THE PRIME minister of Belize has intervened in a row at a largely Irish-owned oil company of which yoga guru Tony Quinn is a director.
The Hon Dean Barrow has expressed concern that a legal battle involving Mr Quinn and other directors of the company might disrupt the flow of oil in his country and the revenues it brings.
Mr Barrow has called on Belize Natural Energy (BNE), which operates the only oil well in the country, to take all steps to ensure that production is not disrupted as a result of the legal proceedings.
BNE, through the payment of taxes and royalties, is a significant contributor to Belize’s economy and a vital element in its productive sector, he states in a letter to the company which has been sent to shareholders.
The row within BNE and its parent company, International Natural Energy, is set to come to a head at an agm scheduled to take place in Dublin next month. Mr Quinn is a director of INE but is being sued by another director, Paul Marriott.
Last month, a court in the Caribbean found that Mr Quinn was in breach of his fiduciary duties to INE and ordered him to purchase Mr Marriott’s shareholding in accordance with an independent valuation of the company’s shares.
The judgment by the eastern caribbean supreme court could result in Mr Quinn having to pay significant damages. However, BNE now says it is taking steps to have this judgment reversed.
INE has earned hundreds of millions of euro in revenues through BNE since 2005 but has never paid a dividend.
Most of its shareholders are small investors from Ireland who had some previous involvement with Mr Quinn through his training seminars or other ventures. The majority remain loyal to the businessman but a minority have grown frustrated at the failure to pay dividends and the lack of financial information from the company.
Mr Marriott, one of the founders of the company, is taking the case against INE, Mr Quinn and another founder and director, Susan Morrice. The action was filed last year in the Caribbean island of Nevis, the offshore tax haven in which INE is incorporated.
Mr Quinn was not involved when oil was discovered but was invited to join the board two years later because he was “instrumental” in securing the majority of investments, Ms Morrice has told the court.
Mr Quinn, who lives in the Bahamas, did not file a defence against the action.
Last week, the chief executive of BNE, Dr Gilbert Canton, wrote to shareholders saying the claims Mr Marriott made against Mr Quinn were “totally unfounded”.
INE was a healthy, thriving company and expected to be totally successful in undoing all that Mr Marriott had done, he said.
Among the founders of the oil company were two women from Northern Ireland, Ms Morrice and Sheila McCaffrey, as well as Mr Marriott.
