Dean Barrow
The road ahead for B.I.S.L. to collect on the damages is uncertain as it will entail another round of litigation once a quantum is settled at the Supreme Court. According to PM Barrow, an appeal of that decision is imminent on either side and whenever the C.C.J. has presided over the matter in the appellate jurisdiction, parliament still has the final say as to whether it votes in favour of paying the ballooning debt.
Prime Minister Dean Barrow
“In terms of where we go from here, well as you know, the court did not fix damages. It sent it back to the court of first instance here for an assessment of damages to be done. That will, I imagine, take some time. In any event, I am sure that whatever figure the court comes up with will be appealed either by the Ashcroft consortium that’s won the appeal on the merits, if they think the award is too small or by us if we think the award is too big. That’s going to work itself right up the chain again and end up back in the lap of the C.C.J. By then, of course, I will no longer be a politician, I will no longer be in government and so maybe I shouldn’t comment on what will happen when the end of the road is finally reached. But my record is there, when I think these things are ultimately the fault of the previous administration, when I think we end up in a pickle because of their misdeeds, when I think that we are dealing with an opponent that is of the nature that we know that opponent to be, you know me, ultimately since again parliament would have to vote whatever funds the final award amounts to and they will be talking of course about foreign exchange. If I had anything to do with it, my position is clear and is already on the record. But by the time it comes to that, I am afraid sir that I will no longer be in the picture so let me not say anything more on that particular score.”