And while the claim for misfeasance against Contreras is being made in the courts, Michael Ashcroft has gone to the court of public opinion when he recently said in an interview that the Portico deal was a pension plan for some of the boys.
It's a very loaded remark - and today we asked Kareem Musa if he is one of those boys Ashcroft is talking about. As is standard - he deflected:
Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
"How can I be one of the boys? First of all there's no pension plan, there's no pension scheme, this is an agreement that went to Cabinet as many other Cabinet papers that are discussed at Cabinet and it was shot down so I don't understand how it is that we're now saying this is some sort of a pension scheme. You should ask Erwin Contreras and Dean Barrow and all those other ministers whether it was a pension plan for them who signed it, they are the ones who signed it. You see, we are left with their mess, we have to clean up their mess, and that is what we're doing, we have to review these documents because they have legal consequences and economic consequences for the country. We saw what happened to BTL, we saw what happened to BEL, how much hundreds of millions can you afford? I know Mr Ashcroft can afford hundreds of millions more because he has an interest as well and that's all good for him but the Belizean people cannot afford that anymore and so we have to consider these agreements that have legal consequences that are born out of the United Democratic government, not our government."
