Feb. 10, 2007 — Jeffrey Prosser, owner of Innovative Telephone, is trying again to re-assert his claim to Belize Telecommunications Ltd., the monopoly carrier in that Central American nation.
Channel 7 News in Belize reported it this way:
"Remember the guy called Jeffrey Prosser? Sharp 'do, promissory notes, private jet, the whole shebang? Well the news tonight is that he's back — or maybe we should say he's trying to be. In a shot from far, far afield, Prosser has restated his claim to the chairmanship of BTL's Board of Directors.
"The man Prosser calls deputy secretary of the board, Herbert Sampson, has sent a routine notice that he will hold a board meeting next week Friday (Feb. 7) at nine in the morning. The notice names Prosser as the non-executive chairman, a post he has not functioned in for two years.
"Prosser's notice also names four of his directors that hit the exits shortly after he did. Notably, none of the Ashcroft directors — and there are presently eight of them — are named on what we can only call his (Prosser's) shadow board of directors.
"But while it may seem whimsical, this is big business, and (a) carefully mapped out corporate maneuver; Prosser still has a 31 percent stake in BTL, the special share, and a powerful judgment from the Supreme Court on his side."
The Ashcroft mentioned is Lord Michael Ashcroft, a member of the British House of Lords. The Belize government forced Ashcroft to sell most of his shares in BTL in 2003, but he reacquired the company in 2006, according to published reports.
The "special share" is a corporate oddity: As part of a broader deal, the government of Belize sold Prosser the right to name two members of the BTL board for $1.
Despite the name of the body, the Supreme Court decision is actually a decision by a trial court in Belize. Lord Michael has appealed the decision to the highest court in Belize, the Court of Appeal. The decision restored Prosser's board of directors but has, in effect, been ignored by both the phone company and the nation's government.
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