Photo: (l to r) SC Dean Barrow and Wilbert Vallejos, former Commissioner of Lands
Special Select Committee on Portico reveals lands intended for cruise port development acquired in less than a month by David Morales and his partner, Sean Duncan; SC Dean Barrow handcuffs the Special Select Committee!
by Marco Lopez
BELIZE CITY, Wed. Feb. 14, 2024
The work of the Senate Special Select Committee on the signing of Portico’s “Definative Agreement” was sidelined by legal technicalities raised by Senior Counsel Dean Barrow, today, in its third sitting.
He appeared to represent Wilbert Vallejos, former Commissioner of Lands, and Hugo Patt, former Minister of Natural Resources. By the end of the day’s session, not much was answered by Vallejos or Patt.
In the morning session, Sean Duncan, Director of NYNE Enterprise Limited, appeared before the committee with his attorney, Andrew Bennett. He would admit during questioning by Senator Kevin Herrera that the two 50.1-acre parcels of land acquired within the Portico project site were bought from the Government of Belize in 2020, to ultimately be resold, as an investment.
The over 100 acres were secured in less than a month. Duncan, who is the head of the Data Warehouse Department at SpeedNet Communications Ltd. (Smart), is also an IT expert with his own company – NYNE Enterprise Limited. His partner, and according to him, “very good friend” David Morales, was the attorney who represented Portico and fashioned the signed Definitive Agreement for the company.
According to Duncan’s testimony, Morales was responsible for the land acquisition which was executed in the name of the company (NYNE Enterprise Limited) – he just signed the relevant documents. The two are the only directors and beneficiaries of the company. The land is still in the possession of the company, according to his testimony, and no development has begun.
The questionable Definitive Agreement was signed on October 1, 2020. On October 7, the directors of the company applied for the parcels land – by the 20th of that month, those lands were approved. These properties were acquired just before the 2020 General Elections and the landslide victory of the PUP. The witness, Duncan, said that he was “excited” when he received the news of the land acquisitions, and said that they utilized mechanisms at the department like any other Belizean could.
According to Senator Herrera’s records, the two 50.1-acre parcels were purchased for approximately $5,300.00 each – bottom dollar – or as the senator pointed out, around a 46 – 85 percent discount. At the time, Wilbert Vallejos was at the helm of the Lands Department as the Commissioner of Lands.
He would have been one of the people who oversaw the execution of this transaction. In the afternoon session, he seemed baffled that “anyone” would say they acquired lands to sell back as an investment.
Barrow disarms the Special Committee
Putting to the committee that the Terms of Reference under which it was formed limit its members from asking his clients certain questions, Senior Counsel Dean Barrow guided them to refrain from answering most inquiries from the committee senators. He represented former Lands Commissioner, Wilbert Vallejos, and the former Minister of Natural Resources, Hugo Patt.
Vallejos was the first witness in the afternoon session. The career public officer served as the Commissioner of Lands for about 11 years. Barrow, in his opening statement argued that the terms of reference under which the committee was formed did not allow for the line of questioning put to the previous witnesses regarding the land acquisitions.
He believed those same questions would be put to his clients.
“With respect, chair and senators, I do not see how on earth that line of questioning is encompassed by the motion setting up this committee and by your Terms of Reference. Let me cut straight to the chase. I wish you to allow me to go through the TOR, the motion first of all, some of the recitals, after which I will submit to you that Mr. Vallejos is, I want to frame it carefully – is not obliged to answer any questions along those lines that you may want to put,” Barrow said.
He said that the committee is not entitled to ask the witness any questions about land acquisition. The motion and the Terms of Reference of the committee limit it to asking questions only pertaining to the signing of the Definitive Agreement and its subsequent tabling to the Cabinet, according to this opinion beaten home by Barrow.
This will put a chokehold on the committee to further investigate matters, as future witnesses are likely to also follow suit with this approach. Vallejos, for his part, refused to answer the questions put to him by Senator Elena Smith, Senator Herrera, and Senator Bevin Cal. He repeated that the line of questioning from the senators had no relevance to the signing of the Portico Agreement.
The questioning would have involved the sale of about 17 parcels of land of 50 acres each, all executed on November 4, 2020, just prior to the general election that year.
These lands would ultimately make up the proposed Portico cruise port project site. Vallejos, as mentioned, was at the helm of the Lands Department at the time of these transactions.
His refusal to answer questions was seen as a moral blunder by the senators, who chided and reminded him that he was paid for 22 years by the taxpayers of Belize, to whom he owed a duty.
“We really wanted to get an understanding of what took place on November 4, 2020, but it seems that you don’t intend to be very helpful to the committee, which again is very sad. I think the Belizean public certainly deserves a lot better than this, you being a commissioner for so many years, being paid by Belizean tax-payers. I think it is a very sad day in the country actually, that you have decided that you won’t help the committee and assist the committee in its investigation,” Senator Herrera said.
The witness raised that no disclosure of the question intended to be asked by the committee was made in their summons letter. His attorney implied that perhaps prefabricated questions sent prior to the sitting of the committee may have resulted in some cooperation and not the “blanket no” to all the questions.
Senator Bishop Alvin Benguche suggested that the witness come back at a later date, giving the committee time to draft and send questions to the witness. The meeting went into deliberations for a while, but Vallejos decided to deny that suggestion. He shared that he believed he had contributed all he could to the process. Not being able to answer anything about lands because of the TOR, and having no knowledge of the Portico agreement, he shared he could not answer any more questions.
“I can’t answer any other questions in relation to land because I’m sticking to the terms of reference,” Vallejos said.
“I’m just making it explicitly clear, from you, that all the committee’s questions you are deeming as irrelevant, and you are refusing to answer those questions,” Senator Chanona stated. “Yes”, Vallejos said.
Barrow was also present to represent Hugo Patt. He was guided similarly to refrain from answering any questions not related to the TOR of the committee.
“I am here to answer anything about the Definitive Agreement, which I don’t know about. I will be willing to answer anything that is related to the terms of reference,” Patt said.
What’s next?
The maneuvering by Barrow has thrown into question the legal formation of the Special Select Committee and the scope of its powers to investigate the dealings surrounding the proposed Portico development.
While one aspect of the inquiry delves into the signing of the agreement, the other deals with the tabling of the agreement to the Cabinet, and the subsequent Cabinet confidential paper which purportedly sought majority support of Cabinet.
A letter from Stuart Leslie, the Cabinet Secretary, to the Clerk of the National Assembly dated February 12, shows that the Cabinet has rejected the request of the Senate Special Select Committee for documents related to its dealings with Portico.
We will continue to follow.
