect to the compensation for the acquisition of shares, 65 million 300 thousand Belize dollars. Altogether, a total of 162 million, 700 thousand Belize dollars."

Of course, that's just a partial compensation because Government must also await the determination of an arbitration tribunal, which will determine a final award for the value of the shares, and the value of the accommodation agreement - if they agree that it was valid. Right now the compensation government is paying for the shares is only one dollar and 44 cents per share - which is called the NERA value. But the Ashcroft Allied Companies are claiming as much as ten dollars per share - and the arbitration panel will come up with a figure somewhere between those extremes.

So, the final bill could add up to tens of millions of US dollars more - depending on the outcome of the arbitration. Though these things tend to always go in the favour of the Ashcroft Alliance, the Prime Minister was slightly optimistic:

Jules Vasquez
"But it is 162.7 and counting right, because the arbitration still has to be settled."

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"Yes sir. But remember there is a chance that the arbitration will be settle at this figure. You might not give too much for that chance or for those chances, but the chance exists doesn't it?"

Jules Vasquez
"We've never won arbitration, because the people who run the arbitration have a similar background to Mr. Ashcroft."

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"Well I won't get into all that. But clearly we concede that there is a possibility that the arbitration panel will make an award that is greater than what we are paying now which is the NERA value."

Jules Vasquez
"If the government had simply tried a more orderly takeover, perhaps might it not have been significantly cheaper than all this is working out to be, because the government chose a confrontational acquisitive approach?"

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"No sir. Absolutely not. I don't know what orderly takeover you contemplate. But that..."

Jules Vasquez
"Mr. Ashcroft said he wanted to sell."

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"I don't recollect that sir and if history was anything to go by, the last government tried, I don't know if you would called it an orderly approach, but an approach that certainly was not confrontational, that saw us taken to the cleaners."

Nestor Vasquez, Chairman - BTL B.O.D.
"It had to be done. Because what existed was an unregulated monopoly. That is important. The Prime Minister actually said this in parliament when he was introducing the bill. Another important point is that he even prove that the control of the ownership of SMART was in the hands of the same person that was in control of BTL. That made it a monopoly. But with the accommodation agreement in place, that had more authority in certain instances that the public utilities commission - that was the regulator. It's important to know that it had to be done. It was in the interest of the country and people of Belize to do that."

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"I think the justification speaks for itself and the vindication speaks for itself. Because there can be no doubt apart from the question of sovereignty and nationalism and patrimony, both BEL and BTL have performed splendidly under the stewardship of a board of directors appointed by the government of Belize and consumers have benefitted. The Belizean public has benefitted from the ownership of those two utilities by the government and people of this country."

And - as we mentioned - that arbitration panel could also make an award for the accommodation agreement - again, worth tens of millions of dollars more. The Prime Minister said however that there is a special charitable element to that payment if it is awarded:

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"If the value that it awards does include an element for the accommodation agreement, I've negotiated so that that portion will be separated out and will be described as the restricted amount. Apart from the restricted amount, I will pay to the previous owners of BTL, the previous shareholders what the tribunal orders and I will pay that in US dollars. The restricted amount will be paid in Belize dollars and will have to be spent in Belize on charitable projects for the good, welfare and wellbeing and the people of this country. Such projects to be identified to the trust that gets the restricted amount by the government of Belize. I'll tell that we feel fairly confident that the tribunal will not make any award for the accommodation agreement. The arguments that our counsel put up in front of the tribunal are compelling. They certainly convinced me, but that's not too hard to do in those circumstances. But however confident, we are litigation risks and so that's why I made the provision in the what we think, unlikely event that the valuation given handed down by the tribunal does include an accommodation award element."

And back to the compensation for the shares. As we told you, right now government is paying 65 million dollars, or one dollar and 44 cents per share. But, the arbitration panel could go much higher. Here's how government would handle the difference:..

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"In the event there is that extra, we will pay half of it within 10 or so business days after the award is made and the other half a year later. So there will be terms with respect to half of that award."

All this goes to the House of Representatives tomorrow - with a bill for an act to provide compensation to the former shareholders, and the telecommunications acquisition settlement act 2015. We'll have full coverage of the house meeting in tomorrow night's newscast.