We reached out to the Prime Minister this afternoon for clarity on what services his brother and his girlfriend provided. He called Jules Vasquez an hour ago to sayâ š¬"repeatedlyâ š¬"that "my brother has to answer." Here is the entire phone call:
Hon. John Briceno, Prime Minister
"Javier Briceño is my brother, and I will repeat again that I have said and I have been very clear: when the Auditor General did any, we got the Auditor General to do an investigation, an audit, and anything that is found that is wrong, people will have to answer. I don't care who it isâ š¬"if it is my brother, he has to answer. Now, if you want to ask me if I know about the details of what you got or what you don't got, I really don't know. You need to speak with Javier."
Jules Vasquez, Reporter
"But were you... did you facilitate him, or had you indicated to Minister Mira or Minister Marin?"
Hon. John Briceno
"How much did he get? How much did he get? Do you have an idea?"
Jules Vasquez
"They have SmartStream entries for Javier Briceño."
Hon. John Briceno
"For how much?"
Jules Vasquez
"For a total of about $18,000, $21,000."
Hon. John Briceno
"So you think if I facilitated, that is what you are going to get? No, I did not facilitate it."
Jules Vasquez
"Okay, but then Addy Ku of the same address, 61A..."
Hon. John Briceno
"Yeah, but I will repeat again: I don't know what they got, and the investigation will show if they did any wrong they will have to answer."
Jules Vasquez
"But... but..."
Hon. John Briceno
"What they got and they got, I really do not know. Not even my brother Jaime, none of us know. That is... I just want to make that clear."
Jules Vasquez
"Good. Are you aware of Addy Ku and her involvement of Javier? They have the same address."
Hon. John Briceno
"No, I was not aware."
Jules Vasquez
"Okay, but is this an address known to you? 61A Victoria Avenue in Orange Walk. It is in Orange Walk Central."
Hon. John Briceno
"Yes, I know that."
Jules Vasquez
"Alright, so are you aware of what is the link between Javier and Addy?"
Hon. John Briceno
"Javier and Addy are in a relation... a relationship."
Jules Vasquez
"So she got $255,000?"
Hon. John Briceno
"Jules, can we stop the speculations? Let us be real here, let us stop the speculations. I have told you that I don't know what it is that they got or what they a get to didn't get. I am telling you that they are doing an investigation, and I am repeating: if anybody did anything wrong, they will have to answer. Period. So let us stop the speculation, and we can stop at this moment. I really don't want to be in a back and forth to argue about this, if it was that or the other. That is what the extent I can tell you right now."
Jules Vasquez
"Okay, but then measures were taken against ministers. Measures were taken against ministers. Should measures...?"
Hon. John Briceno
"What measures can we take then? Who were the people responsible at that time? It was the ministers that were responsible, so obviously measures have to be taken against these ministers. They were the ones responsible."
Jules Vasquez
"Right, but you are the Prime Minister. Did you...?"
Hon. John Briceno
"I have always taken responsibility for the entire government. If something goes wrong, at the end of the day, the buck stops with me. And that is why I said, when that came to my attention, that we are going to do a full investigation. I am the one that instructed the Financial Secretary to get the Auditor General to go and do an investigation."
Jules Vasquez
"Did you ask Mr. Mira to help your brother? To help out Javi?"
Hon. John Briceno
"No."
Jules Vasquez
"Have you spoken to Javier since?"
Hon. John Briceno
"No."
Jules Vasquez
"So you haven't called your brother to ask him what you were providing?"
Hon. John Briceno
"To what?"
Jules Vasquez
"It is a matter of burning interest, PM."
Hon. John Briceno
"Because I will probably call him later because I just found out when Channel 5 called me. So I said I might as well call you one time, so after this I will call him and tell him, 'If you did anything you have to respond, and when the media calls you, you have to answer, period.' Thank you very much, sir."
According to leaks received a short while ago from the Companies Register, "Hugo Engineering and Construction Services Limited" was registered April 4, 2023, to Addy Del Carmen Ku of 61 Victoria Avenue in Orange Walk Town along with Javier Briceño of the same address.
The company is currently struck off the records and listed as not active.
