Chris Coye: “Godfrey’s testimony totally incorrect”
It was one of the high points of his testimony yesterday before the Commissioner of Inquiry into the Development Finance Corporation. When questioned about whether his law firm benefited from the one-day disbursement of a thirty million dollar loan to the Novelo’s Bus Company, former D.F.C. Chairman Glenn Godfrey was adamant in his denial.
[March 13, 2007]
Merlene Bailey Martinez, Co-Chair, D.F.C. Commission of Inquiry
“Did your law firm provide services for Novelo’s Limited with respect to this?”
Glenn Godfrey, Former Chair, D.F.C.
“No”
When pressed on the matter by Commissioners Merlene Bailey Martinez and Herbert Lord, Godfrey began to hedge, saying that whatever legal fees came in his direction–and we’re talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars–went not to his law firm, but directly to one of the lawyers working for the firm, Christopher Coye.
Glenn Godfrey
“What happened was that all that went to pay…anything he collected went to his commission. The law firm itself did no get anything out of it.”
And to bring the point home, Godfrey’s lawyer, Elson Kaseke, went so far as to suggest that if the Commissioners had any questions, they could call Mr. Coye.
Well, we don’t know if the commissioners picked up the phone … but we did. “Godfrey’s testimony was totally incorrect,” said Chris Coye this morning in a phone interview with News 5’s Stewart Krohn. According to Coye–who just happens to head the nation’s Integrity Commission–all the fees were paid to Glenn D. Godfrey and Company … and while Coye did receive compensation as the attorney who did the work, it came as a percentage of the fees collected by the firm, and was paid by the law firm, an arrangement commonly used by most law offices.
What may not have been so common was the decision by the D.F.C.’s lawyer, Norman Neal, to seek out the Godfrey Law Firm for assistance in the first place. The bill for attorney fees and government stamp duties on the thirty million dollar mortgage came over one point seven million dollars. And while the legal work was somewhat complex, due to the many different pieces of collateral and asset transfers involved in the deal, did Neal really need to give up a piece of the action? And if he did, why of all the law firms in Belize did he choose one owned by the D.F.C. Chairman?
So where does this leave Mr. Godfrey? According to Coye, he called Godfrey informing him of his … misstatements, and Godfrey agreed to meet with him today to discuss the matter. At news time, however, no public statement had been issued by either lawyer. Christopher Coye officially left the Godfrey law firm in 2005 and currently works as the Director of International Financial Services for the Belize Bank.
