U.S. court fine: U.S. $1.6 million and counting

The situation is reminiscent of those classic cartoons starring the Roadrunner and his arch enemy Wiley Coyote. You’ll recall that every time Wiley thinks he’s got things under control and is about to capture Roadrunner, something goes wrong and he finds himself about to be blown up, propelled over a cliff, or slammed into the side of a mountain. Well, for the last few months the Government of Belize has been cast in the coyote’s unfortunate role and the mountain they’ve run into is named Ursula Ungaro-Benages, U.S. District Judge in Miami. Yesterday the unrelenting federal jurist exploded yet another bomb in the midst of Belize’s beleaguered legal team when she ruled that not only would Belize have to pay the fifty thousand U.S. dollars per day fine for contempt of her court, but that the clock was still ticking…and as of Monday had reached one point six million U.S. dollars. The original contempt ruling and imposition of the fine was done to compel the Belize government to have its appointed director or directors attend a board meeting of Belize Telecommunications Limited called by chairman Jeffrey Prosser for April eighteenth. But the G.O.B. director, Keith Arnold, found himself unable to participate in the teleconference meeting which meant that the gathering was aborted for lack of a quorum. It was Arnold’s absence that provoked the judge?s ire as he was in Miami on April seventeenth, but instead of staying put near a telephone he chose to return to Belize where he knew the phone service was not functioning.

But perhaps more damaging than the extension of the fine is the news that, according to the judge, we won’t be getting any of that money back, no matter how we behave in the future. Viewers may recall a story we ran on April thirteenth in which we interviewed the government’s Miami attorney, Barry Davidson. At that time, Davidson assured a sceptical Stewart Krohn that everything would be alright.

Barry Davidson, April 13, 2005 Phone Interview
?Well we are not happy with her conclusion. We are very concerned that she does not have a complete view of what?s been going on. I can?t say, it?s something that we?maybe all the parties have not been as helpful to her as they should have been. But our advice to the government, and we believe the government is going to do its best to in the very short term, you?ll noticed she said if the government will cooperate in regard to a meeting on the eighteenth the contempt fine will be purged, which means that it will be eliminated.?

Stewart Krohn
?I beg to differ with you Mr. Davidson. I know you?re the lawyer in all this, but are you sure that the word ?purged? simply means that it will be eliminated or that the clock will stop ticking and Belize will just owe a million dollars??

Barry Davidson
?It is our understanding under our law that?s what the word purge means.?

Stewart Krohn
?What then would be the reason for her to levy that fine if upon compliance she?s only going to remove it? What lesson is served by that??

Barry Davidson
?Very simple: to make sure we comply.?

Just to be sure, at the end of the interview we asked him again.

Stewart Krohn
?And I?m just gonna ask for you to clarify and repeat once again Mr. Davidson, what you?re saying is provided the Belize government goes ahead and attends the board meeting on Monday, it is your understanding that Belize will not be subject to one million dollars in fines for contempt of court.?

Barry Davidson, April 13, 2005 Phone Interview
?That?s my understanding as she has written the order. If she means something different she better say it.?

And say it she did. To quote from her order of May second, “The court reiterates again, so there is no confusion among the parties, that Defendant’s fine will continue to accrue until it complies with this Court’s Injunction Order and Contempt Order. Upon compliance with the Court’s Order, the fine will terminate. The amount accrued up to the date of compliance shall constitute Defendant’s total contempt fine and shall remain due.”

In a singular act of mercy Judge Ungaro-Benages modified the start date of the fine from March twenty-ninth to March thirty-first, leaving a total of thirty-two days, up to May second. According to attorney Davidson, who spoke to us today from Miami, that fine should not run past May first because the board meeting scheduled for May second was unilaterally moved to Friday, May sixth by Prosser. For his part, Attorney General Francis Fonseca confirmed Davidson’s vow to appeal the contempt and seek a stay of execution. Fonseca told News 5 that government is taking the matter very seriously and is hoping that on appeal “reason and the law will prevail.” Just for the record, that one point six million, if and when we ever fork it over, will be paid to the U.S. Treasury and not to Jeffrey Prosser. We tried to contact B.T.L. Director Keith Arnold, but were informed that he is out of the country until Friday…when he will hopefully find a way to attend the board meeting.