UDP Questions $73M BEL Share Purchase

A plan to spend seventy-three million dollars on BEL shares is now drawing fresh political fire. Two weeks after Prime Minister John Briceño announced the proposed purchase in the House, the United Democratic Party is raising red flags over where the money will come from, and why. The opposition is questioning whether the funds could be pulled from the Social Security Investment Fund, and whether the move amounts to a bailout of BEL. Opposition Leader Tracy Panton says she’s been pressing for answers and expects clarity when the matter comes up at Wednesday’s House Committee meeting.

 

Tracy Panton, Leader, United Democratic Party

“Madda, seventy-three million. You know we talk about this figure like a couple hundred here and there. We are at millions. The debt is close to a billion with a B. Seventy-three million dollars for a bail out of BEL. Well, I think I am sure that you have an idea where the UDP stands on that issue. it is where we stand on the BTL issue and I don’t want to preempt the house committee meeting that I will be attending tomorrow to look at the bill critically. But I will tell you, if following that meeting, we get any hint that we will use our SSB money to bail out of BEL, you will be the first to know. Because I asked the question yesterday, I was in Belmopan for another bill and when I asked one of the members of the PUP government where the seventy-three million dollars is coming from, they are not quite sure, but they say it is not the SSB. So, we are going to insist tomorrow that we understand where government is going to source seventy-three million dollars. But here is the crooks of the matter, wherever they source it from, who will pay? The taxpayer, we the people will pay. I don’t know if people would mind pay if they light bills then go down, if it is reliable. But that is not the case.”

 

The Briceño administration plans to purchase just over eight point one million shares at nine dollars per share.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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