Government Seeks to Settle NEWCO Debt
Prime Minister Dean Barrow returned to the country on Thursday, but he was unable to attend today’s House Meeting since he is still recovering from surgery. So, Acting Prime Minister Patrick Faber led the proceedings on the government side. A number of bills were introduced. The main bill; however, was for the settlement of an old dispute between NEWCO Limited and the government in respect of a failed concession agreement to develop and operate the Philip Goldson International Airport. The dispute goes back to the past administration and started in 2000 when it engaged Lufthansa Consulting to advise and provide a feasibility study on the development of the Philip Goldson International Airport. Two years later, in 2002, key investors went belly up and the then government granted NEWCO a concession agreement. But it was terminated in 2003 when NEWCO was not able to secure financing. NEWCO sued in 2005, claiming as much and ninety-four million Belize dollars. An arbitration tribunal in 2008 found that the government had breached the agreement in respect of the value of services and awarded NEWCO four point two million U.S. dollars plus taxes. In August 2008, G.O.B. started proceedings against the company for unpaid taxes in excess of five million Belize dollars. It all brings us to today’s settlement agreement of six million U.S. dollars. We pick up when the acting PM traced it to 2008.
Patrick Faber
Patrick Faber, Acting Prime Minister
“Madame Speaker, this is the conditional settlement agreement between NEWCO Ltd. and the Government of Belize Ratification Motion 2018. Madame Speaker, I move that whereas NEWCO Belize and the Belize Airports Authority, BAA, entered into a concession agreement dated November 27th, 2002 to develop and operate the Philip S.W. International Airport in Belize City, Belize, the concession agreement. And whereas Belize terminated the concession agreement on October 27th, 2003, whereas NEWCO commenced an UNCITRAL arbitration against Belize in 2005, pursuant to the terms of the concession agreement and whereas the arbitration tribunal issued an arbitration award in favor of NEWCO and against Belize on June 23rd, 2008 in the face amount of U.S. four million, two hundred and fifty-nine thousand, eight hundred and thirty-two dollars and eighty-one cents, plus interest at eight percent compounded quarterly and whereas the arbitration tribunal issued an arbitration award in favor of the BAA and against NEWCO on June 23rd, 2008 in the face amount of U.S. nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-eight dollars, plus interest at eight percent compounded quarterly and whereas the United States District Court for the District of Columbia has issued a final judgment recognizing and confirming the award in the United States. Sorry, let me say that again, and whereas the United States District Court for the District of Columbia has issued a final judgment recognizing and confirming the award in the United States, the U.S confirmation judgment, and the U.S. confirmation judgment has been affirmed on appeal by the U.S. court of appeals for the District of Columbia circuit and whereas in October 2008, Belize commenced proceedings against NEWCO in Belize to collect allegedly on unpaid taxes in the amount of Belize dollars, five million, four hundred and seventy-seven thousand, eight hundred and five dollars and whereas in December 2008, Belize commenced proceedings in the Supreme Court of Belize to enjoin NEWCO from pursuing the U.S. confirmation judgment and certain other relief related to the award and whereas Belize and NEWCO seek to settle their differences arising out of the concession agreement, including the award, the BAA award, the U.S. confirmation judgment, the Belizean tax case and the Belizean injunction proceedings and whereas NEWCO and Belize entered into the conditional settlement agreement on August 31st, 2018 under certain terms and conditions and whereas the key terms and conditions of the conditional state settlement agreement are as follows: to be settled for six million U.S. dollars in two equal installments of three million U.S. dollars each, for the first installment due on October 30th, 2018 and the second installment due on September 30th, 2019.”
