Did G.O.B. make peace with Prosser or Ashcroft?
If it was a pilot script for a television soap opera the story would likely be rejected for having too many plot twists. But the saga of BTL, with millions of dollars and hundreds of jobs at stake, is no novella…and today it grew even stranger.
Word out of the Jeffrey Prosser camp in Florida is that lawyers for the Belize Government today filed papers in U.S. District Court in Miami agreeing to relinquish temporary control of Belize Telecommunications Limited back to Prosser. The move allegedly comes on the eve of a hearing scheduled for Wednesday afternoon in Miami in which the government must show cause why it should not be held in contempt for violating the injunction ordered by Judge Ursula Ungaro-Benages on March eleventh.
According to sources in Miami, in the papers filed today by the Hunton and Williams law firm, the Belize government commits to restoring the four Prosser directors who were kicked off the board, leaving Prosser with a six to two majority; to comply with the judge’s order not to sell or transfer any BTL shares without Prosser’s consent; to agree that Prosser still controls the company and that the signing of the interconnection agreement with Speednet, done without his consent, is null and void. In addition government agrees that former chief executive officer John Vondras will return to head the company. All these changes are slated for implementation at a board meeting scheduled for March twenty-ninth.
And just to make if official, Jeffrey Prosser’s Innovative Communications Corporation issued the following statement through its vice president for public relations, Rene Henry.
“We very much appreciate that the government has decided–despite sending some mixed messages in the last several days–that it will comply with its contractual commitment and order of the U.S. district court and its obligations to act honourably and in good faith. In that spirit we expect a trust that the G.O.B. will cooperate fully with us as we return to effective management of BTL, working closely with our employees and the G.O.B. to provide superior telecommunications service.”
The only problem with latest development from Miami is that it flies in the face of persistent reports in Belize of the government reaching a deal with Michael Ashcroft under which Ashcroft would buy a large minority of the former Prosser shares from government, which when combined with GOB’s holdings, would give them control of the company. Those reports were bolstered today by sources in Belmopan confirming that one million, five hundred thirty-one thousand, two hundred and seventy-eight BTL “B” shares were transferred to an Ashcroft controlled company, Ecom, along with four million “B” shares. That transfer was allegedly signed by Prime Minister Said Musa for G.O.B. and Ashcroft attorney Philip Osborne for Ecom. A special general meeting of BTL shareholders will allegedly be held on March twenty-ninth. News 5’s efforts to confirm the deal with the Prime Minister were unsuccessful. The government press office, in declining to comment, said only that a press briefing on the BTL situation will be held tomorrow afternoon at three. So once again the question arises: who owns BTL? At this point we cannot answer, except to say that if the story was set at an old West poker game it would be time for someone to haul out a six shooter and declare “Everybody just put your hands on the table…
