What Will G.O.B. Do to Settle Debt?

Eamon Courtenay

But what happens to the rest of the case? That is still being deliberated by the C.C.J. panel. A large part of it has to do with how Government reacts during Thursday and Friday’s Budget Debate and afterward – but at the moment, according to Bank attorney Eamon Courtenay, no one, including himself, knows what the Government’s plans are.

Eamon Courtenay, Attorney for Belize Bank Limited

“We have argued already. We are awaiting to see what Parliament is going to do; I get the impression the Court is waiting to see what Parliament is going to do, and we will get a decision after the Budget Debate, which is, as you know, this week. We had indicated to the Court that after the Budget Debate, if the court wanted to hear from us, we would be available. So we are waiting to see if the Government will respect the decision of the C.C.J. or whether they will reject it.”

Aaron Humes

“So what form would that take? Someone would just have to bring it up in the debate and see how the Prime Minister responds? Or how would that work?”

Eamon Courtenay

“I don’t know what the Government intends to do. Remember that there is the Supplementary Appropriation Bill that was tabled on the fifth of January to meet this judgment. Nothing has happened with that; I don’t know whether that is going to be debated as part of the Budget, or whether the main Budget itself, which was read on the ninth of March by the Prime Minister, will be the bill that they use to deal with the judgment. I think what we are all waiting for – and when I say “we are all” I mean the client and the Court – we are waiting to see what the Government’s position is: judgment of the C.C.J.”

News Five has been informed that the interest accrued to date on the ninety-one point five million Belize dollar judgment since December seventeenth, 2017 amounts to approximately one point nine million Belize Dollars.