And while Hulse had no tears for Telemedia's former owners,
we received a cautionary press release from the Hayward Charitable Trust this
evening. Hayward is the inscrutable trust which holds 70% of the shareholdings
in Telemedia.
We can't say that they own it because the companies register
shows the same old set of Ashcroft familiars as the owners of record: those
are ECOM, BB Holdings Limited, BTL International Inc., BTL Investments Ltd.,
Valkyrie Communications Ltd., Thiermon, New Horizon Inc, and the employees trust
Sunshine Holdings Ltd. Combined, those companies own 26 million shares, about
95% of the issued share capital in BTL which is what government is acquiring.
There are one thousand other small shareholders who hold who hold 5% whose holdings
are not being acquired.
But back to the Hayward release which, to our reading, seems to very much carry
the tone of Michael Ashcroft. It warns that there will be more litigation, in
Belize and London and states that Hayward will invoke the investment treaty
between Belize and the United Kingdom. But, the release says it's all
for the charitable causes that Hayward wishes to pursue not for Lord Ashcroft,
who, the release informs, "has no economic interest in Telemedia."
Strange though that Ashcroft's corporate mothership BB Holdings shows
up as one of the owners of record in the Companies register. Nonetheless, Hayward's
position is that it is now only interested quote, "in ensuring that
the charities it was set up to help..receive full and lawful compensation."
And while on the subject of charitable trusts and the public interests they
so happily serve, it seems odd that when what the Prime Minister says are Ashcroft-affiliated
charitable trusts recently acquired the majority shareholdings in Speednet that
no glad-handing release was issued to inform Belizeans of the beneficial acquisition.
Of course, those trusts may be for "corporate charity." Interesting
also that no denial has been issued either from Ashcroft-dom or from the Briceno's
on the Prime Minister's claim that "Speednet is owned by Michael
Ashcroft." A key point because it exposes as a sham the whole notion of
competition.
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