Barrow still not convinced UHS guarantee is valid
This afternoon the United Democratic Party called a special press conference in Belize City to discuss the Government guaranteed debt of the thirty-three million dollar loan made to Universal Health Services by the Belize Bank. That debt, long in default, must now be paid by Belmopan. But is the guarantee valid? Opposition Leader Dean Barrow, having read the document, has his doubts.
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
After a late Friday afternoon review of the government guarantee to Universal Health Services, today Leader of the Opposition Dean Barrow shared his findings with the public.
Dean Barrow, Leader of Opposition
“My God. The contents of the guarantee, the fact of the guarantee is enough in my view to make you want to line up whoever entered into it at the foot of the Swing Bridge and hang them from the nearest lamp post.”
During his reading of the guarantee, Barrow took notes of the four page loan document, the highlights of which he copied to the media today. According to the attorney, the paperwork he saw was signed by Prime Minister Said Musa and Attorney General Francis Fonseca and dated December ninth 2004. But Barrow is still unconvinced that the guarantee is genuine.
Dean Barrow
“So, if the guarantee did exist at that time, there was a failure to disclose it to the Financial Secretary, there was a failure to disclose it to the Minister of National Development, there was a failure to disclose it to the international creditors and there was a failure to disclose it to the National Assembly. While this government is capable of almost anything it must strike you as strange that there were these serial nondisclosures of a document that the government know says was in existence at that material date of ninth December 2004. All this ladies and gentlemen must beg the question, is that date of ninth December 2004 authentic or was that manufactured after the fact?”
“But if you assumed for a moment that it is, my God what a worthless guarantee’ unlimited with all these terms and conditions hidden from the Minister of National Development, hidden from the Financial Secretary, hidden from the external creditors, hidden from the National Assembly, hidden from the people of Belize.”
The Musa administration has refused to disclose the document to the public, citing confidentiality between a bank and its borrower. But Barrow says he saw nothing that should stay a secret.
Dean Barrow
“It is absolutely nonsensical for the Government to try and hide behind this particular provision in the document and certainly to try and hide behind section thirty-one of the Freedom of Information Act. In my view, in my view, a court would have no difficulty in ordering the government to publicly disclose this so call guarantee.”
“There is nothing in the guarantee that’s confidential. There’s nothing in the guarantee that contains knowledge or trade secrets as I said, anything that’s peculiar to the bank. So what kind of government is this that can’t say well if you think you bad, sue me. But it doesn’t stop, it doesn’t stop the United Democratic Party, it doesn’t stop the Association of Concerned Belizeans, it doesn’t stop any interested citizen from going to court to challenge the guarantee.”
According to Barrow, the Association of Concerned Belizeans has already initiated legal proceedings against the Government guarantee. Reporting for News Five, I am Janelle Chanona
Negotiations between the Government of Belize and the Belize Bank continue towards a settlement of the U.H.S. debt. Sources in Belmopan also indicate that there is also a proposal on the table to release a portion of the monies owed to the Development Finance Corporation. The Government guarantee to the D.F.C. was capped at seventeen million dollars.
