Leader of the Opposition’s vehicle confiscated by police
Opposition Leader Dean Barrow still in courtroom garb raced to his home in Buttonwood Bay this afternoon to try and stop Customs officers from taking a 1998 Range Rover from his garage. The vehicle has been the subject of a week long tug of war between Barrow and the Ministry of Economic Development which claims that his receiving it duty free as a Director of Northern Cable Network Limited was a breach of the company’s duty free concession. When Barrow arrived on the scene he was able to prevent the officials from taking it, at least for a while with the assistance of his brother Denys and a court injunction issued against the customs officials.
Denys Barrow
“We just came out of the Supreme Court before the Chief Justice and got another injunction against the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Economic Development, against the Acting Comptroller of Customs, against Mr. Karl Tillett and against Mr. Ramirez, whose an officer in the Ministry of Economic Development, against all of them in their personal capacities restraining them until any further order of the court from taking or retaining possession of the vehicle.”
Although the Customs officer and the tow truck they had hired was stopped from taking the high priced ride, Dean Barrow was incensed at the action which he claims is politically motivated, He told News Five he intends to sue for the damage to his property and what he described as the violation of his rights. He says he is entitled to the vehicle because he is not only a Director of Northern Cable, but also shareholder.
Dean Barrow, Leader of Opposition, U.D.P.
“Absolutely tyrannical government; the ordinary citizen is still protected by the law and by the Constitution so I’m glad that this happened; I am.”
Q: “So will you sue for damage to property?”
Dean Barrow
“Absolutely I will sue for punitive damages because it’s not just the damage to the gate or to the garage. It’s the damages to the breech of my Constitutional Rights for the invasion of my privacy; for subjecting me to this kind of procedure which is absolutely unauthorized without jurisdiction and contrary to law.”
Q: “What is your relationship with Northern Cable?”
Dean Barrow
“I am also a director and a shareholder. There are two directors of the company: myself and Mr. Gaspar Vega. Mr. Vega is the principal shareholder and he is also a U.D.P. candidate of ours for the Town Board Elections last time in Orange Walk, so in my view the entire thing is political and the company is a competitor of Johnny Briceño’s in the cable business in Orange Walk.
Because remember that the initial action to revoke the concession caused the comptroller to write to the company to say not only the company’s vehicle but every single item imported by the company duty free at the time of the concession must now pay duty. Obviously the whole idea is to cripple, to put the company out of business.”
But Barrow was mistaken if he believed that stopping the Customs officers meant the Ministry would give up, and about an hour later, when Barrow had left the premises, police and city transport officers returned to successfully tow the vehicle away. According to Solicitor General Gian Ghandi, the Ministry was within its rights to confiscate the Range Rover since criminal charges have been filed against Northern Cable Network and the vehicle is to be presented as evidence. If found guilty the company would be liable for paying three times the value of the duty on the vehicle which according to the concession could only be used by members of the management team, consisting of Gaspar Vega and Juan Hernandez, not lent out to anyone else.
The concession also stipulated that the vehicle must be used for company business and the Ministry was not satisfied that it had ever been used for this purpose. He also said that the Ministry has revoked the company’s development concession and that this is a separate issue from the criminal charges. He also said that Barrow had been asked repeatedly by the Ministry to hand over the vehicle, but refused to do so.
The controversy over the concession given to Gaspar Vega and Northern Cable goes back over a year. At the time of the granting of the duty free privileges it was pointed out in several letters to the Ministry of Economic Development that there was no economic justification for giving such help to a cable television company which employed only a handful of people. Inspite of those objections Prime Minister Manuel Esquivel granted the unprecedented concession to Vega, a well known U.D.P. supporter. Among the first of his duty free purchases was a new Range Rover… which eventually found its way into Dean Barrow’s garage… and now the hands of authorities.
