NEWCO takes government to court for $9 million

NEWCO, the consortium of companies, which won an international arbitration settlement against G.O.B. has now initiated civil action in Washington against the government. According to a press release from the company, its decision is due to a failure by Prime Minister Dean Barrow to honor the almost nine million dollar judgment delivered in Miami on June twenty-third. NEWCO first initiated proceedings against the Musa administration back in 2005 when a thirty-year concession agreement it had with the government was abruptly cancelled and given to the Belize Airport Concession Company. NEWCO says government’s refusal to honor the award by the arbitration panel caught them by surprise as weeks after the judgment Barrow admitted that GOB would have to pay monies. It is even stranger, because when departure fees jumped by three dollars in October, the Ministry of Tourism said the reason for the hike was to raise revenue to pay off the debt. The longer G.O.B. takes to pay up, the more it will have to pay as NEWCO was also awarded an interest rate of eight percent compounded quarterly. The consortium says it will also file legal actions in countries where Belize has its major trading and finance relations.