BSI says COI is an assault on its business interests 

Belize Sugar Industries Limited fired off a press release saying that it denounces a commission of inquiry into its private affairs. BSI says that Prime Minister John Briceño announced the Commission of Inquiry (COI) “with a mandate to delve into the private affairs of BSI, with the sole purpose of providing ammunition for one cane farmer association, the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association (BSCFA), to continue its relentless effort to coerce BSI to pay more for cane without any economic or business justification.” 

BSI asserts that the three other cane farmers’ associations that represent “roughly half the cane do not support the COI.” 

According to BSI, “This decision is politically driven and totally erodes ASR’s investor confidence as the largest US investor in Belize and undermines representations made by the Government of Belize to ASR in 2012 that it would receive fair treatment.” 

BSI says that it will not be compelled to “produce proprietary and confidential commercial information, the rights over which are protected by law.” 

“BSI sees this Commission of Inquiry as a further assault on its business interests and outright bad faith by the government.”