BELIZE CITY, Wed. Oct. 27, 2021 — Stake Bank Enterprise Limited and a key investor in the enterprise, Mike Feinstein, have demanded an apology from Hon. Tracy Taegar Panton for alleged defamatory statements she made in an October 7 2021 interview on 7News Belize.

The attorneys for Stake Bank say the statements made by Hon. Panton were defamatory and suggested that their clients “entered into an Environmental Compliance Plan (ECP) for the causeway component of their project through some nefarious or fraudulent means and that the same was illegitimate.”

The approval of the causeway, which was purportedly outlined in an ECP document brandished by Chief Environmental Officer, Martin Alegria, at a recent virtual press conference, was reportedly granted in 2019, but the UDP, which was the ruling administration at that time, is claiming that they did not officially sanction the issuance of the green light for the construction of the causeway, although it is being reported that overall approval of the project, inclusive of causeway construction, was taken to the Senate.

An issue that has arisen is whether proper public consultation was indeed carried out, and it is one of the matters to be looked at during a review that the Briceño administration has requested.

Hon. Panton has not yet issued any statement in response to this potential legal action against her. She is being asked to apologize within 7 days following the issuance of the letter today, October 27.