Clarification on Central Bank of Belize Warning......

Original Story

Seven Letters from Minister Contreras to Lord Gibson Discussed

Posted by staff on April 3rd, 2014 | Posted in Economics, Government | 2411 Views

We now take a closer look at Lord Neil B Gibson. Lord Gibson came into the spotlight earlier this year when, as a foreign investor, he provided financial support and an online endorsement for Ralph Huang’s political campaign in Cayo South.

It created quite a stir in the Public as Lord Gibson claimed that with that victory, he awaited Ralph Huangs appointment to a Ministerial Position within Government. Another development that soon evolved was the extent of the relationship Between Lord Gibson and Minister Erwin Contreras.

Lord Gibson’s website proudly boasts “that the partnership has been working closely with the Honourable Erwin Rafael Contreras, Trade Investment, Private Sector Development and Consumer Protection.”

PlusNews identified at least 7 letters of comfort, all on Ministry of Trade Letterhead and signed by Minister Contreras himself or on his behalf. We sat down with Michael Singh, CEO in the Ministry of Trade to have a frank discussion on the letters.

Michael Singh – CEO in the Ministry of Trade

“Let me answer this for you as clearly as I can.  I have met Lord Nelson personally once.  He asked for an appointment and has been in to visit with me.  I don’t know the gentleman very well.  I do know that he, from what I understand, was involved in business offshore type industry, financial services, of which… not very clear to me exactly what it is that he does with offshore financial services.  He had expressed an interest, from what I understand, in setting up a bank in Belize.  He was under the impression, at one point in time, that the Small Farmers’ Bank would have been for sale, but the Small Farmers’ Bank is not a bank.  So clearly, you can’t sell a bank that’s not a bank as a bank.”  

How did Lord Gibson get that idea that a Government Bank was up for sale?  Well, one of the letters from Minister Contreras dated May 7, 2012, has a clue.

Hon. Erwin Contreras requested help in the Launching of Belize’s National Bank! “The government of Belize is currently seeking necessary funding and investors …. One of the current programs … is exploring the possibility if turning the Development Finance Corporation (DFC) into a National Bank. We invite Interstate group and Lord Neil B. Gibson to assist the country and Belizean people with this vital economic program.”

Gibson did set up his own Financial Services Company in Belize: Handels Security Ltd.  But queries began coming to Central Bank and in February of 2013, Central Bank issued a warning on Gibson’s company; Handel’s Security Ltd. Until recently, Michael Singh sat on the Central Bank Board. He had this to say about that warning.

Michael Singh

“Well, it’s factual.  It’s factual that he is not authorized to transact, because he doesn’t have a banking license in Belize.  So, I think it was a clarification, and the clarification came through requests coming in from inquiries, asking whether or not he has such a license, and that the warning was just clarifying that he doesn’t.  But it doesn’t mean that the man is a bad guy.  It just means that he’s not licensed to do those things in Belize.  Belize is not in the habit of inviting financial service operators that don’t have a track record or that will not survive under the scrutiny of international organizations.  At the Central Bank, on which board I sat on for two years, I will tell you that the prudency that the bank goes through is extremely tight.”

Yet in spite of the warning, another letter written and signed by Minister Erwin Contreras dated March 24, countered the Central Bank warnings. That letter, again on Ministry of Trade Letterhead, states,  ‘’…we did a separate investigation into allegations made against Handel’s Securities Ltd., and found them all to be false claims.  I personally sat with the chairman of the Central Bank of Belize and Mr. Gibson, and we were told by the Chairman that the Central Bank was investigating Handel’s Bank & Trust Co Ltd. an international bank licensed in Belize, for alleged wrong doing, not Handel’s Securities…. we would be happy to speak with anyone regarding this matter.”  We asked Minister Singh what investigations could His Ministry carry out that could declare the allegations as false claims.

Michael Singh

“I think the word investigation might be the word that’s a little confusing.  It really is background checks that we do.  Investigation seems to indicate that it’s a criminal investigation.

Louis Wade – Plus TV News

“It gives the impression that the kind of investigation that was done is likened to the kind of investigation done by Central Bank.”

Michael Singh

“It’s a background check.  Well, I will tell you that, within our Ministry we have a lot of foreign investors that we deal with.  One of the requirements of an EPZ license, for instance, is that there must be a background check of the principals of the company, before we give them an Export Processing Zone.  I don’t think that the letter said the man is licensed.  It never went against what the Central Bank said.”

In actuality the letter written by Contreras did give the impression that Handels security was still licensed. “This letter serves as confirmation and support… that Handels Securities Ltd is licensed with the International Finance Services Commission of Belize and the licenses are in good standing until 2014.”

We also asked CEO Singh how could he or his ministry be asked by the Minister to defend or speak to anyone on behalf of an Investor.

Michael Singh

“A Central Bank regulatory issue is completely different.  I am not at liberty to discuss a Central Bank regulatory issue with anyone, because part of my role on the Board of the Central Bank is that we sign an agreement for confidentiality, which has to be respected.  You know, whether it’s Lord Gibson, or whether it’s you, whether it’s Joe Blow on the street, I have to respect that.  OK?  So I would not be in a position to clarify or dent anything in respect to what happens in Central Bank deliberations, regarding any investor.  I can confirm that a letter was sent out, speaking to a warning, regarding activities by any entity that’s not licensed to do that.  That’s a public warning that went out.  I can speak to that.  If somebody would come in here and ask me if this man is a legitimate or not, that’s a very hard thing for me to decide.  All I can tell you is what our background checks have shown, and our background checks have not shown any criminal activity by the gentleman.”

In Friday’s newscast CEO Singh gives his opinion on Lord Neil Gibson’s varied interests in Belize and he speaks frankly on the issue of Comfort Letters to investors.

Channel 5 Belize Attacks Lord Neil Gibson and the Election of Ralph Huang

Original Article

 Mar. 13, 2014 - BELMOPAN CITY, Belize -- The recent election of Ralph Huang to the position of Standard Bearer to the Cayo South District in Belize should not have made worldwide news.  The election to a small political position in a district in Belize that literally drew less than three thousand total votes should never have been thrust into the global media, but that is exactly what has happened as the opponents of Ralph Huang have taken to social media, Youtube and various blogs and Belizean news outlets in a widespread attempt to call the validity of the election into question through a loose connection to a Las Vegas based businessman named Lord Neil Gibson.

The campaign to elect Ralph Huang to the position of Standard Bearer to the tiny district in Belize was aided by support provided by Lord Neil Gibson in the form of monetary contributions and media support provided through Gibson's organizations and companies.  Gibson vocally announced and discussed his endorsement of Huang and his support of the campaign to get him elected.  After the election, Huang is quoted in several interviews as having had support provided by Gibson.  Complete transparency on the subject of campaign support was provided by all parties involved.  Additionally, several websites operated by Gibson or affiliates of Gibson's distributed news on a regular basis regarding the connection.

Lord Neil Gibson has never hidden the fact that he has business interests in Belize.  Several projects in various stages of development have been circulated through websites and press releases discussing the interests and impacts that would be felt by the Belizean community.  Through his business interests in Belize, he befriended several other Belizean businessmen, as would be the case in any scenario.  One of those businessmen decided to run for office, and Gibson supported his friend.

Upon the election of Huang, an organization called Channel 5 Belize began to circulate speculation and rumors of political corruption due to the connection between Lord Neil Gibson and Huang.  To date, they have run several stories and op-eds calling into question the validity of his election due to his connections to Gibson.  At the heart of all accusations of corruption has been a single blog post that exists on the website of the same organization, a blog post which is not credited to any author and cites no actual facts regarding any case against Gibson.  The blog author makes the case that Gibson is not good for Belize because he is a "fraud," yet supports his claim with no actual evidence.  There is sporadic citations involving a case where a Gibson run company was denied a license to operate, however no notation of the fact that the claims were actually against a business that had a name that only sounded like the one Gibson ran, and Gibson's company was cleared through letters from Belizean government officials which can be publicly viewed on any of Gibson's websites.  A case of mistaken identity caused a minor inconvenience, and is now being used by Channel 5 Belize to call an election into question.  A blog post by an anonymous author, written and posted through the same website that is currently bringing the corruption accusations, is being used as some sort of "evidence" even though it has no associated facts. The article in question can be viewed here: http://edition.channel5belize.com/archives/88561/email

When a news organization begins to utilize the accusations of corruption as a tool to call elections into question, and cites no real evidence for these allegations except blog postings written by their own authors, then that news organization is suspect as to its motivations in running the stories.  Perhaps there is corruption in Belize, and perhaps it is coming from Channel 5.

Information about Lord Neil Gibson or any of his companies can be found athttp://www.lordneilbenjamingibson.com

LORD NEILB GIBSON ATTACKED BY INTERNET TROLL

News Business & Finance Industry
Lord Neil Gibson Battles Anonymous Internet Troll


February 14, 2014
The internet and Google have long been a source for potential exploitation of search engine algorithms in order to slander individuals, playing on the fact that Google is not an actual news source but instead is simply a list of categorized information about a topic. Because it has grown to become essentially a source for people to find out information on any topic, and is viewed by most people as the starting point for research, those who wish to misinform others about certain subjects know all too well that creating a search engine friendly internet space loaded with false information about a subject is an easy method to sway public opinion. Because the standard setup of Google listings involves a title and a short snippit from the article itself, many people feel no need to actually move past the listings themselves, and feel they can get all the information they need straight from the search page. If you were to Google someone's name as a source of research on them as a person, it is quite simple for someone with bad intentions to sway public opinion by simply creating many, many internet posts that state patently false information about the person. What is especially interesting about this phenomenon is that there is absolutely no rules regarding truthfulness in the posted pieces, as they are not necessarily posted within legitimate news spaces, or anywhere that is regulated in any way. To make matters worse, those adopting this type of attack against others have the ability to hide behind the "free speech" argument which protects them from prosecution as the slanderous information can be called "opinion." Lord Neil Gibson of Las Vegas knows this all too well, and continues to deal with an unfortunate situation that has caused damage through false information to his name that has been ongoing for years.

Lord Neil Benjamin Gibson is a Las Vegas based business man who operates several diversified entities involved in a wide range of capacities involving international investment, development, green energy and healthcare projects. In many cases the deals that are struck between his companies and outside parties are done on trust, reputation and limited access to research into past projects. Many business people who were and are involved with Neil Gibson will use Google to look into his background, past business dealings and reputation in order to make their decisions to move forward. He was easily damaged by a person who understood how to manipulate internet posts and search engines, one who wanted false information to be spread about him, and one who wanted to harm future business deals that Gibson was structuring through negative perception of him as a person.

Lord Neil Gibson followed the standard protocols that most business people would immediately gravitate to in order to reclaim his reputation from those attempting to slander him, and he filed lawsuits and motions that would force the attacker to remove the posts that were created under his name. Although the obvious outcome of the removal of untrue information within spaces that the attacker admittedly controlled was finalized through legal action, the problem remains to this day that the attacker controls spaces that are not under his name, or are controlled by him from afar. The reputation slander continued after the judgement against the attacker was enforced, and Mr. Gibson found the posts spreading negative and false information about him coming from anonymous sources that could not be tied directly to the attacker. This unfortunate situation shows the weaknesses of Google as an information source, and also illustrates how dangerous it is to not fully investigate the source of "news" that is found online.

Lord Neil Gibson continues to take steps to counter the false information that is on the internet and which is specifically set up to show up in Google searches for his name, and continues to be forced to counteract the spread of misinformation regarding him as a person. The anonymous attacker remains at large.

Verified information about www.lordneilbenjamingibson.com . and his companies can be found at www.lordneilgibson.com
lordneilgibson.com