BELIZE CITY, Wed, Feb. 12, 2020– The Leader of the Opposition (PUP), Hon. John Briceño, and the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, PUP area representative, Julius Espat, succeeded in a lawsuit against Prime Minister Dean Barrow, Financial Secretary Joseph Waight and the Attorney General of Belize regarding the government’s spending of funds without parliamentary approval.

In his judgment, Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin ruled that the government had spent $1.3 billion unconstitutionally without the approval of Parliament.

The Opposition went to the court seeking an injunction to prevent the government from spending public funds without the approval of Parliament. The injunction that was sought was not immediately granted, because Chief Justice Benjamin gave Prime Minister Barrow six months to fix the illegal spending by passing an amendment to the Constitution.

Today, PUP chairman Henry Charles Usher told the media, “Two weeks later [after the judgment] there has not been a word from the Attorney General, there has not been a word from the Prime Minister.”

Usher explained that on the same day that the Prime Minister was found to be acting unconstitutionally during the International Court of Justice (ICJ) referendum period, he called a press conference.

“As you all know from the judgment, the Chief Justice has issued an injunction against this type of spending that he has suspended for a period of six months, in order [for the government] to correct what was happening in the past. In order to correct what was happening, they need to come to us, the parliamentary Opposition, in order to pass a Constitutional amendment,” said Usher.

Usher added, “What the parliamentarians proposed last week and what was supported today by the national executive is that we can’t even entertain any kind of amendment without first having an independent commission of inquiry looking into the finances, looking how the moneys were spent , especially a forensic audit, mutually agreed to by both sides and appointed by the independent commission of inquiry; and especially, looking into the spending of Petrocaribe funds … the 500 million or so have been totally squandered by the government.”