The Government of Belize has lost another court case in the US Courts, and this time, the country is liable to pay 22 million US Dollars to Glenn Godfrey. The US Court of Appeal has denied a motion filed by the Government to dismiss the award.
This costly dispute dates back to December 18, 2002. That's when Godfrey signed an agreement with Ralph Fonseca, who was the then Minister of Budget Management, Investment and Home Affairs. That was the Master Lease Agreement for International Telecommunications Limited, better known as Intelco.
Both Government Administrations honored the terms of that Fonseca agreement up until 2012, when the Barrow Administration and Godfrey got into a dispute over rent. Godfrey formed a company Glenn D Acquisitions, LLC, and he sued them in the US Courts for 10.3 million dollars in unpaid rent, for telecommunications equipment belonging to Intelco. That tab on the rental has been growing each month dating back to 2012.
The Barrow Government won the first round of litigation in the lower US court when the presiding judges ruled that public interest matters favored the dismissal of the case. Godfrey Appeal that ruling and won, and so the Government applied to the US Court of Appeal to dismiss the award, which brings us to this third round of litigation, which they have now lost again.
The Barrow Administration's defense against the lawsuit was that Ralph Fonseca did not have the authority to cut that 2002 deal with Godfrey. But, the US Courts have completely disagreed with that perspective.
Government has not issued a statement on what it will do with this judgement. But it has said previously that it will not pay for what it calls "PUP Corruption."
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