Barrow is Bogus

by glenntillett@yahoo.com

It was over a year ago that the Barrow administration sought to assure us that it was their moral duty to takeover Belize Telemedia Limited and that it would not become a millstone around the necks of the nation.

Back then I had hoped that at worst it would only be Dean Oliver Barrow’s personal albatross.

Like Coleridge’s ancient mariner Dean Oliver was then only too eager to tell the tale of his harrowing journey as a member of the crew of the Belize Holdings under the captaincy of his lordship, Baron Ashcroft, of Chichester in the County of West Sussex.

On September 21^st, the 29^th anniversary of our hard won independence Dean Oliver will present his takeover and sale to himself of our largest and most lucrative private company as yet another heroic chapter in the Battle with one of St. George’s men. He will no doubt rift that it is fitting that as we celebrate our hard-fought, hard earned political independence from Britain, he has furthered our economic independence from the said same Brits by expropriating BTL from another dratted Brit.

From where I sit it seems to me that Baron Ashcroft, of Chichester in the County of West Sussex, has quietly downsized and divested much of his investment in Belize, and left the field that is Belize, at least for now. Only he knows if this is a tactical retreat, perhaps spurred on by the fear that Barrow, the legislative prestidigitator, may make more than a US$22.5 million mortgage debenture loan by the Belize Bank to BTL disappear.

(Remember this?  “Government in its acquisition, in the order made by the Minister acquired that mortgage debenture which in effect means that government is subrogated to the rights of the bank. Government steps in the shoes of the bank, government in fact then inhabits the space of the creditor. The mortgage debenture is thus in government’s favour and the loan to Telemedia that it secures is a loan that is now owed by Telemedia to government. Government has not assumed BTL’s debt.

“That would mean that government has stepped into the shoes of BTL, it is the complete opposite. Government has stepped into the shoes of the bank. So rather than government now owing the loan in the place of Telemedia, government is the person to whom the loan is owed in the place of Belize Bank Turks and Cacios.” – Dean Barrow, November 25, 2009.)

For Baron Ashcroft, of Chichester in the County of West Sussex, he may have had as much (if not more) as a billion invested in Belize. Now for some people “invested” is just another word for “at risk” so I can understand why he may have decided to decrease his exposure as they say, especially after the passage of another piece of legislation called the Supreme Court Judicature Amendment Bill.

I suspect that on the 21^st Barrow will announce what he has decided is the value of the shares, and by extension BTL, and that the Government of Belize, Social Security Board and possibly one or two other entities will buy what they deem is 60% of same. He will helpfully explain, for example, that BTL is worth say $250 million, and that SSB, which has $140 million in the banks, and $60 million in BEL, is investing $75 million or buying 25%, and the Government of Belize and local investors will make up the other 26%. (There are still a small percentage of shares that remained with small Belizean shareholders after the takeover.)

As I understand it two foreign entities are being lobbied to buy 5% ($12.5 million) each.

Barrow won’t be deterred by the fact that this reality is a far cry from the promise that BTL would be swiftly sold to foreign investors who were lined up and waiting in the wings to buy it. He believes that his actions still enjoys the majority support of the electorate, and that Baron Ashcroft, of Chichester in the County of West Sussex, is in hasty retreat.

On 21^st Barrow will be announcing the first of what will turn out to be the largest transfer of the Belizean people’s money to Baron Ashcroft, of Chichester in the County of West Sussex.

In one fell stroke back on August 24^th, Dean Barrow increased our indebtness by hundreds of millions of dollars.  The full tab that we will pay at this point is incalculable.

In a time when foreign investment coming to Belize has shrunk by more than half, and is continuing to shrink, one has to wonder what is the compound effect of the “capital flight” of hundreds of millions of dollars by Baron Ashcroft, of Chichester in the County of West Sussex?

Sure it has the positive effect for him that his money is “safer” elsewhere, but it also helps to keep Belize firmly in the grip of its economic downturn. All the noises about recovery aside, the everyday reality is that we have fallen and can’t seem to get up. How much of that you think is helped along by the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars that had been invested in Belize?

Barrow has won a few battles but Belize is losing this war. God help us all. God save us all. Oh shrieve him, oh shrieve him, holy man!

Barrow is bogus.

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