Mike Peyrefitte Doubles Down On Non-involvement in Definitive Agreement

This afternoon we caught up with United Democratic Party Senator Michael Peyrefitte in Belmopan. We asked him for a response to Portico Enterprises Limited’s June first press release in which they sought to set the record straight on the company’s relationship with Morales Peyrefitte L.L.P. The release was issued after Peyrefitte went on record to say he had no knowledge of the Definitive Agreement and his Party Leader Shyne Barrow called for an investigation into the agreement. According to Portico Enterprises Limited, Morales Peyrefitte L.L.P. drafted and negotiated the Definitive Agreement with government and assisted the company with its applications for the various permits and license that were required for the project. The release went on to say that even after Peyrefitte demitted public office, but still a partner with the firm, Morales Peyrefitte L.L.P. assisted Portico Enterprises Limited in securing the Environmental Compliance Plan that was a condition to the Definitive Agreement. Well, we got a chance to ask Peyrefitte about all of it. Here is what he told us.

Mike Peyrefitte

Michael Peyrefitte, U.D.P. Senator

“Really I should have no response because you don’t fire shots back at a person who shoots at you with a water gun. That is nothing at all to me. That plays no role. The content of that press release by Portico is patently false when it comes to certain things about my involvement. Everybody knows that company, that partnership was formed in December twenty-ninth 2016. I became attorney general January second 2017 like a few days later. I never saw those papers for Portico through that firm. I never had any dealings with that firm any at all. When I came out of government November 2020 I had no dealings with the firm again. I was home working out of my office separately per an agreement between myself and my then partner. I will not be subjected to that attempt at a distraction and as to whatever Portico or David Gegg has to say about me, O Please, come better tell me about somebody that is relevant.”

Paul Lopez

“So I think you made the point before in our last interview, but you knew nothing about the existence of this Definitive Agreement and even after there was talks about it that this even existed.”

Michael Peyrefitte

“No, see you are trying to create a narrative and you are talking about the inner workings of a law firm. Please man that is irrelevant and small potatoes. But, I guess you have a job and have to spin it how you want to spin it. What I am telling you is that by law, from January seventeen to November 2022, I couldn’t communicate or deal with that law firm. For all intents and purposes even though my name was on the law firm, I couldn’t work there. It was not until eight months after 2020 when I said ok, let me go back to the firm to talk about what we would do in terms of business. We were simply going through the list of clients and my partner and I had differences. I support Stake Bank and he supports Portico. So it was more important to us to maintain our personal relation for thirty something years than to have politics and Portico come between me and him.”