Senator Peyrefitte Questions G.O.B.’s Second Legal Opinion on Definitive Agreement

Mike Peyrefitte

The Definitive Agreement has had both political mass parties accusing each other of some degree of corruption to have either signed the document into existence in one instance, and to facilitate its progress in the other. Over the weekend, Prime Minister John Briceño told reporters that the government got a second legal opinion on the matter because the first attorney, who happens to be Belize’s lead counsel in its case against Guatemala at the I.C.J., Doctor Ben Juratowitch, misunderstood what was asked of him. After the Juratowitch advice on agreement, the government then sought the advice of Senior Counsel Douglas Mendes. But former Attorney General, U.D.P. Senator, Mike Peyrefitte, who has said former Minister Contreras had no legal authority to have signed the document, had other theories why the government sought a second opinion.

Mike Peyrefitte, Senator, U.D.P

“Really? I mean, that is a shocking thing to say because in the opinion, Ben Juratowitch says exactly what he was asked to do, what his instructions were, including, if you notice in the opinion, he said that this government instructed him that myself, Dean Barrow, our Cabinet, or the investment committee did not agree to have that Definitive Agreement signed. We did not validate that. We did not approve that. That was critical for this government to tell Ben Juratowitch, and an amazing admission that they made, thankfully, because, well, it’s the truth. For you to say that a person like Juratowitch would not understand his assignment is nothing short of crazy because this is the man who represents us at the I.C.J in Belize versus Guatemala. I hope he understood the instructions we gave him when we meet as a part of the team about Belize. I hope he does that, all right. You would think that a person who holds that position would certainly understand what an assignment is. To be quite frank, I don’t think the Prime Minister is telling the truth. Of course, Ben understood the assignment. What the Prime Minister does not like is the response, the assessment, the truth. Ben Juratowitch which is not going to give the government an opinion the government wants, he’s going to give them a solid legal opinion. They went opinion-shopping to another attorney who they believed would have given them the opinion that they wanted. That is what happened. It’s not a matter of not understanding the assignment.”