And another of the PM's closest confidantes - apart from his brother - is his college buddy and lifelong ally Eamon Courtenay. He's the Minister of Foreign Affairs and also among Belize's top litigators. And he, along with the PM's Minister of State, Chris Coye are the owners of Courtenay Coye LLP, which has been retained by this government on multiple occasions.
You've heard both the PM and the Minister of Home Affairs say that this is because the AG's Ministry only has junior lawyers and the government is facing very senior counsel in many matters before the court.
But since GOB can't seem to find any other law firms in the country that would be able to properly defend them, UDP senator, Michael Peyrefitte, is asking that they at least disclose how much the firm is being paid - and which other ministers have written to the Governor General to ask permission for their firms and businesses to be contracted by the government.
But, today in true PUDP fashion, the PM responded by firing shots back at the opposition:
Hon. John Briceno - Prime Minister
"As I said, it's not a matter that there's any agreement, it is, and I'll just be brief on that because I've spoken about it already, it's simply a matter that when we have many of these cases, that we need to be able to get more experienced attorneys that can help us with these cases. A lot of the cases that we have the attorneys that we have in the Attorney General's Ministry, and it's no disrespect to any of them, it's just that we are dealing with some very senior attorneys that are bringing these cases against us so we have to make sure we can get the best possible defense to be able to defend the interest of Belizeans. We are going to make available the information as to what monies have been paid out, but at the same time I find it cute that the chairman of the UDP does not have anything to say when the Barrows were collecting substantial amount of money or when firms that he's involved one way or the other have also been involved in getting business from the government when he was in government, so we are going to answer, we have nothing to hide."
Courtney Menzies
"Mr Peyrefitte is also asking to disclose how many ministers apart from Mr Courtenay and Mr Coye have written to the GG for permission that their law firms and businesses be able to be contracted by the government. Are you able to share this number with us?"
Hon. John Briceno
"I don't know about it, honestly, I only know about Courtenay and Coye, I don't know about any other one."
When we sought comment from Michael Peyrefitte, he said, quote, "First of all, [PM Briceno] needs to produce what I duly asked him for. He will not distract me by referring to the Barrow's nor me. As for me, when I was a minister, no firm nor company I was affiliated with collected any monies nor entered into any contract with the government... But the PM needs to end his attempts at distraction and produce what I asked him for.... He needs to stop stalling." End quote.
As for former Prime Minister Barrow, he has made it clear that his firm was never retained by the government of Belize. Additionally, he had no beneficial relationship with any family connected firm that was retained.
