…And says his companies aren’t the only ones affected by G.O.B.

Ashcroft says his companies are not the only ones being affected by GOB’s decisions… and he points to NEWCO, the international consortium of companies tied up in legal battles with the government over a nine billion dollar arbitration settlement in respect of a canceled airport contract with the past administration. NEWCO also finds itself at odds with government over a change in the tax laws.

Lord Michael Ashcroft
“This government, during this last year, changed the law so that if the tax department levied tax assessments on a citizen, that before you could appeal that assessment, you have to pay it first and that is being challenged under the constitution; that you are in fact depriving people of property before they have a chance to articulate their case in the courts. When the government first did that, everyone thought this was aimed specifically at the Belize Bank and B.T.L. to force them to pay taxes before the bank or B.T.L. would be able to argue the case and so there was little sympathy for those two monster companies in Belize. But what the government has done in another case, NEWCO which is where people came to invest in Belize to buy the airport concession, spent money, signed contracts and then the government gave the concession to other people. They sued, there was a breach of contract under international arbitration and were awarded five and a half million dollars compensation. What the government has now done is levied sixty-eight tax assessments on NEWCO between I think 2002-2007 and under the law brought in by this government is that NEWCO would have to pay that before they can appeal it or have it offset against the judgment when NEWCO has stated that they have not even traded in Belize. So how can you actually have one tax assessment, let alone sixty-eight on a company that is demonstratively not traded?”