Francis Fonseca Didn’t See Juratowitch’s Legal Opinion

Francis Fonseca

Earlier today, Cabinet Minister Francis Fonseca weighed in once again on the Definitive Agreement that was signed between Portico Enterprises Limited and the Government of Belize in 2020.  Fonseca admits that he never saw the legal opinion provided by Doctor Ben Juratowitch on the validity of the agreement.  He also described the extensive coverage by the media on the controversial agreement as flogging a dead horse.  Here’s what he shared with reporters this morning.

Francis Fonseca, Cabinet Minister

“No, I’ve never seen the Juratowitch opinion.  My involvement in this matter has been in responding to a question from the Leader of the Opposition.  I did so on behalf of the attorney general, in responding to the question.  So, you know, as I said in response to that question, this matter is completed.  I know some elements in our media want to continue flogging this dead horse, but the bottom line in all of this is that the Government of Belize, this Cabinet, rejected this entire Definitive Agreement.  This is a U.D.P. agreement that came before us, we were advised, as I said in the house, that we had a legal obligation to look at it and review it and that is how it ended up in front of the Cabinet.  Once we reviewed it, we made a full and final determination that it is not something that we would want to review and further advance and, as the prime minister very dramatically demonstrated, we put an end to that Definitive Agreement.  So that’s the bottom line, we can twist and turn and look for all sorts of different angles, but at the end of the day, the bottom line is that this P.U.P. government put an end to a corrupt U.D.P. Definitive Agreement. We ended it.”