Miami judge says no contempt fine for Belize Government

We have only just received the judgement via email, but even a quick perusal indicates that today in Miami, Federal Judge Ursula Ungaro-Benages has finally closed the book on what had been one of the Belize Government’s most embarrassing moments: the finding that G.O.B. was in contempt of court in the B.T.L. case for failing to observe a preliminary injunction. That order, issued in April of 2005, specified that the government would have to pay fifty thousand U.S. dollars per day until it convened a B.T.L. Board of Directors meeting in accordance with the judge’s instructions. The potential fine was huge; as much as two million dollars. Well, all along Belmopan’s Miami lawyers said their client was getting a bum rap … and today the judge agreed, ordering that the contempt ruling be set aside, since subsequent findings of law and fact showed that the P.I. was issued in error and was itself vacated. The substantive issues of Jeffrey Prosser’s lawsuit against the government have yet to be finally decided, but indications are that things are not going well for the Virgin Islands-based telecom mogul.