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It was late breaking at the end of our newscast last night: the Central Bank Board of Appeals ruled that Belize Bank must refund to the government of Belize the US$10 million in Venezuelan grant funds. But would the bank, which is notorious for stalling and delay tactics, really pay up? We got the views of principals for both sides last night and the view of the Attorney General this afternoon.

Janelle Chanona,
You feel like they won’t comply then with the order?

Lois Young, Attorney for Government
“I don’t know. I think they will.”

Phillip Osborne, Vice President – Belize Bank
“We are going to appeal it and of course if the bank is required to pay the bank must pay.”

Hon. Wilfred Sedi Elrington, Attorney General
“I would want to think that we will get it back and get it back very quickly. I have reason to be somewhat optimistic that that may very well happen. Certainly with this ruling it opens the way for that to happen. So we will get it back between now and next Monday, Tuesday, that would be fine with me.”

Elrington apparently knew what he was talking about because 2 hours after we spoke to him, at 5:00 pm the Central Bank sent out a release saying that the Belize Bank has made arrangements to refund the US$10 million by Monday. It’s a huge victory for the government of Belize and while it may pain the Belize Bank, it has to also be a relief of sorts as the arrest warrant for Phil Johnson will now be withdrawn.

And while the government has won this major battle, the war with the Ashcroft business empire continues on many other fronts. That will continue to sap its resources but the fact is that GOB now has the ten million dollars. All the talk about the ten million U.S. dollars of poor people’s money that was diverted and all those houses it could have built is now irrelevant; as of Monday, the government will have back that ten million dollars. But indications to us are that it is not quite that simple. Government sources tell us that rather than spend the money, the government may be advised to hold unto it in case it has to again return it to the bank. Best information tells us though that is only one position, and no final decision has been made. This evening we spoke to Minister of Housing Michael Finnegan and he told us that while he has not been told that the money will be repaid, he expects that it will be given to his Ministry to quote “assist poor people with housing.”

But now, back to the Belize Bank. The bank is paying under duress but indeed they must because if they ignore or try to go around the ruling of the Central Bank Board of Appeals, it would weaken their position the next time they have to make a case before the board and they will have to do so eventually. But the bottom line tonight is that the money is expected to be repaid by end of business Monday and in our next newscast we expect to have final confirmation of that.