If you thought the IMMARBE and IBC Registry nationalizations coolly announced by Government yesterday might go down without a great hue and cry, just a few minutes before newstime, Belize International Services Limited – or BISL, the Ashcroft-allied co-owners of the registries sent out a release saying it quote, "expresses its surprise, disappointment and indignation at the Government of Belize's unilateral decision…"
The release asserts that BISL has quote, "a legally enforceable contractual right to operate and manage these two registries until June 2020."
The release also discloses that just before the takeover, Government's Tax Commissioner sent BISL a tax assessment for over 30 million dollars, even though, BISL argues, it is tax exempt, as are its employees. The statement says it had not been taxed for the 20 years it operated the registries.
And so, BISL says government's takeover is a "flagrant breach of contract" and quote, "exposes the government to yet another round of expensive litigation…(in which it) will be liable for an amount estimated to be in excess of 60 million US dollars in damages." End quote.
The statement ends by saying, BISL
"will pursue its claim for damages to the highest levels…and exercise all options available to vindicate its rights."
The Prime Minister is expected to respond to these claims in a special press conference planned for tomorrow. But, for context, it's important to note that things have been coming to this for some time now. In November of 2011, the Prime Minister told us he was ready to surrender the Ships registry because of the possible sanctions it could cause for the Belize fisheries industry:
Prime Minister Dean Barrow - Prime Minister of Belize
"I will say that we are prepared, and have been prepared for a while, to give up that ship's registry, if it were to come to that, in order to ensure the continued ability to export our aqua-culture products to Europe. Of course, there is the question of the commercial agreement that was signed by the last Government, and renewed at infinitum. So, we have to look at all our options before we can talk about the possibility about withdrawal from that commercial contract. Hopefully it won't come to that; it is my sense that the IMMARBE people are prepared to cooperate to de-list the vessels that are in fact operating in the zone that is under the jurisdiction of the EU."
Jules Vasquez
"Who are the corporate interests behind the IMMARBE?"
Prime Minister Dean Barrow
"I am not sure of the entirety of interests. There is a Panamanian outfit, but I suspect that you would want to know whether the Ashcroft Alliance is involved. And the answer, as far as I know, is yes."
Notably, today's statement includes statistics where it says that the registry has 62,000 active IBC's and 914 active ships registered – which is the sixth largest in the world.
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