Prosser leaves GOB holding US $57M debt

Details are still hard to come by tonight but one thing is confirmed: Jeffery Prosser has not paid the fifty seven million US dollars in loans due at the International Bank of Miami. Prosser had until four this afternoon local time to make the transaction but News 5 understands that his source of funds had indicated a short time ago that they would need some ninety days to review his application for the money. Earlier this year, Prosser had agreed to pay the money as part of a buyout of the Government’s shares in Belize Telecommunications Limited. Viewers will recall that Belmopan had borrowed the money from the Miami bank to pay Michael Ashcroft for his company’s majority shares in the telecommunications company on the understanding that the loan would be taken over by Prosser. With Prosser coming up short the fifty-seven million remains on the GOB tab. News 5 understands that the Musa administration is now in negotiations with what has loosely been described as a subsidiary company of IBOM, Capital Markets Financial Services Incorporated, to have the loan refinanced.

In a press release issued today the opposition United Democratic Party has urged Government to use the opportunity of the default to make the BTL shares available to Belizeans with the intent of eventually returning the company to majority Belizean ownership.