The first public hearing of the Senate Special Select Committee was held today at the National Assembly. The committee's purpose is to probe into all documents, communications and processes that led to the signing of the Portico Definitive Agreement under the UDP in 2020 - and its presentation to the PUP Cabinet along with draft legislation in 2023.
Now this has been a subject of raging public and political controversy since February when Senator Michael Peyrefitte first wrote a letter to the Prime Minister asking about the existence of such a document.
And that only escalated in May when 7News finally received a copy of the document - which led to a public examination of the questionable behavior of lead actors from successive governments. All the questions that arose led to today's senate probe. Today, the first two witnesses were called to testify. The main event, Erwin Contreras didn't appear because his lawyer wrote in to say he hadn't been properly served.
So, viewers only got to see former UDP Ministers Tracy Panton and Michael Peyrefitte. Our team was in Belmopan and Courtney Menzies has this story.
Today marked the start of the Senate Special Select Committee's inquiry into the Portico Definitive Agreement. Two former UDP ministers were called to testify, and this morning's session began with Albert's area rep, Tracy Panton, who once served as the Minister of State in the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Commerce.
Her comments during the inquiry weren't unlike her statements she'd already made to the press, in which she was adamant she had no clue any definitive agreement had ever been drafted:
Tracy Panton, Area Rep., Albert
"There was no definitive agreement brought before the Cabinet subcommittee on Investment. There was no definitive agreement recommended to Cabinet by the Cabinet subcommittee on investment when I served as chair. There was no definitive agreement discussed in Cabinet when I served as chair of the Cabinet subcommittee on investment."
After the morning's proceedings, Panton doubled down on her position outside of the chambers:
Tracy Panton, Area Rep., Albert
"I came because I think it is important that we have the matter addressed so we can move forward."
"I have not seen the document, I have not read the document, that document was not prepared and by the Cabinet subcommittee on investment which I chaired, it would be improper for me to comment on a document that does not come from an official source."
The afternoon's session started a few hours later, and before it started, we spoke with UDP Senator Michael Peyrefitte about his expectations.
Michael Peyrefitte, UDP Senator
"I don't know, it's their inquiry, they will determine what they want to ask but I'll just answer their questions."
Courtney Menzies:
"What was your take from this morning's proceedings?"
Michael Peyrefitte, UDP Senator
"I think she did very well, I think it cleared up the process, made it very clear coming from the chair that there was a process before you get to a definitive agreement and one that I don't believe that Portico followed."
But by the time the inquiry finished at 4, there were no great revelations uncovered in this first session.
