Port of Belize Limited Calls for Investigation into Controversial Agreement with Portico Enterprises

The Port of Belize Limited has continued its campaign to have an investigation launched into the Definitive Agreement between Portico Enterprises and the Government of Belize. In its recent move, the PBL wrote to the recently installed Contractor General, Maria Arthurs, to have an investigation conducted. The letter to Arthurs has quoted Section Fourteen of the Contractor General Act where it highlights the functions of her office to monitor the award and the public implementation of public contracts to ensure that there is no fraud, corruption, mismanagement, waste or abuse in the contract awards. The Contractor General’s Act continues to indicate that the office is legally allowed to have access to all documents or any other property linked to the contract being investigated. The letter, similar to the one sent last Thursday to the Ombudsman, spoke of multiple factors that PBL believes warrants an investigation. Among the ten factors listed out in its letter, are the fact that the former Prime Minister Dean Barrow has categorically denounced the signing of the agreement, calling it unlawful and unauthorized. The second factor being the former Attorney General, Michael Peyrefitte has also indicated that former Government Minister Erwin Contreras had no authority to sign that agreement and that it did not have the required clearance from Cabinet. We will be following up this week to see if an investigation will be launched by the Ombudsman and the Contractor General.