Yesterday Government took over the operations of Immarbe and the IBC Registry. Now, these are what are known as offshore operations, so, outside of the Belizeans who work at the registries, the takeover has very little effect on everyday life in Belize. But, it's a major move in the broader picture, because these registries generate millions of US dollars in revenue annually and they do so for a company that's part of the Ashcroft Alliance, and another called Morgan and Morgan that's a Panamanian law firm. So even though most of us might not see it, the stakes are high – and to verify that, you just need to look at the 60 million US dollars that the Ashcroft Alliance says it will claim as damages.
But today when he held a press conference to explain the whole takeover, it looks like Prime Minister Dean Barrow wasn't feeling the heat one bit. He told the media that it's not nationalization, it's a legal and necessary transition. Here's how he explained it:…
Hon. Dean Barrow - Prime Minister of Belize
"This is not a nationalization, this is not in any way in the same category as BTL and BEL. This is the government of Belize determining that the contractuary agreement that these people had to run these two registries has come to an end. And that the secrete purported extension signed by Said Musa and Francis Fonseca is of no validity, therefore, the government has moved to assume control on a completely legal basis. The government's course of action is justified for any number of reasons but in particular in consequence of the fact that the European union by way of the commission decision has served us notice, that unless you get control of the registry and do something to regularize the operations of registry and in particular of the fishing fleet - you will have exports to EU band. This is a date that has been too long postponed, that now they can breathe easy because they know their exports to the European Union has been preserved so we have no apologies to make. In fact we will trumpet this as a positive move on the part of the Government consistent with our well known stance, that we will do whatever it takes to protect the well being of Belize."
But that well-being could be threatened on the other side by costly and drawn out legal battles with Belize International Services Limited – the company that was given the contracts to operate the registries in 1993. Barrow said the threats don't bother him:..
Hon. Dean Barrow
"I don't care - I see them making threats about how many millions of dollars they are going to source for. When you look at what was collected over the last few years, the figure they are talking about is outrageous and laughable. But in any event that they will seek legal recourse, that is their right - and we say 'bring it on' because there is no way in the world that we will allow this abuse to continue so as to endanger the economy of this country."
And while that is just a very general overview of the official position on the Registries' takeover – there are some fascinating details to the entire sequence of events that led to the creation and continued management of the registries. We'll have the full story later on in the news…
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