Will Ashcroft Ever Collect on Monies Owed by G.O.B.?

Michael Ashcroft

The likelihood of Lord Ashcroft being able to collect on hundreds of millions of dollars owed to him under the Barrow administration, is likely at zero to none as the clock ticks toward the next general elections.   Prime Minister Dean Barrow has ignored the ruling of the court on previous matters, including the ballooning U.H.S. debt, and has gone on record recently to say that government won’t pay and can’t pay damages from this latest round of litigation with Lord Ashcroft.  So what are the possibilities of Lord Ashcroft seeing a dime or a penny of those outstanding sums?  It’s a question that was put to him today to which he responded that whoever becomes the new leader of government, he is prepared to present a complete proposal to settle all litigations.

Isani Cayetano

“What is the likelihood or the possibility of you actually being able to collect on these monies?”

Lord Michael Ashcroft

“Michael Ashcroft: Well there are two aspects to that but the principal one is that I am highly confident that eventually, especially after this judgment of BISL who have severely criticized government for the way that they’ve gone about this that when it gets back to the C.C.J., they will have no track with the way the government has acted throughout this litigation.  You’ve got to bear in mind that government has attempted to sequestrate assets that the courts have found that the government has assessed those, has assessed and will be assessing the damages that is caused by government’s actions and it is inconceivable at the end of the day that the government is able to totally ignore the court orders of the most highest court.  Whoever is the next prime minister, I would hope to go with a complete package compromised proposal to settle all this litigation once and for all and it will be up to the new prime minister as to whether he wishes to continue.  Bear in mind, this litigation in general has gone on for twelve years now.  It would be nice at my age of seventy-four to be able to draw a line under it and be able to give the next five or ten years of my life to being able to contribute to the nation of Belize.”