Banks Holdings from Barbados weighs in on the future of Citrus Industry
The Citrus Growers Association organized a massive protest against its subsidiary, Citrus Products of Belize Limited, on Tuesday. Whether or not the protestors were bona fide growers or employees is still unclear, but the demonstration further fuelled the bad blood between the two. Among a long list of issues, the C.G.A. wants desperately to replace Dr.. Henry Canton, Michael Dunker and Frank Redmond as directors. It owns fifty-one percent interests, and has been unable to do so. The dispute has been rattling the industry in the past seven months without progress. On Tuesday, the other two other directors who are officials of C.G.A.’s business partner, Banks Holdings Limited, Sir Allen Fields and Richard Cozier arrived in Belize and at a Board meeting it was decided that the annual general meeting will be held at the end of April. The future of the three board members could be decided at this meeting, but earlier today both investors met with the Prime Minister and then with the media. Marion Ali was at that briefing and has the latest on the citrus fiasco.
Marion Ali, Reporting
There appears to be no end in sight to the conflict between the Citrus Growers Association and the Citrus Products of Belize Limited. There are two sides to the coin and today Sir Allen Fields and Richard Cozier of Banks Holdings in Barbados gave theirs. And the two investors say that C.G.A. has moved the goalposts – something they are not willing to accept.
Sir Allen Fields, Director, C.P.B.L.
“Dr. Henry Canton is there as a Director as per his contract which was signed by Mr. Jenkins back in 2002. As part of the agreement that we as shareholders have with the company, Dr. Canton was obligated to stay on for a minimum of five years as were Mr. Herrera and Mr. Alpuche. So for us to side with C.G.A. in removing Dr. Canton meant that we were participating in breaking a legally binding agreement. We cannot and will not do that. And that is beside the fact that we feel that Dr. Henry Canton is the right man in the right place at this time and is really focused in driving the company forward.”
Richard Cozier, Director, C.P.B.L.
“Dr. Canton and the C.G.A. did not have any problems up until May last year. In fact in February at the AGM of C.P.B.L.’s Board Dr. Canton was appointed by the C.G.A. Board at the time as part of their five. It was only when the C.G.A. board changed that the whole landscape changed then.”
While Sir Allen and Cozier are pleased with Canton’s performance, they feel that if the C.G.A. really wanted three directors off the Board then they would have accepted their offers of the other two to resign, but they didn’t. They say the C.G.A. has made it a personal issue.
Sir Allen Fields
“If they were satisfied with removing Frank Redmond and Mike Duncker, both of those gentlemen are ready to step down and they can fill those slots. They can do it tomorrow morning. The fact to the matter is that does not satisfy them; they want to move the three directors. And the reason they seem to be focusing on those two is because it makes it easy for them to say they’re not targeting Dr. Henry Canton. But when you take into account the fact that both Frank Redmond and Mike Duncker have offered to resign and be replaced by two other persons and we have accepted that, they are adamant that it’s all three go or none. Now you can draw your own conclusions from that but it appears to us that it’s just a vendetta against Dr. Henry Canton.”
And while they claim the issue of personality is at the centre of the dispute, the other important concerns have to do with dividends and the economic affairs of C.G.A.
Sir Allen Fields
Sir Allen Fields
“When the dividends of over four million dollars were paid to them over the last three years, did the dividends associated with those shares in trust, where did they go? Have that cash been put in an escrow account for those trust shares and will that money percolate down to the farmers that it belongs to, or the growers that it belongs to? Why can’t they find it possible to give the growers the shares that they hold in trust for them? That would allow those same growers to legitimately come and attend an AGM and vote. Yesterday was the first time that the Board deliberated over dividends and every director on that Board, including all five of C.G.A.’s directors agreed categorically that no dividends could be paid, the company lost eleven million dollars. There is no cash and no bank in the word will lend C.G.A. money to pay dividends.”
Sir Allen says he is willing to sit down and talk with their partner, but that partner has instead opted to take the problem to the media abroad, and that he believes can have serious economic repercussions for Belize. The C.G.A. has also charged that Canton has used his position to enrich himself. In response to this, Sir Allen said that the contracts with Canton’s sister’s company were vetted and were found to be transparent. Marion Ali for News Five.
The officials feel that arbitration should take place because of the stalemate. The C.G.A. late this evening reacted to Fields and Cozier; that’s coming up later in the newscast.
