$2 MILLION DOLLAR BABY

The Belize Times has received credible reports that Deanne Barrow, the daughter of Prime Minister Dean Barrow, has billed the Ministry of Finance a whopping $2 million dollars for her work in the Westerhaven case. Readers will recall that GOB was seeking $36million in damages after that vessel grounded on the reef, and that the attorney on record for GOB was the PM’s daughter, Deanne working out of her mother’s law firm.

Lois Young’s law firm has been raking in the big bucks since the UDP got into office, billing and receiving a confirmed $1.3million in the first year of her ex-husband’s administration. A quick check with our source in the Ministry of Finance has revealed that in the past six months Lois has been paid over $300,000 by GOB, and she has been heard to boast that she will take in $12million from GOB by the end of the year. In just January alone, she has already received $82,000 from GOB and with the submission of the $2million invoice, the pickings may well surpass even Lois’ predictions by year’s end.

Sources inside the legal profession that we consulted this evening told us that they are not surprised at the revelation of this latest fleecing of taxpayers because the favoured status of Lois et al is a hot topic in legal circles. Rampant speculation backed up by the circumstances is that the Prime Minister has circulated a memo in all government departments stating that all legal representation must be done by his ex-wife’s law firm.

The question, of course, is then why have we hired a Solicitor-General. Currently our Solicitor-General Oscar Ramjeet is only seen exercising in the morning in Belmopan and his legal expertise is only experienced in his regular columns on a Caribbean net site. Other than that his employment has gone largely unfelt and unremarked. In addition, government has trained attorneys on regular payroll to represent its interests in legal matters. But they too have been pushed aside so that Lois and Deanne can benefit from their relationship with the Prime Minister.

When we checked up to news time, the Ministry of Finance had not yet paid off the $2million in this latest installment of the Barrow Love Fest/Financial Free for all (Barrows) but we will continue to make regular inquiries through our source at the Ministry of Finance.

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