But, tonight, UDP Senator Mike Peyrefitte is asking what about the other four ministers it was sent to: Courtenay, Coye, Mahler and Habet?
This was one of the many attacks on Gegg that Peyrefitte made in a less than flowing review of his Senate appearance - starting with the allegation that someone in the UDP requested a bribe for the project to receive environmental clearance:
Mike Peyrefitte, Former Attorney General
"But to cast the aspersion, or the blame like someone from was asked him for a bribe or something to that effect. My response in watching it was, well, call the person's name, call the name. Since you're so forthright, since you're so, you know, wanting to divulge all this information, if it is true and you have proof of that, call the person's name so we can all know who it is."
"And to say that you signed this agreement, which is one of the good questions that was asked by one of the senators. This is the biggest investment in your life. And you chose some smoke filled back water place that you don't know anything about? Don't remember who was there?"
"We need to call John Briceno, we need to call Eamon. Courtney. We need to call Anthony Mahler and we need to call Chris Coye. They have to explain to us all what led them bringing that to Cabinet. That's where we are now."
Jules Vasquez
"But from your experience of government administration, the way he described the signing of this quintessential document, what do you make of the circumstances, as he explained them?"
"What do you make of that from your time in government?"
Mike Peyrefitte, Former Attorney General
"That's not how we did things. That's not how we did things. When we did the Stake Bank signing of the definitive agreement, it was myself, Hon. Tracey Panton and Hon. Patrick Faber at the time. 3 ministers representing the government in an open forum to sign this definitive agreement."
"Why did the prime minister take this, why did John Briceno take this agreement that he afterwards, when he got caught, tear it up in parliament and everything - called it trash, that a legal opinion from one of the best lawyers in the world to say that's not good. Why do you still then take it to cabinet for it to be passed with legislation attached and Gegg indicated in his testimony that he was not the one who drafted that piece of legislation. So who drafted that piece of legislation? Was it the AG's ministry? was it some private entity? Who?"
Jules Vasquez
"You law firm or your former law firm Morales and Peyrefitte is mentioned a number of times by Mr. Gegg. He says that he was - it was recommended that he go there because of your law firm's experience in definitive agreements, that it had worked on such agreements before and those agreements had passed into law. What's your response to that?"
Mike Peyrefitte, Former Attorney General
"I don't know where he got that from. I mean I don't think that we have ever done a definitive agreement before. I don't know what was going through his mind or what conversations..."
Jules Vasquez
"But he couldn't just have made that up. You all must have work on either the one for Harvest Caye or the one for Stake Bank or the one for the National Gas Company - which bears a great resemblance to the one for Portico."
Mike Peyrefitte, Former Attorney General
"No sir. When I became attorney general in 2017, I had to divulge myself of all interest in the firm. It was run and manage exclusively by David Morales. I don't know what conversation they had, but I can tell you nobody could have hired that firm thinking that my name being on that as the attorney general would get them anywhere, because they know me. So if David had drafted anything before. I don't know if he had any experience with it before, but certainly when we were working in the partnership, we never did that kind of work."
Jules Vasquez
"Now he says that when he contacted Erwin Contreras to sign the agreement, Erwin Contreras had a very specific legal request that a clause had to be put in there that its pending environmental approval. He says it was his interpretation. I guess he gleamed this from the specifity of Erwin's instruction. It was his interpretation that he was acting on advice from the attorney general."
Mike Peyrefitte, Former Attorney General
"I guess one of the senators should have asked him what made him come to that conclusion, what made it interpreted it...."
Jules Vasquez
"When a minister makes a very specific legal request with what will be a binding sovereign instrument, one concludes that it comes from the attorney general since he is the government's lawyer."
Mike Peyrefitte, Former Attorney General
"Okay, I will also conclude that when you are entering into a definitive agreement for a couple hundred -million-dollar project, you also don't sign it at a house you don't remember, on a street you don't remember, with people you don't recall - it doesn't add up."
Jules Vasquez
"Did you so advise?"
Mike Peyrefitte, Former Attorney General
"No."
