Switching subjects now - as we've told you government has acquired 23 acres of Mike Feinstein's sea frontage out at Stake Bank Caye for what they call the public purpose of finishing the stalled project, which will result in Belize's first cruise port with a berthing facility, which means cruise ships can pull up right alongside the pier.
But, while GOB has acquired the land for a public purpose - it will be vested into the private ownership of a Honduran company. And if and when it comes time for Feinstein to claim compensation from the government for acquiring his land, they will then lean on an indemnity from the Honduran Company, which is called "OPSA."
That group has already loaned Stake Bank Enterprises 270 million Belize dollars to build the Port - and they will probably have to invest another 100 million to finish the project.
But, what if compensation has to be paid - and they can't meet the obligation? We asked Minister Musa about Cabinet's deliberations on that:
Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
"I'm saying that the airtight indemnity is only as good as those who indemnify it. I don't know that OPSA is trading as a blue chip company. Isn't that some area for a concern that we have an indemnity with, with a company that's already $270 million in?"
"Yeah. So when the issue came up at cabinet, that was one of the features is that, all cabinet members insisted on. That there is, in fact, this indemnity. And so, we we are fairly certain, I'm not involved in the intricacies of the indemnity, but I'm certain that the attorney general's ministry was certain. to dot all the I's cross all the T's to ensure that we don't just have, I think there was some sort of a deposit made, but also in terms of assets, like you rightly said, it's a foreign company, but other affiliated companies that may have assets in Belize being a part of the indemnity."
We note that Mike Feinstein will only be eligible for compensation if he wins the case where OPSA is suing him for land fraud. If compensation is due, that's when the indemnity kicks in.
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