Leader of Opposition Demands Probe into Finance Minister and State Minister over Controversial Agreement

With a criminal investigation up in the air for Erwin Contreras, at least for now, the Leader of the Opposition, Moses Shyne Barrow, is calling for an investigation into corruption/wrongdoing of the Minister of Finance, John Briceno and his Minister of State, Christopher Coye.  The call for the investigation came late this evening via a press release from the United Democratic Party.  Apparently, the Port of Belize Limited is not the only one who wrote the Ombudsman asking that an investigation be launched into the Definitive Agreement.  In the letter to the Ombudsman from the Leader of the Opposition, it is asked that, ‘the circumstances that led to the Minister of Finance and Economic Development attempting to have the GOB Cabinet approve for legislation the invalid, illegal, unauthorized Definitive Agreement between a former Minister of Government and Portico Enterprises Ltd (aba) The Port of Magical Belize which was secretly signed by a former Government Minister after the dissolution of Parliament in October 2020 weeks before the General Elections falsely purporting to bind the government to obligations unprecedented in their extremity and simply illegal without approval of Parliament.” End of quote.  In essence, the letter mimics the request of the Port of Belize that was sent yesterday.  It is to be noted, however, that the agreement was signed on October 1, 2020 and the House was dissolved on October 6, 2020.