Prosser protests, seeks help of U.S. Court
And what about the wild card in all this: Jeffrey Prosser. He’s working a two-track solution: one, in the U.S. District Court in Miami and the other in Belize City. He has sent ICC executive Ronald Sanders to negotiate the sale with Sunrise, but his big problem is unloading the massive Intelco note he bought from RBTT in Trinidad…and used his thirty million U.S. dollars worth of BTL shares as collateral. His original plan was to have BTL take over the note but with that option now out the window, his best bet may be in court, where he will argue that the Belize Government’s sale to Ashcroft violated Judge Ursula Ungaro-Benages’ injunction and G.O.B. should be held in contempt of court. Here’s what Prosser’s top legal gun, Lanny Davis, had to say:
“It is clear that when the Prime Minister made his statement this afternoon he had not been advised by his attorneys in the United States that he was contradicting the decision made today (Wednesday, March 23, 2005) by the U.S. District Court in Miami. The court reconfirmed today its prior decision that the board remains in control of Mr. Prosser and ICC LLC by a 6-2 margin. Under the court’s ruling today, even if the sale of the G.O.B.’s shares to the Ashcroft companies is valid — which we do not believe is the case — the result would be, at most for the government and Lord Ashcroft, a split of the board 4-4 with Mr. Prosser remaining in control as chairman.
Therefore, what the Prime Minister stated today regarding the makeup of the board after the attempted sale to Lord Ashcroft is false and expressly contrary to the decision of the U.S. Federal District Court judge. It is our position that if the G.O.B. persists in the position stated today by the PM that that will constitute contempt of a U.S. Federal Court order and accordingly the government will have to answer to the court for its conduct. We respectfully hope and trust that when the Prime Minister realizes his error that he will work with Mr. Prosser and the board of BTL controlled by Belize Telecom to reach an amicable solution restoring the rightful ownership and control of BTL to ICC LLC/ Belize Telecom.”
It’s a complex case and there are no guarantees on who will rule the day in court. But one thing is clear: Belmopan is nowhere near being out of woods, legal or otherwise. While our Supreme Court has ruled that the Miami Judge doesn’t run things in Belize, those millions of dollars in foreign reserves the Central Bank keeps in New York are fair game for any adverse judgement. To quote the Prime Minister, we’ll take things “one step at a time”.
