Hayward Trust will fight to protect charity’s investments

The Hayward Charitable Belize Trust owns approximately seventy percent of Telemedia and this evening, it issued a release regarding its stake in Telemedia. Hayward’s view is that the nationalization is both illegal and unconstitutional and that assertion will be tested through the Courts under international law and it will invoke the Investment Treaty between the UK and Belize. Hayward says it wants to ensure that the four hundred and fifty employees of Telemedia and the eight hundred small shareholders receive full and lawful compensation for any shares that are usurped by the government. The employees of Telemedia own roughly twenty-three percent of the company and forty million dollars were borrowed to secure those shares. It says it hopes that the employees receive full value in order to pay off the debts used to purchase them.

The release says “there will probably now be even more litigation in the future than there has been in the past. This litigation, in both Belize and before an International Arbitration Tribunal, may last for several years but ultimately Hayward is entitled to protection of its interests.” The release goes on to state that Lord Ashcroft has no economic interest at all in Telemedia and that employees must not be caught in the middle of the crossfire with G.O.B. and they must be treated fairly.