Leave granted for B.T.L. to sue govt.
When the Government of Belize signed two contracts with L.G.S. Services Limited, and I.T.L. to make them exclusive providers of government’s telecommunication services for fifteen years, they believed it was a done deal. Not so, said attorney for B.T.L. Lois Young, who applied for leave to the Supreme Court to file for judicial review of the two agreements. Young had her day in court today and was opposed by Solicitor General Elson Kaseke, who tried desperately to convince Justice Christopher Blackman that the court should not exercise discretion, as the three-month period for permission to file had expired. A satisfied Young told News 5 that she’s glad that leave was granted and the application was done in one day.
Lois Young, Attorney for BTL
“The contracts that we’re seeking to have judicial review of were signed, one in, I think it was November of 2000, and the other in September of 2001. But we actually got to know that these contracts were signed when the Contractor General gave a report to the Minister of Finance, which was published sometime between the thirtieth of January 2002 and the fifteenth of February 2002. Sometime between then, that report was published, and that is when the public actually got to know that contracts had been signed with L.G.S. Services Limited and International Telecommunications Limited, for the provision of services to the government of Belize. A fifteen-year contract with a fixed payment equal to ninety percent of what it is that the government pays to B.T.L. now for telecommunications services. Ninety percent of that for a period of fifteen years.”
Ann-Marie Williams
“The long and short of it is that you are saying that B.T.L. should have known so that they too could have had the ability to bid.”
Lois Young
“The thrust of the application, the whole point of this application is that a contract for services to the government should by the financial orders, go out to tender. Everyone should be allowed to tender…Portatel, MCI, AT&T, B.T.L., anyone who wants to tender should be allowed to tender. This should not be something made in secret as we are maintaining it was.”
The substantive hearings, in which Young will argue for setting the two contracts aside and open the process for tenders, are expected to begin within three months.
