Government’s Move to Sidestep Provision of Agreement Backfired

Denys Barrow

It was left to Senior Counsel Denys Barrow to defend Government’s actions. He explained that Government assumed that whatever was left in the second payment would be sufficient to cover the value of the accommodation, but it is not turning out that way. Now government is on the hook to pay the first fifty percent payment in U.S. dollars. Government Attorney Denys Barrow explains.

Denys Barrow, Attorney for Government of Belize

“The Government took the view at the time that it would pay fifty percent of the U.S. dollar amount which it accepted was due – of that amount which it accepted was due, it would pay fifty percent of that amount, and fifty percent of the Accommodation Agreement portion now. As you will recall the Settlement Agreement called for two payments of fifty percent each – fifty percent, year one; fifty percent, year two. It called for the first payment to be made purely in U.S. dollars, and purely on the assumption that whatever would be left in the other fifty percent would be sufficient to yield the Accommodation Agreement value. That turned out to be wrong; and therefore Government decided, ‘you can’t get fifty percent in U.S. dollars; you will get only fifty percent of that U.S. dollar portion that you are due now.”

Reporter

“Sir, but wouldn’t any person who gets into an arrangement with Government see that as something suspicious to do? You agreed to something one way, on paper, then you do something – you do your own thing at the time when this [was] supposed to be put into place?”

Denys Barrow

“Yeah, that is one available view, but remember the other available view, which is that the agreement as it was structured, could not work. As you heard Mister Courtenay submit in court, there were a number of options open to the parties, including to say, ‘this agreement is bad and unworkable.’ The other option open was to apply to the court to rectify the agreement. It therefore means that there were a number of alternative ways of performing what the court agreed was badly drafted agreement.”