Remember Universal Health Services and the secret government guarantee that was signed for that hospital's 33.5 million dollar debt? Well, you should, the revelation of it in 2006 delivered a death blow to Musa Administration.
In 2007 The Association of Concerned Belizeans and Godwin Hulse had challenged the guarantee saying it had not been legally made because the loan note never got the approval of the Naitonal Assembly. They won in the Supreme Court and when the Belize Bank Challenged in the Court Appeals, the ACB won that one too.
But, with so many millions are at stake, the Bank took it to the hilt, all the way to the Privy Council - the first to last case from Belize heard by the Privy Council.
And that judgment was handed down today; and the ACB and, by extension, the Government of Belize, lost.
The Board of Judges found that the Judgment of both the Court of Appeals and The Supreme Court were flawed. The Privy council's decision is that the loan note was valid and enforceable.
So government then is back on the hook for 33.5 million dollars - you will recall that was partly repaid with the same Venezuelan money which was re-routed from Belize and sent to the Belize bank and then re-acquired by this government for disbursement in a housing loan program.
So now, will government pay it back? That's virtually impossible; the money has already been spent on the Venezuelan housing program. But government is still on the hook.
The Prime Minister today told us that he has not read the judgment, but he believes it asserts only that the Loan Note was valid, not that re-payment must be made automatically. He expects the Belize Bank to sue to get recover the guaranteed amount which will again end up in the courts.
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