Since Friday, there was indication that the creditor committee representing bondholders had accepted the latest offer by Government for the restructuring of the Super Bond. Prime Minister Dean Barrow this morning provided specific details of the proposal where payment towards the national debt should see an interest rate that sits below five percent per annum. […]
Government did not meet the February payment in light of the ongoing restructuring. And according to the Prime Minister, the big saving is in the amortization, which was set to increase in August of this year. However, government says it has been able to curtail as much as eighteen million dollars annually from the coupon […]
Going forward, government will make repayments on the principal. It will, however, have to make five soft bullet payments leading up to the maturity of the bond in 2034. Those payments are expected to be made as of 2030. Prime Minister Dean Barrow “For the entire life of the bond all we will pay […]
The People’s United Party was quick to respond to the Prime Minister’s latest press conference calling it nothing more than a ‘smoke and mirrors’ presentation. According to the release, Barrow and his anointed financial pundits spent much time today lauding themselves for what is nothing more than an attempt to clean up the U.D.P.’s own […]
While the Prime Minister was crunching the numbers at the Biltmore, the Senate Select investigation was taking place in the capital where insights into the immigration illegalities were coming from witnesses. Now, it took a summons carrying more legal weight than an extended invitation, but today former Belize City Deputy Mayor Eric Chang appeared with […]
Chang also specifically denied helping anyone obtain Belizean visas, nationality and passport except in the case of a Taiwanese-Belizean whose daughter had obtained nationality by descent and needed a passport as part of her documentation to attend school. The involvement he spoke to was germane to a discussion as part of a gathering at his […]
All good stories, perhaps, are long stories, and the case of Won Hong Kim is a good one. The revelation that former Minister of State Elvin Penner assisted the jailed South Korean fugitive to obtain Belizean nationality and a passport was strange enough. But the unveiling of Eric Chang as a possible accomplice was even […]
Outside, Chang consented to answer a few questions from the press. He reiterated that he was here to clear his name and that he felt that went well enough. But when asked if he felt he was believable, all he would say is that it was a matter of opinion and that he did the […]
Another witness who had to be summoned to appear before the Senate Special Select Committee was accountant Patrick Tillett, who readily provided details of his involvement in applying for visas – which are not routinely sold. Tillett, who at the time was also a financial controller with the Belize City Council, testified that facilitating visas […]
Unbelievable as it may sound, Tillett says there are people willing to pay thousands of dollars to have someone like him work through immigration agents to get their documents facilitated, assuming that is that the process was above-board. In this case, however, he found that there was something wrong with the visas. Tillett takes the […]
The Senators, to say the least, found it unbelievable that Tillett would be willing to cover the loss on the visas if the transaction, as he insisted, was above-board. Try though they might, they were not able to budge Tillett from his testimony. After Tillett claimed to be unsure of whether he could be considered […]
The final witness at today’s public hearing was former Immigration Officer at the Western Border Station, Lindsay Wade. He was formally accused in the Auditor General’s Report as the man who took the missing visa foils from the Cabinet over the Christmas holiday, a charge he denies. Wade says the one and only time he […]
Turning back to the Super Bond, the proposed sale of shares in B.T.L. and B.E.L. also caught the eyes of bondholders during the renegotiation process. According to PM Barrow, creditors wanted in on the profits by including those proceeds in the Super Bond. It is a move that was similar to a request made in […]
According to the Prime Minister, the involvement of the I.M.F., as a condition of the proposal being approved, is nothing earth-shattering since government meets with the financial agency annually to review Belize’s economic performance. Prime Minister Dean Barrow “People don’t seem to understand that we have agreed that if we don’t meet certain targets […]
Financial Secretary Joseph Waight has also weighed in on the successful outcome of the Super Bond renegotiation. He spoke directly to the need for additional tax measures to be implemented. While there will be no increases in tariffs for businesses, nor will there be taxes on the wage bill, the Fin Sec says that government […]
Across the world, March eight is observed as International Women’s Day. It is a day set aside to celebrate women’s achievements from political to social – and simultaneously calls for gender equality. The day brings together governments, women’s organizations, and other partners to highlight the activities. Today in Belize, to observe this global event, POWA and […]
There was a fatal traffic accident just before midnight on Tuesday that claimed the life of twenty-one year old Kendra Mejia and injuring her brother, Hector Mejia and her seventeen year old sister-in-law Lizzemy Gutierrez. Sometime around eleven thirty that night, Police were called out to miles seventy and seventy-one near the Calla Creek Junction […]
On Friday, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeal, whose jurisdiction includes the state of Florida, upheld a ruling in favor of businessman Glenn Godfrey. The initial decision, in respect of INTELCO leasing telecoms equipment to government, was handed down by the U.S. Court for the Southern District of Florida. Successive governments compensated Godfrey for the […]
