Miami court issues short term injunction in BTL case

The sad saga of BTL continues to unfold as ownership of this once proud company is being contested simultaneously on two continents. When we last heard from lawyers in London, the government of Belize had been restrained from disposing of the majority shares it had repossessed from Jeffrey Prosser when he failed to come up with fifty-seven million U.S. dollars to pay for them. That action was brought by former owner Michael Ashcroft who claims that he had a buyback agreement that would kick in if the Prosser deal dropped through. Today we hear from Prosser’s public relations man, Rene Henry, that on Monday his company obtained a similar, though shorter-term, temporary restraining order from a U.S. federal court in Miami. That decision prevents the Belize government from selling its shares, declaring dividends or incurring any extraordinary expenses on BTL’s account. That case continues on Wednesday and it is not certain if the T.R.O. will be extended. Jeffrey Prosser, unlike Michael Ashcroft, still has twenty-eight million U.S. dollars worth of minority shares, not to mention millions more in what it paid for the remains of Intelco. According to Prosser’s attorney, Lanny Davis, they look forward to completing the transaction to purchase BTL on the basis that government lives up to all the promises it made regarding the regulatory and legislative environment that would allow the company to flourish. When we last checked in with Belmopan the official line was that: a) GOB is not afraid of lawsuits and b) they are trying to negotiate an honourable and amicable settlement of the various disputes.