_{Photo: Erwin Contreras}

by Marco Lopez

BELIZE CITY, Thurs. May 30, 2024

Erwin Contreras, the former UDP Minister of Economic Development, who has admitted to having signed the botched Portico “Definitive Agreement,” has refused to attend the Special Senate Select Committee (SSSC) hearing. The seventh public hearing, scheduled to take place on Wednesday, May 29, has subsequently been postponed. A release issued by the Office of the Clerk of the National Assembly yesterday stated, “The Committee was expecting the attendance of former Government Minister Erwin Contreras. Mr. Contreras has subsequently indicated he does not wish to attend.”

The release goes on to state that the Committee is “most disappointed at this information, as Mr. Contreras has already admitted that he signed the ‘Definitive Agreement’.”

This agreement was signed by Contreras on October 1, 2020, shortly before the General Elections that year. David Gegg, the CEO of Portico, in his recent testimony at the SSSC hearing, shared that following that election, he reached out to the new administration indicating that he had a signed agreement, adding that he thought it was received “quite well”.

A Cabinet confidential paper and draft legislation seeking to effectively grant the seemingly outlandish financial concessions within the agreement, was almost pushed through by the PUP administration. Had it not been for what has been described as a “revolt” by some Cabinet ministers, this agreement may not even have seen the light of day.

Contreras, according to the UDP, signed the agreement unilaterally, and without the requisite authority to sign such a document. While he was Minister of Economic Development at the time, he did not have a seat within the Cabinet Sub-Committee on Investment – the body responsible to vet investment proposals and approve any requested concessions.

The release states, “Mr. Contreras is the only person and former Government Minister who can explain why he signed the Agreement.”

Last week, in his testimony to the Committee, Gegg said that following a first meeting with Contreras at his government office, they subsequently signed the agreement at a private office in Belmopan in the presence of the former minister’s secretary. Gegg insisted that they did not try to hide the document, and even announced it at a BTIA forum in 2022.

Contreras, for his part, seems to want nothing to do with the work of the Committee. In 2023, attorneys for Port of Belize Limited, Marine Parade Chamber, issued a notice of Civil Suit against Contreras. The suit sought damages against Contreras for misfeasance in public office, “arising from the Defendant’s deliberate, willful, unlawful and clandestine signing of the Definitive Agreement between Portico Enterprise Limited, The Port of Magical Belize and the Government of Belize dated 1st October 2020.”

The Committee is now reaching out to Contreras to “reconsider his decision bearing in mind he is being respectfully invited to attend.”

While this statement is more of a request than a demand, the SSSC is empowered with the authority to call any present or former minister of government by virtue of section D of its Terms of Reference, and section 61 A(2)(g) of the Constitution of Belize.