Chamber of Commerce’s Senator, Godwin Hulse, speaks about B.E.L.

Earlier in the newscast, the Prime Minister criticized the Chamber of Commerce for their position that is contrary to the government’s, on Monday’s hasty expropriation of the Belize Electricity Limited.  The debate continues on the airwaves and Senator Godwin Hulse, who represents BCCI in the National Assembly, took the couch on our morning show today. Hulse explained that the Chamber wanted government to continue negotiations before taking control of the company and that its membership who voted in an internal poll is against the expropriation. One allegation that is being advanced by the Public Utilities Commission is that B.E.L. was cooking the books and underreporting revenue. Hulse dealt frontal with that issue noting that government already had its foot in B.E.L. since it appoints two of the three members of the company’s audit committee.

Godwin Hulse

“The audit committee of the board reports to the board on the financials of the company. Who sits on that audit committee? I understand that it is our esteemed colleague Mr. Rodwell Williams and I understand also that it’s S.S.B.’s, Mr. Dylan Reneau, who sits on it and one representative from Fortis. But I go beyond that, the balance sheet was signed by the chairman. The chairman is Mr. Rodwell Williams, a government appointed representative and the chair under the special share. So it is not as though the government was not in B.E.L., the government controls the Board through their two directors. Now I have to have respect for these people; if he signs the balance sheet, how dare I say that it is fraudulent and inaccurate and incorrect etcetera? The regulator may have a different view. But we take the view that we must respect that chairman and his decision. He is a close friend of the prime minister and before the prime minister was prime minister, he was a business partner—I don’t know the situation now. But he’s a close, he’s a legal authority, he’s a brilliant legal mind, clearly he wouldn’t sing an illegal document.  I said, man the prime minister could speak to his people and say how can we do this? Is there anything we can do? What’s happening here? He doesn’t have to do it in secret. These are his people and so again, with all of that data that’s what I had to go by.”