Novelo family confused, shocked at D.F.C. court action

Reports to News Five are that bus service out of the Dangriga hub has returned to its regularly scheduled runs, but tonight it appears the real chaos in the transport industry might just be getting started. On Thursday, the Development Finance Corporation officially posted notice in local newspapers of its intent to pursue legal recourse against the Novelo family in an effort to recover the thirty million dollars plus interest that it lent for the creation of a national bus line. This evening, spokesman David Novelo told News Five that the family will be meeting with their legal team, which includes attorneys Wilfred Elrington, Hubert Elrington, and B.Q. Pitts this weekend. According to Novelo, the family is “baffled, very confused, and shocked” at the D.F.C.’s course of action. The businessman claims that the family needs legal guidance as it is unclear to them why D.F.C. expects payments to be made toward the thirty million dollar loan when the company is under receivership management. Novelo told News Five that it is possible that D.F.C. is preparing to liquidate the securities that they posted as collateral. We understand that those securities include some one hundred and thirty properties throughout the country. Novelo claims that when they borrowed the thirty million, they put up forty-four million dollars in assets and six million in cash. The Novelo Bus Company was taken over in joint receivership by the Development Finance Corporation and the Atlantic Bank more than a year and a half ago after the Novelo family failed to meet its financial requirements to its creditors.