There is crisis in the citrus industry, with dark clouds gathering overhead. It’s certainly not the first in what is a volatile industry, but it is serious. In recent weeks, Citrus Products of Belize Limited, the company which accepts and markets citrus, has been unable to make regular payments to growers. The crisis is rooted […]
With all that said…with shares swapped, loan facilities appropriated and the Board restructured, has there really been any fundamental change to the core of the dispute? As we understand, despite the re-configuration of the Board, Banks Holdings Limited still retains its veto power, which means that it can still do what it has been doing […]
At the start of the conference, Prime Minister Dean Barrow made reference to lining up the directors of Banks Holdings Limited against the wall and shooting them. That is testament to how tense relations have become between the two majority shareholders in CPBL. But PM Barrow reiterated that no money is being given to the […]
Earlier we told you about the intervention by G.O.B. into the citrus industry. But at what cost…and at whose cost? G.O.B. has said that it will take over the loan facility to CPBL from the First Caribbean International Bank, and then S.S.B. will buy it from them. In addition, the CGA owes the S.S.B. nine […]
There have been sustained attempts to remove Dr. Henry Canton as C.E.O. of CPBL. In fact, in 2011, he successfully defended in Court his position after the CGA tried to terminate his contract and sought an injunction to remove him from office after he refused to go. So the relationship is hostile, to put it […]
A pair of executives from the board of directors of Banks Holdings, the Barbados-based firm with minority shares in CPBL arrived in Belize this morning. Chairman Anthony King, accompanied by C.E.O. Richard Cozier, disembarked an American Airlines flight shortly before midday to meet with Prime Minister Barrow. While the men declined an interview, we asked […]
The interest and outcry in the immigration scandals of passports and visas have been constant. And that’s why Minister of Immigration Godwin Hulse remains a person of interest whenever he and the media happen to be in the same room. Today was certainly no exception. The pressing questions continue to revolve around the internal investigations […]
The case against the three officers in the Passport Section seems clear, at least from the Minister’s perspective. Those three officers – Sharon Neal, Omar Phillips and Erwin Robinson, have been on suspension since late September. As we told you, the investigation into the Nationality Section was concluded on October fourth. That investigation outlined the […]
The Services Commission hearing for Sharon Neal, Erwin Robinson and Omar Phillips is set for Tuesday. There were reports that Minister of Immigration Godwin Hulse would be attending the hearing, but apparently he will not be able to do so. Today, Hulse told us that his presence there has been perceived as too intimidating. But […]
A sporting event was abruptly interrupted on Sunday night in Ladyville when a gunman fired aimlessly at a crowd comprising of men women and children. A Ladyville resident and a minor were injured in the shooting which sent the residents scurrying for safety. The incident has traumatized the community; thirty-seven year old Arlene Bainton was […]
While the Ladyville police have two persons detained for questioning in regards to the shooting at the basketball court, the Belize City police are investigating a shooting on Saturday morning which is gang related. Sometime around two-thirty a.m., twenty-seven year old Robert Tracy, a known PIV affiliate, was walking on Central American Boulevard when he […]
It didn’t make it on the police blotter today, but we were able to confirm with the Rural Executive Officer of the Police Department, Assistant Superintendent Christopher Noble, that sometime around eight on Sunday night, police responded to a road traffic accident near Gardenia village on the Phillip Goldson Highway. Two vehicles, including this green […]
Some years ago, Belize City resident, Kenneth Flowers, aka “Big Tom” was said to have been shot and killed in the United States but that turned out to be inaccurate and Big Tom returned to Belize. Now, the thirty-six year old claims he is tired of police harassment. He alleges that the GSU harasses him […]
An eighteen year old girl who fabricated a story that she was sexually assaulted inside her home is looking at time behind bars. When the report was made, the police headed to the alleged crime scene at her home, but when she was taken to the local hospital to be examined by a doctor, there […]
Both political parties are holding conventions even though elections are not due until 2017. In Cayo Central, the convention is set for April twenty-seventh, so that campaigns among the contenders are in the full swing. Collet Montejo ran for the People’s United Party in the last general elections in the constituency; he is currently a […]
Disgraced former Minister of State Elvin Penner might be a political pariah in public, and indeed on camera he has been declared persona non grata by his boss Dean Barrow. But while there is every move to give the perception that Penner is down, he is most certainly not out. In fact, Penner is still […]
Today is February seventeenth, the last of seven days given to Commissioner of Police Allen Whylie by the Opposition to commence a criminal investigation against former Minister of State Elvin Penner. Well it didn’t happen and News Five has tried repeatedly to get comment from ComPol Whylie. Last Monday, he told us that he had […]
The Integrity Commission is in trouble after two government appointees stepped down. They did so because under new legislation passed because of the Financial Action Task Force, they would come under scrutiny as Politically Exposed Persons. According to PM Barrow that has caused no end of problems. And speaking about problems, Belize Airports Authority checks […]
The 2014 sugar crop was delayed for two months this year due to issues over the payment of bagasse between the Belize Sugar cane Farmers Association and the Belize Sugar Industries. The mills at Tower hill finally got cranking on the twenty-fourth of January and today the first shipment of sugar was loaded on to […]
Tour operator Yhony Rosado, an outspoken member of the Federation of Cruise Tourism Association of Belize, is in the news tonight again, following an arraignment in the Magistrate’s Court on Friday on a charge of disorderly conduct. The incident purportedly transpired on Boxing Day 2013, when it is alleged that Rosado was involved in a […]
Good evening I’m James Adderley and this is Sports Monday. Week two I the NEBL saw the basketball league consolidate its place on the entertainment landscape here in the jewel with 4 powerful ballgames across the nation. At Sugar City Orange Walk we caught up with the monster clash between OW’S Running Rebels hosting […]
On Thursday when the Christian Workers Union gave its update on the conclusion of negotiations with City Hall and the Labour Commissioner, it was mostly positive. Most of the workers were transitioning into employment with the new security firm, Ranger Security. The rest had gotten pretty significant compassionate packages to provide a cushion during the […]
When we got to City Hall this evening, most of the workers had rushed off. We understand they all got their checks too late to take to the bank, so they had headed off to pawn shops to cash them. We also understand that most of them had been given checks which were short of […]
There is much more to report tonight in what might be four recent murders that are linked. Belmopan Police have detained a nineteen year old Benque Viejo resident. They say he, along with the now deceased Raul Balona, likely murdered not only Canadian Brian Townsend on Christmas Day, but also Isidoro Bonilla, who was chopped […]
In the Belize City Supreme Court, the conviction of a forty-eight year old father was secured on Thursday evening before Justice Troadio Gonzalez for sexually abusing his young daughter. A jury of nine deliberated a little over three hours and found the father guilty of two counts of incest. While his name is being withheld to […]
