P.U.P. Says B.T.L. Isn’t Worth a Fraction of Cost to Taxpayers

Following Prime Minister Dean Barrow’s presentation and spin of the Arbitration Award for B.T.L. on Wednesday, the Opposition issued a release entitled the Cost of Barrow’s Arrogance. Government will be coughing up close to half of a billion dollars when all is paid to Dunkeld International and Sunshine Holdings.  As you can well imagine, the opposition is not pleased with the price tag. Its release on Wednesday was not a complimentary piece and set the tone for a press conference this afternoon, hosted by P.U.P. Leader John Briceño. Briceño got straight to the point, making it clear that as far as the Opposition is concerned, B.T.L. is certainly not worth what taxpayers are being forced to pay for it, and the reality at the company is a far cry from what is being reported by the P.M.

John Briceño

John Briceño, P.U.P. Leader

“The Prime Minister was boasting about the profitability of B.T.L. and saying that they are going to be making tens of millions of dollars in the years to come. Well we looked at the financials of B.T.L. and we are giving you a copy—it’s a copy of this graph—it shows you in blue…is what were the profits that were expected under the U.D.P. while they’ve been managing B.T.L.  And they are saying that by 2015, we would have been making approximately forty-two million dollars in profits. This is their numbers; B.T.L. numbers, not our numbers. But actually when you look at the red because it is the U.D.P. that has been managing it or the Prime Minister’s son that has been mismanaging this company, profits have been diving down; that as of 2015, the company made somewhere, a little over seventeen million dollars. When they were claiming to do forty-two million, they are actually only making seventeen million dollars. And now the Prime Minister wants us to believe that this is such a great company that has been managed so well and that it is going to be such a great investment that the dividends alone would be able to pay for this acquisition that he has done, that he has mismanaged. It has shown us his incompetence, his hubris and his arrogance, And now all of that is not costing Dean Barrow, yo know. It is costing all of us. And Julius just rightly pointed out; we are the ones that are going to pay for his mismanagement of this. And we must hold Dean Barrow and the U.D.P. accountable for this and we should not ever forget what they have done to the Belizean people and we should never ever forgive them for what they have done to this country under their hands.”