1 week ago
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Belize Telemedia Limited (BTL) has been in continuous negotiations with the owners of SMART since 2018 regarding a buy-over of the latter. Love News understands that the talks of such an acquisition began under the Chairmanship of the late Net Vasquez, but a final deal is yet to be struck. Our newsroom reached out to senior officials at BTL who confirmed that discussions will continue but there is no final agreement in place nor are there any final figures drawn. With the rumor mill spinning fast and hard on this report, the media asked Prime Minister John Briceno on Friday, whether the reports of a buyout were legit, and whether his family stands to gain 50 million dollars from the sale. Here is how that interview went.
John Briceño, Prime Minister: “I don’t know you’d have to ask the people at BTL. I have said already that I’ not involved with it and if you need to know from the personal or from the business side from my family you need to go and speak to them don’t speak to me about it. I’m going to say very respectfully. I have said that BTL whilst it is owned by the government, BTL, BEL and BWSL are private companies and I am certain that should that happen, I don’t know yet if it will happen should it happen they will be required to give a full explanation to the people of this country and to make the case that it is something that is in the interest of the company.”
Reporter: The optics of it though looks bad. Your family stands to make over $50 million dollars.
John Briceño, Prime Minister: “How much ?”
Reporter: As much as $50 million.
John Briceño, Prime Minister:“Fifty ? I think I will have to go and fight with my brother because I know no such thing.”
Our newsroom will keep this story pinned for future updates.
English (US) ·