Temporary injunction stops release of D.F.C. report

On last night’s newscast we reported on the presentation of Merlene Bailey Martinez’s Commission of Inquiry report to the Prime Minister. Yet almost before she reached Belmopan, former D.F.C. Chairman Glen Godfrey had succeeded in obtaining a temporary ex parte injunction against the publication of the report. Godfrey’s attorney, Elson Kaseke, successfully argued that the proceedings of the Commission of Inquiry into the Development Finance Corporation were fatally flawed, particularly when upon the death of Chairman David Price, the other two Commissioners, Bailey-Martinez and Herbert Lord, were appointed as co-chairs. Godfrey had successfully sought an injunction against publication of the Lord report, submitted over three months ago, but only after it had been posted on the Government’s website. In that report Lord did not have kind words for Godfrey’s work, saying “His performance of his duties in many instances were in conflict to the duties he was required to perform as Chairman, D.F.C. There were too many companies and entities in which he held prominent (posts) which also did business with the D.F.C. and profited from these business deals. There were conflicts of interest with his fiduciary duty to the D.F.C. and there may have been breaches of the D.F.C. Act on many occasions when dealing with these companies and the D.F.C.” It is not clear how aggressively the Government will fight Godfrey’s efforts to suppress the reports as the information presented at the Commission’s public hearings was highly prejudicial regarding its stewardship at the D.F.C.