Tonight, the Prime Minister says that if Hugo Engineering-the company partially owned by his brother, Javier-is implicated in any wrongdoing regarding its Belize Defence Force meat contracts, then baby bro will have to answer for it.
This comes as auditing continues inside the Ministry of Defence following explosive leaks revealing procurement irregularities. When the story broke last week, the Prime Minister told us he had not yet spoken to his brother. We pressed him on that issue again today, but he didn't want to talk about what he and Javier discussed:
Reporter
"PM, when we spoke to you last week, you had not yet spoken to your younger brother Javier, have you spoken to him since and what have you found out about him being a BDF supplier?"
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"I have spoken to him and there is nothing more to add."
Reporter
"For the tender period we have seen Hugo engineering Company co-owned by your brother supply."
John Briceno:
"I won't answer that. You really want me to?"
Reporter
"It's an engineering company PM, why is an engineering company providing that?"
John Briceno:
"What I said again and I will repeat again, allow the auditor general to do their job and if Hugo Engineering did anything wrong they have to answer. Punto final, there's nothing more to add."
In the 2023/24 fiscal year, Hugo Engineering and Construction Services Limited supplied beef patties, beef steak, chicken breast, ground chicken, lamb chops, and pork chops to the BDF.
