PM on Legal Advice “You’re Flagging a Dead Horse”

Prime Minister John Briceño

Turning now to Prime Minister Briceño, this morning we asked him about the legal opinion submitted by Doctor Ben Juratowitch on the validity of Portico’s Definitive Agreement. Juratowitch’s learned position was presented well before the controversial document was determinedly taken to Cabinet. The prime minister attempted to talk down the value of the legal advice given by telling reporters that they are wasting time and effort on the subject.

Prime Minister John Briceño

“I think what’s important, I mean you’re flagging a dead horse.  The important thing is that the government of Belize, we have decided that the definitive agreement, we’ve torn up and we are doing something totally different. So you could come with a hundred different opinions, it does not matter. What matters is that we are doing a new agreement – not a definitive – a new agreement and a hopefully a new piece of legislation that will spell out how development of different sizes is going to be done in the future so that no future developer have to go to any government. They know that if there is this scope of an investment that this is going to be what you can get as a development concession.”