The SearchVoat Forum

2012:

Multimillionaire software mogul John McAfee claims he is innocent in the slaying of his neighbour on in Belize but says that the local police have been on a vicious hunt to bring him into custody, it was revealed today. The 67-year-old founder of the antivirus company called a reporter for Wired on Monday to say he was hiding from police who want to question him about the death of 52-year-old Gregory Viant Faull, whose body was found on Sunday...

Faull was found with a gunshot wound to his head inside his two-story home north of San Pedro, a town on the island of Ambergris Caye, Martinez said. McAfee told Wired that whoever shot Faull may have been gunning for him instead and mistakenly killed his neighbor.

..Police said Faull's computer and phone were missing, but there were no signs of forced entry at his home...A police report said that Faull's housekeeper found the 52-year-old 'lying face up in a pool of blood with an apparent gunshot wound on the upper rear part of his head, apparently dead'.

In a bizarre twist, McAfee admitted in an interview with wired.com that he is hiding from police but said he is innocent of the murder. ..Asked about the possibility of surrendering, McAfee told Wired: 'Under no circumstances am I going to willingly talk to the police in this country. You can say I'm paranoid about it but they will kill me, there is no question.'..

The tycoon - born in Britain and raised in the U.S. - had tried to build a new life by starting an antibiotics firm in the tiny Central American country. He is rumored to have set up home with a 17-year-old girl...The age of consent in Belize is 16-years-old for both sexes...

..That year he finished liquidating his U.S. real estate holdings which included 280-acres in Colorado, a beachfront estate in Hawaii, properties in Arizona and Texas, and a ranch in Rodeo, New Mexico. ..

He has had a series of much-younger girlfriends and followed his passions, saying in 2007, 'Success for me is, Can you wake up in the morning and feel like a 12-year-old?..

Mr McAfee grew up in England but moved to America as a child...McAfee held down around a dozen different jobs in the area in the software industry.

He also set up an adult dating service called American Institute for Safe Sex Practices, which issued identification cards for people who tested HIV-negative...It was during the mid 1980's that McAfee was working for Lockheed Corporation when he began designing his anti-virus software.

2021:

San Pedro, where Supt Jemmott's body was found, is the main town on the island of Ambergris Caye..

The partner of the son of Lord Ashcroft, the millionaire businessman and pollster, is in custody in Belize after a police officer was shot dead [back of the head]. The body of Supt Henry Jemmott, 42, was found on a pier in the town of San Pedro after reports of a gunshot.

Human trafficking continues to affect the country of Belize, and on Ambergris Caye it is no exception. Evidence of this was seen on November 2, 2017, when 25 Honduran women were arrested by the San Pedro Police Department and Immigration Officers after inspecting three bars on the island. In January 2018 Belizeans felt international pressure when the USA banned the issuing of temporary work visas following the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) latest evaluation where Belize received a low rate on the U.S. State Department’s 2017 Human Trafficking report, resulting in the removal of Belize from a list of 80 countries approved for the temporary work visas...

Several agencies have attempted to provide assistance to Belize to combat this issue. One such agency is the U.S. Embassy in Belize, who in coordination with U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, provided training on Forensic Interviewing Techniques for Victims of Human Trafficking to over 65 Government of Belize officials.. Local authorities have also addressed the issue of Human Trafficking, with Belize Rural South Area Representative Honorable Manuel Heredia Jr. stating, “Any bar that is found prostituting young girls will be closed down immediately,” when he attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony for Hope Haven, Ambergris Caye’s first Children’s Home on November 4, 2017...

“Hope Haven” is the name of the upcoming children’s home, which will include a children’s shelter, play therapy room, outpatient care services, and counseling services for children and women. The partners for the project consist of three local non-profit organizations; Raise Me Up, On Eagles Wings Ministries, and the San Pedro Lions Club. ..

A press release has been issued by the Belize Bank, today Wednesday, March 25, 2020, stating that Lord Ashcroft has spoken to the Prime Minister of Belize and advised him of his donation of BZ$10 Million in efforts to combat COVID-19...

San Pedro Lions and Leos CLub along with Belize Bank Ltd came together once again to celebrate Christmas with the elderly. Lots of food, laughter, and dancing thanks to Rompe Raja. Each senior citizen was given a gift courtesy of Belize bank and Lions Club. ..

2012

The Caribbean bank of Tory peer Lord Ashcroft faces demands to hand over documents relating to the collapse of a company whose subsidiary is accused of benefiting from a culture of corruption.

An insolvency practitioner appointed by the British Virgin Islands courts to trace the assets of Oxford Ventures Limited has been granted powers to request information from the British Caribbean Bank (BCB), an Ashcroft business based in the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI). Oxford Ventures, which collapsed in 2010, is the ultimate parent company of Johnston International, a construction and engineering firm that went bust in the same year with debts of $30m and is now under scrutiny in the TCI and the UK. Oxford's main creditor was BCB.

During decades of hostility to the EU/EEC, Tate and Lyle managed to make friends in some very high places and one in particular. Prior to becoming an MP Brexit Secretary David Davis worked for the company for 17 years and was actively engaged in lobbying against the then EEC tariff...

..Belize Sugar Industries has faced many difficulties importing into the UK and the EU and as a cane producer it clearly hopes that the UK market will now be opened up wide to it after the country withdraws. That will benefit Belizean farmers and producers, Belize itself, politicians in parties like Lord Ashcroft’s friends at the PUP and their backers of course, but it will be a disaster for beet producers in Norfolk...

There will be other winners in tariff free cane trade into the UK – not least the majority shareholders in Belize Sugar Industries.

And – who might those guys be?

Well – since 2012 – that prize has belonged to an American parent company called ASR or American Sugar Refining – and if you think the name sounds familiar from earlier on in this piece, then let me save you the trouble of scrolling back – it’s the same parent company as... Tate and Lyle...

See:

Nicole Junkermann, Triatlantic Capital and international child care company Bright Horizons connections https://searchvoat.co/v/pizzagate/3370947

The Suppliers: ep. 1 "The Fanjul Brothers" https://searchvoat.co/v/pizzagate/1749000

June 2020:

News of a pending sale of Scotia Bank Belize, which had been operating in our country since 1968, has been floating around since last year, and with the bank selling off assets in the Caribbean, and also closing their branches in Spanish Lookout and Placencia in 2018, it was clear that a sale was imminent.

Geoff Zochodne, in an article titled “Scotiabank to exit nine countries in Caribbean shake-up,” which was published on November 2018 in the Financial Post (a Canadian newspaper), said that the bank’s operations in Mexico, Peru, Chile and Colombia had driven up its international earnings by 17%, and cited a press release from the head of international banking at Scotia Bank, Ignacio Deschamps, which stated that “due to increasing regulatory complexity and the need for continued investment in technology to support” the bank’s “regulatory requirements,” the bank had decided to focus its “efforts on those markets with significant scale in which we can make the greatest difference for our customers.”

So, Scotia Bank Belize wanted out, and ordinarily it is just a formality when a private owner of a business decides to sell, but there are instances when a regulating body will stop a sale. This could be because the purchasing party is of unsavory character, or because the purchase will lead to unfair competition in the marketplace, such as cases where the purchaser, through the acquisition, would become a monopoly — something that is usually not in the public interest.

Nothing prepared Belize for the announcement on Monday that for about US$30 million Scotia Bank Belize had been sold, to a company, Caribbean Investment Holdings Ltd., which lists the Belize Bank as one of its assets. This means that Scotia Bank Belize has fallen into the hands of Lord Michael Ashcroft.

For a good while Belize’s business relations with Lord Ashcroft have not been the best. After a PUP government (1998-2003) facilitated his acquisition of our nation’s then only telecommunications company, Belize Telemedia Ltd. (BTL), Lord Ashcroft ignored orders from the government’s regulator, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), when BTL was called on to revisit its rates. In 2006 there were charges from Belizean businesses that BTL under Lord Ashcroft was blocking VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol).

Ashcroft has won huge judgments in the courts against Belize as a result of legal action that ensued after a UDP government acquired BTL from him, and when a UDP government did not honor a loan (about $33 million) that a previous government (PUP) had guaranteed for a private hospital, Universal Healthcare Services (now Belize HealthCare Partners).

When he spoke on his television station, Channel Five, on Tuesday, Lord Ashcroft seemed peeved that all of Belize isn’t cheering him on for the acquisition, as the Governor of the Central Bank, Ms. Joy Grant, did when she spoke to the nation in a virtual release on Monday. Ms. Grant declared the deal a “significant investment and expansion by the Belize Bank (that represented) a bold expression of confidence in the long-term potential of the economy.” Ms. Grant said “such faith is praiseworthy, particularly during this period of global crisis.”

Lord Ashcroft said that there were not many businessmen lining up to buy Scotia Bank Belize. It is true that the bank is not making a mint in these times, hence its decision to divest. Ashcroft said he didn’t make a move to purchase First Caribbean in 2015 (First Caribbean sold its assets to Heritage Bank), because the climate was bad (he was engaged in disputes/litigation with the government over the BTL acquisition), but, he said, “this time around, with an election coming up, a new prime minister on the horizon and the COVID situation, and at my age of seventy-four, I want the next few years of my life to contribute as much as I can to the nation of Belize.”

It is certain that Hon. Dean Barrow will not be the Prime Minister when the present government’s mandate comes to an end, and it’s not clear why Lord Ashcroft is so happy about that. The price the Belizean people paid him for BTL was a whopper!

Ashcroft said he should be recognized for making such a substantial investment in Belize at this time, and that the deal will not only serve his bank’s shareholders, but it will also serve the nation.

The Belizean people have a huge concern about the acquisition of Scotia Bank Belize by the Belize Bank because Lord Ashcroft will now have control over about 50% of the banking sector.

After the transaction is completed the Ashcroft Group will know the business of half of our people, how much we have in savings, what projects we are investing in, where we might be over-extended. Knowledge is power, and our smiling UDP government, just like the PUP that preceded it, is giving its blessings.

Scotia Bank Belize was up for sale long before the pandemic, and we are not aware that the government expressed an interest. The government might have been justified to stay away, for fear of running afoul of our capitalist friends, but wealthy Belizeans could have bought it. Scotia Bank, although it isn’t making a mint at this time, does not have any great uncovered loans and it does have control over a lot of prime assets, so it is an attractive buy. The government could easily have enabled Belizeans abroad to buy Scotia Bank, if it hadn’t gone wild with our resources, spending much of the PetroCaribe funds and our share of earnings off of our oil fields, as if they were from a piñata.

There were investments in infrastructure that had to be made — we definitely needed better bridges in some areas — but there was a lot of wastage on certain roads, and lavish spending on roundabouts and numerous other projects.

Not everyone in Belize adores everything about our first Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. George Price, but he is revered by all for his approach to developing the country, which was at a pace that allowed Belizeans to be the masters here; he protected our independence.

Respectable investors are welcome to talk business in Belize; we are looking for partners, not dictators. Business is tough, it’s not for the timid, but at all times there must be respect, and the interests of Belize and Belizeans must be served. No one can stop Mr. Ashcroft from feeling peeved because we aren’t falling over with gratitude that his group is making this investment. We have our grief, and it is all because we hired the UDP to dig us out of a hole, and they put us in deeper.

British billionaire Lord Michael Ashcroft — whose son’s longtime partner Jasmine Hartin is charged in the shooting death of a top Belize cop — reportedly paid for a police gym and jail on the island.

He was photographed in February cutting the ribbon on the brand-new gym, for which he shelled out $135,000, at the main police headquarters, the Daily Mail reported.

At the event, Ashcroft, 75, whose net worth is estimated at about $2 billion, said his “interest in law and order” dated back to 1988, when he “formed and became chairman of the United Kingdom Crime Stoppers organization,” according to the outlet.

The prominent businessman said he was approached directly by police Commissioner Chester Williams to bankroll the project.

If you thought for one minute that telly crime-expert Nick Ross is really as he appears to be, you’re very much mistaken. Beneath the carefully crafted Crimewatch persona lurks an altogether darker and more disturbing character. We’ve come to believe that Nick Ross is the nation’s face of crime-solving.

A well-spoken and intelligent BBC presenter with an in-depth knowledge of criminal activity in the UK. A close friend to his (tragically murdered) co-star Jill Dando. A founding member of anonymous crime-fighting scheme Crimestoppers.
The husband of Childline founder Sarah Caplin.

The real Nick Ross formed Crimestoppers with Ashcroft. Some say Crimestoppers is a ‘front’ organisation, used to filter out reports of crimes perpetrated by the British establishment. The Crimestoppers phone lines mysteriously stopped working after a TV appeal for witnesses to Jill Dando’s murder. The real Nick Ross is married to the cousin of Esther Rantzen. They formed Childline together.

Some say Childline is a ‘front’ organisation, used to filter out reports of VIP child-abuse.


... The real Nick Ross may well have lots to tell us about Operation Yewtree, Jimmy Savile and the BBC paedophile ring. The real Nick Ross has, for some unknown reason, decided to keep his mouth shut. The real Nick Ross is most likely employed by UK intelligence services.
The real Nick Ross may now be engaged in a desperate counter-child abuse revelations ‘op’ for the Government.

Add Jill Dando to this list and you have a string of coincidences to make you wonder.

...As a former long-time resident of Ambergris Caye, a sun-soaked stretch of sand, mangroves and coconut palms in the Caribbean Sea 16 miles (25 kilometers) off the mainland of Belize, Central America, nothing that happens there would surprise me...

While the tourist brochures paint an alluring picture of ‘No shoes? No shirt? No problem!’, San Pedro is actually a hustling, traffic-choked Central American town. As on many Caribbean islands, once you stray from the bars, restaurants and colourful shops of the beachfront, what my Belizean friends call ‘Second World’ poverty stares you straight in the face. It’s an unsettling and stark contrast to the carefree, cocktail-enhanced, hammock-swinging hedonism the tourists enjoy...

Ambergris Caye is a well-known drop-off point for the drug cartels of South America on the way to Mexico and further north, and plenty of funny money – and drugs – washes around in the local economy, so it pays to stay alert.

Away from prying eyes, to the north of the caye, which extends around 28 miles towards the Yucatan Peninsula, criminals go about their business unmolested, trafficking drugs, smuggling contraband among the mangroves and even settling scores – as the two bodies found in a shallow grave a few years ago would suggest.

Popular American singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett is a regular visitor to San Pedro, He’s currently building a ‘Margaritaville’ resort named after his 1977 hit and aimed at enticing island dreamers from the US to invest in a condo in paradise – and no doubt he’ll have plenty of takers.

It’s the same idea that Jasmine Hartin and her partner Andrew Ashcroft had with the beachfront resort they run....