GLENN GODFREY MAKES CLARIFICATION ON REPORTS THAT HE GOT LOANS FROM SOCIAL SECURITY:
Glenn Godfrey appeared on a special edition of Open Paki last nigh to shed light on issues that have brought him and his companies under public scrutiny. Godfrey explained that he had applied to the Royal Bank of Trinidad and Tobago for a loan to invest in INTELCO, but that rumors reaching top officials of that bank caused a delay with the progress of the now defunct INTELCO:
Godfrey:
Just before it got to the Board of Directors there were articles in the local press running me down to the ground saying things like I borrowed money from DFC which is a lie saying everything imaginable, they did a hatchet job on me. Before the Board of Directors was to meet in Trinidad to finally approve the loan every member if the Board of Director was faxed a copy of those articles. The bank called me and said we have a problem here, here is what you call reputation risk where the bank does not want to get into something that does not look right. I told them what they are saying is not true.
Rosalie:
At that time you had not secured any loan.
Godfrey:
Certainly I did not get any loan from either Social Security or DFC and I had never gotten any loan from Social Security so let us get that straight. What happened was when they received these faxes they called me and said that the loan is in trouble. I asked how can I solve this thing and I was told that somehow I have to prove what they are saying about me is not true; I said fine I think I can easily prove that. Just as I was about to leave I was told by the gentleman who was in charge of the whole thing, he said you know we got a call from the Chairman of the Carlisle Group who wanted to come and meet with us about this whole thing.
Rosalie:
How odd.
Godfrey:
It was not odd at all I think that is one way businessmen compete, they try to stop you from getting credit. I later got a call saying that there is another issue because according to the Chairman of that group he had a meeting with the Opposition, the Opposition was going to win the next election this was shortly before the 2003 election. They fad given assurances that of the win they would cancel my license so it was a waste if time lending me any money that is what the chairman said was told to them by the Opposition. When I came back to Belize I went to see the Leader of the Opposition and I showed him the article stating that I had borrowed money from the DFC to fund INTELCO and I also brought along with me a letter from the auditors of DFC certifying that in fact no money was loan to INTELCO or any other Glen Godfrey Company from the DFC, in the basis of that he was very helpful he gave me a letter stating that he is satisfied that based on the certificate from Deloit!
te& Touche I have nit received any loans from the DFC . T said well there is the other issue, could I get a letter from you saying that the UDP will not cancel my license. He said he did not have a problem with that but let me get the approval of my committee; he said he will meet with the committee that afternoon or the following day. The next day he told me that the committee feels that they could not do it at that time because this is such a controversial matter I asked if he could say it is the policy of the UDP and if they are elected to Government not to cancel the matter. That was their decision and I respected that, so I returned to Trinidad and I told that that I had this letter that show there was no reputation risk because U did nit get any loans from these Institutions but I cannot get a letter saying that the license will not be cancelled. I was told to wait and see what happens after the election and that caused the delays for several months but just after th!
e election the loan was approved and that was when INTELCO started.
Godfrey also denied that he knew Social Security s loans were guaranteed:
Godfrey:
What happened was this Social Security had a bundle of loans that they wanted to sell to the North American market but they did not have enough for a broker to look at them. So to build up that portfolio they went around to a number of Institutions, some of the local Banks, St James they went to the National Building Society they took some Government papers from RECONDEV and they offered to buy it.
Rosalie:
Were there not mortgages from individuals? Because there was talk about individuals like Mr. Elrington for example.
Godfrey:
Yes in fact Mr. Elrington had an outstanding loan that he was servicing but he did nit realize that in fact that the loan had been securitized by Social Security, it was three hundred thousand dollars.
Rosalie:
But the Social Security owned these loans.
Godfrey:
Well yes that particular loan was bought from St. James that and hundreds of loans. At that tome when the agreement was made I did not handle it directly Mr. Ian McMillan from BIMCO handled it. My understanding the way it was explained to me was that when we put these mortgages into the bundle then we would be at fault. Nobody told me that Social Security was going to guarantee everybody s loans.
Rosalie:
So they complied these mortgages went to sell them as a package?
Godfrey:
They could not sell it and it took a year.
Rosalie:
So they had to guarantee it before they could sell it?
Godfrey:
They had to do that they had to buy an Insurance Policy from a North American Company, they fad to sweeten up the package. One of the things they did to sweeten up the package was to give a guarantee.
Rosalie:
And no one that had the mortgages knew what the Social Security was doing?
Godfrey:
We were not aware that there was a guarantee. I found out about it after the deal was closed.
With respect to Galleria Maya, Godfrey said he has no current plans for that company, which also owns about 76 acres of land at the four-mile lagoon in the Corozal District.
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