Peyrefitte Responds to PM Letter on Courtenay Coye L.L.P.

Last night, we told you about the Prime Minister’s letter to U.D.P. Chairman Michael Peyrefitte which details the amount of monies Courtenay Coye L.L.P has received from the Government of Belize for its services. The Prime Minister’s response was prompted by a request from Peyrefitte for such details under the Freedom of Information Act. As we reported, the letter states that Courtenay Coye L.L.P. has received two hundred and twenty-seven thousand, eight hundred and forty-two dollars and fifty cents. Well, the Opposition does not buy it, and Peyrefitte says he was hoping for a further breakdown of the figures.

Michael Peyrefitte,

Michael Peyrefitte, Chairman, U.D.P

“Quite predictably, the Prime Minister attempts to distract from the questions that I have asked him. He can’t just say for example, this is how much I was paid and these are the letters giving these gentlemen permission. Ih have to throw something in there that is so ridiculous in the hope that those things will grab the attention and not the answers to the questions I have asked him. First of all, he said that Courtenay Coye and company has been paid somewhere in the area of two hundred and something, just shy of three hundred thousand dollars, somewhere short of three hundred thousand dollars. Now, if you believe they have been paid just that, then I have sea front property to sell you in Belmopan, because we have credible information that that is not what they have been paid. Then when you look at his letter to me, it is just riddled with falsehood, just things that are just amazing that indeed this man dah wah sick puppy. In a part of his letter, he claims that while I was Attorney General, I retained the same Douglas Mendez to work for the AG’s Ministry on some cases. I don’t know what this man is smoking, that is just simply not true. When I spoke to the former Prime Minister yesterday and I said, Prime Minister am I mistaken hat Mendez was not hired by the AG Ministry and the Government to do cases for it? He said, Mike I would have had to know. I was the Minister of finance. That is simply not so.”