Barrow says lawsuit against Belize Bank is a slam dunk

He’s only been away for a few days … but during that time the burning issues facing the country have, if anything, only grown hotter. This morning News Five’s Ann-Marie Williams and other journalists caught up with Prime Minister Dean Barrow as he left the studios of Love F.M. The questions covered a wide set of issues and the answers ranged from the expected to the controversial. First up was government’s civil suit against the Belize Bank to recover the ten million U.S. dollar gift from Venezuela. For lawyer Barrow, the only question is when he can cash the cheque.

Prime Minister Dean Barrow
“The lawyers have advised us that there really is no difficulty. I’ve received a memo detailing the causes of action that underpin the suit. We’re relying not just on the Solicitor General, but on Mr. Michael Young who is a Senior Council. They’ve both concurred in the opinion that’s been given to the government and they feel that it should be pretty smooth sailing with respect to eventual recovery. Of course, you know that the people we’re going up against have all the resources in the world and they will be filing motions and counter motions so it’s going to take some time but we are very confident on the basis of the opinion we’ve received on the basis of the facts, on the basis of the justice case that ultimately we wah get back this money for the government and people of Belize.”

Ann-Marie Williams
“What happens if they don’t?”

Prime Minister Dean Barrow
“Well, if we don’t, we don’t but I don’t see how that’s going to happen. As a lawyer myself, what’s been said by Michael Young and Tanya Herwanger strikes me as un-assailable and so I have every conviction that ultimately justice will be done and that justice means the ordering by the Supreme Court of the return of this money or the recovery of this money—the return of this money by the Belize Bank, the recovery of this money by the Government of Belize.”