G.O.B. to Pay $350 Million as Arbitration Ruling is Handed Down

The decision of the three-member Permanent Court of Arbitration is in, and tonight we’ve got a first look at the figures contained in the hundred and thirty-nine page document. Just as very brief background – the Claimant in the matter was Dunkeld International Investments Limited, an Ashcroft company, and the respondent was the Government of Belize. Dunkeld had applied for arbitration in the arbitrary appropriation of B.T.L. in 2010, based on a UK treaty for the promotion and protection of investments. In 2015 when Prime Minister signed a settlement agreement with Lord Ashcroft, he agreed to be bound by the finding of the arbitration panel. Okay that’s the background – now the figures in a very simplified nutshell. On the table, primarily, was the value of shares held by Dunkeld as of August twenty-fifth, 2009. The Claimant was seeking a share value of ten dollars and twenty-three cents per share. Considering Dunkeld’s holding of seventy-one point two percent in B.T.L., the Claimant submitted that the value would be roughly U.S. one hundred and seventy five point three million dollars. The Respondent calculated the value of Telemedia at one dollar and forty-four cents per share. The Tribunal came up with a share value of five dollars and sixty-five cents and thus ordered G.O.B. to pay Dunkeld U.S. one hundred million, one hundred and thirty-eight thousand, seven hundred and twenty-six dollars. In interest, from August 2009 to today, calculated at eight point three four percent, the Tribunal awarded the Claimant, Dunkeld, U.S. seventy-four million, four hundred and fifty thousand, three hundred and ninety six dollars. Those are the biggies, but the Tribunal also ordered the Government to pay almost five million in costs to Dunkeld’s attorneys and experts, and a smaller sum for the cost of arbitration. So, doing the Math, in Belize dollars, the Government of Belize is now in debt another three hundred and fifty-million or thereabouts. When he was last asked about the award weeks ago as preliminary figures circulated, Prime Minister Barrow claimed that it was a victory for the government and people of Belize. We’re not sure if he’ll stick to that euphoric line in a press conference he’s called for Wednesday afternoon.