Eamon to G.O.B., “Pay Your Debt!”

Eamon Courtenay

As we told you earlier in the newscast, the acquisitions of Fortis and B.T.L. by Government are on centre stage at the Caribbean Court of Justice, with a decision expected later this year. British Caribbean Bank is also a party in that litigation because G.O.B. has refused to pay back a loan it inherited when it arbitrarily acquired B.T.L. According to attorney for BCB Holdings Eamon Courtenay, government needs to pay its debt, because it’s not going to go away.

Eamon Courtenay, Attorney for BCB Holdings

“The government acquired a loan that was about twenty-one million at the time…it is now over fifty million dollars because of the length of time that has passed. They acquired that from British Caribbean Bank. The Government has not compensated British Caribbean Bank. We have argued to the Court that the taking was unconstitutional, it was null and void and what the Court should order, because so much time has passed, is to order the government to pay British Caribbean Bank the fifty odd million dollars – I am sure it is fifty-off million US dollars by now. If the CCJ agrees with us and does that, then British Caribbean Bank would, after being paid if it is paid, assign the rights that it has under the loan to the government, then the government can go after Telemedia for that. So very simply, British Caribbean Bank said to the CCJ, if you find this to be unconstitutional, order the bank to pay the total amount that is outstanding in the books of the bank, fifty million dollars.”