A lawsuit involving the Government of Belize was filed by the principals of Stake Bank last August in which they are seeking one hundred and seventy-eight million dollars in special damages. The claim was brought against G.O.B. after developer Michael Feinstein said he lost significant potential revenue when government entered into the definitive agreement with Portico Enterprises Limited. But why has the matter been kept on the hush, despite the significant sum being sought by Stake Bank? We begin our newscast tonight with a look at the claim and how it all came to be. Here’s News Five’s Isani Cayetano.
Isani Cayetano, Reporting
When ground was broken by the principals of Stake Bank Enterprise Ltd. in February 2019, it was with a plan that the tourism development project on the twenty-five acre island which bears the namesake of the company, would have been completed within a few years. That was five years ago. Since then, the location has been transformed from a barren island just a few miles off the coast of Belize City, to a construction site that is largely developed but unfinished.
In August 2017, Michael Feinstein and Stake Bank Enterprise Ltd. entered into a definitive agreement with the Government of Belize that allowed the company to build and operate the Stake Bank project, otherwise known as Port Coral. That contract would remain fixed for a period of twenty-five years and preceded the Stake Bank Cruise Docking Facility Development Act which came into being in January 2018. Despite the existence of the Stake Bank Definitive Agreement, GOB proceeded to approve another cruise ship docking facility in Belize District. That would be the controversial Port of Magical Belize.
In a claim brought by Feinstein and Stake Bank against the Attorney General and Portico Enterprises Limited, the parent company for Port of Magical Belize, special damages of almost one hundred and eighty million dollars are being sought for multiple breaches of that definitive agreement. According to a claim signed by Feinstein in August 2023, government entered into a memorandum of understanding with Portico in September 2017, at which point the Barrow administration, quote, indicated that it was considering granting the second defendant approval to construct and operate a cruise ship docking facility in or in the vicinity of the Port of Belize, end quote. This, says Feinstein, coincided with negotiations that Stake Bank was having with financial institutions to secure financing to construct the Stake Bank project. Stake Bank Enterprise was also in discussions with cruise ship operators to secure usage agreements to dock at the facility when the project was completed. It is alleged that news of Portico’s memorandum of understanding thwarted both negotiations and, as a result, prevented the construction of the Stake Bank Project from continuing.
When the Government of Belize entered into a definitive agreement with Portico in October 2020, it granted a thirty-year term for the Port of Magical Belize with a raft of excessively approving rights, tax benefits and duty concessions that GOB had never granted to any other investor or developer. According to Stake Bank, as a result of those breaches, it has suffered extensive loss and damage, as the project has been stalled for six years. The company, says Feinstein, has also lost projected net revenues for that period which comes up to one hundred and forty-eight million, four hundred and thirty-four thousand, four hundred and four Belize dollars. It also claims that it has incurred thirty million Belize dollars in additional interest during that period.
We note that while the suit against the Briceño administration was filed in the High Court in August 2023, it was never publicized. We also note that the claim was brought a little over two months after Anthony Sylvestre assumed office as the new attorney general.
Today, the Senate Special Select Committee resumed its inquiry into the Portico Definitive Agreement. Hugo Patt, former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Natural Resources, was the first witness to testify before the committee. Patt was much more cooperative than his former lands commissioner, even though he did not see any of the questions relevant to the motion at hand or the committee’s terms of reference. Dean Barrow, the former Prime Minister, appeared as legal counsel for Patt. A majority of the questions posed by the committee focused on those November fourth, 2020 land transaction approvals at the Ministry of Natural Resources. This time, questions were focused on seven companies that reportedly received nine parcels of fifty-acre lands, and why all seven companies had the same director. News Five’s Paul Lopez reports.
Paul Lopez, Reporting
Hugo Patt, the former Minister of Natural Resources, testified during today’s Senate Special Select Committee’s inquiry. Patt was the minister responsible for that department from 2018 up until the 2020 general election.
Hugo Patt
Hugo Patt, Former Minister of Natural Resources
“Whenever applications were submitted the process was very straight forward. Applications were submitted, made it through the process and eventually it ended up with me. As long as the application was recommended and it had met all the requirements then it was approved”
Kevin Herrera
Kevin Herrera, Senator
“What would have been some of those requirements?”
Hugo Patt
“I could not get into the details but of my mind, as long as the person is a Belizean that person could apply and another important one for the ministry is that whenever a parcel of land was applied the ministry had to make sure it was national lands in order for it to be processed.”
The committee, as it did with the former lands commissioner, continued to pose questions related to more than a dozen land transactions that were approved on November fourth, 2020, days before the last general elections. Those lands, located in the vicinity of the proposed site for the Port of Magical Belize, were divided into fifty-acre parcels and many were sold for below five thousand dollars each.
Kevin Herrera
“Would you recall whether or not Portico had applied for lands under its own name?”
Dean Barrow
Dean Barrow, Attorney
“Madam Chair certainly the general questions that the Senator is asked, he tries to be helpful. But I must reiterate that once the questions become specific regarding Portico and any application made in the names of Portico for lands. I think that is outside the terms of reference.”
The committee noted that it had documents from within the Ministry of Natural Resources showing that four hundred and fifty acres of land within in the area in question were approved for sale by the Ministry of Natural Resources to seven separate companies on November fourth, 2020. The same director was listed for all those companies, businessman Sunjay Hotchandani.
Bevington Cal
Senator Bevington Cal
“While approving these lands, especially for companies, would it be a concern to have differn5t companies applying the same day and same directors, would that be a concern?”
Hugo Patt
“Senator, whenever applications were accepted it is because they met the requirements. Whenever applications met the necessary requirements those were sent for processing.”
Kevin Herrera
“Mr Patt, would you recall a company called Keystar Limited?”
Hugo Patt
“Senator with much respect I don’t see the relevance of that question, nether to the motion or terms of reference.”
Kevin Herrera
“Would you recall a company called Fire Sky Limited?”
Hugo Patt
“With much respect, I don’t see the relevance of your question so I will exercisemy right.”
Kevin Herrera
“Same question, Vision Pro Limited.”
Hugo Patt
“I will reserve my right as a witness not to answer.”
Kevin Herrera
“Alkaline Limited.”
Hugo Patt
“I will reserve my rights not to respond to that question.”
Kevin Herrera
“Building Blocks Limited”
Hugo Patt
“Same Answer”
Kevin Herrera
“Kill Switch Limited”
Hugo Patt
“Same Answer Senator”
Kevin Herrera
“Build Zone Limited”
Hugo Patt
“Same Answer Senator”
Kevin Herrera
“The common director in all those companies is an individual Sunjay Hotchandani. Would you be familiar with him sir?”
Hugo Patt
“I don’t find that question relevant to the motion or terms of reference. So I will exercise my right as a witness to decline to answer, with much respect Senator.”
The committee further noted that three of those parcels were sold to Portico Enterprises. Two that were bought for five thousand dollars from the Government of Belize were sold off to Portico for fifteen thousand dollars. Interestingly, one parcel that Key Star Limited reportedly bought for thirty-three thousand dollars was also sold for fifteen thousand dollars.
Bevington Cal, Senator
“For the Belizean people to know, we got a document from the lands department that was shared to you that you don’t want to read, but I will read it for you. Coastal lands are usually sold at four thousand per acre and all of these lands issued at east of northern lagoon were sold at five thousand three hundred.
Mr. Patt with simple math, fifty point one acres of land on coastal lands is valued at two hundred thousand dollars. All of these were only sold for five thousand three hundred dollars. To me that sounds like a lot of revenue lost by the government of Belize during your tenure.”
Hugo Patt
“While the question is irrelevant to the Definitive Agreement I will have to state for the record that the social rates the ministry applied then had been there for time immemorial. It is not something I instituted. But as the former minister of natural resources I saw it as my duty to ensure that each and every Belizean gets a portion of land at very affordable and social rates.”
Today, one man is dead and several other persons were injured after a search and rescue operation between Turneffe and English Caye was carried out. This afternoon around 2 pm, the Belize Coast Guard received several alerts of a boating incident in the area. In these reports, they were notified of eight people in need of assistance and six coast guards were dispatched to the scene. In an operation taking just under two hours, seven people were rescued and one body recovered. We spoke with Melissa Jones, Operations Officer for the Belize Coast Guard for more information.
“Concerning today, we received a call at 2:38 p.m. from on e by the name of miss Briseidi Tzul reporting of a capsized vessel with eight individuals on board between the area of Tarpon Creek and English Caye.“
Britney Gordon
“So in this event, how many people were injured or were able to be rescued?”
Mellissa Jones
“After we received a call from miss Tzul, our quick response team departed our headquarters at roughly 2:40 p.m., and while making their way, they made contact with a sailboat by the name of Naidelyn, who had then, who was en route to Belize, who was the first to respond to the scene, and they had rescued four individuals and one motionless body. The crew then informed our commander of our quick response team that there were three more individuals in the water and due to the weather challenge of the wave conditions, they couldn’t have rescued those remaining three individuals. So with that information, our quick response team proceed in the general direction that they had informing them where there has rescued the four individual first and our crew rescued the three remaining individual at approximately 3:58 p. m. Roughly two miles east of Sergeant Caye and Pouch Caye.”
Britney Gordon
“So how many people were dispatched on this search and rescue?”
Mellissa Jones
“Our quick response team is consist of six individuals. “
Britney Gordon
“Okay, and how long did this operation take?”
Mellissa Jones
“I would say this operation takes under two hours.”
Britney Gordon
“And you mentioned that one motionless body was recovered. Can you give me any updates on that situation?”
Mellissa Jones
“When it comes to that one motionless body, all I can provide you with is that the body was retrieved from the sailboat, who had rescued the four individuals first, and we then ferried that body along with the remaining crew. So it’s a rescue of seven more individuals, and we brought them to our headquarters where the body is being handed over to the police.”
Britney Gordon
“What are the states of the other people that were rescued?”
Mellissa Jones
“There weren’t much injuries. There were one individual by the name of Mr. Jason Magana that was dehydrated and so our medic transported him to the KHMH.”
Britney Gordon
“Is there any updates on what the cause of this incident was?”
Mellissa Jones
“At this moment, no, I don’t have any other information concerning what caused it. The vessel to capsize.”
Britney Gordon
“So we just, are waiting on a police report to hear about the, the man that was motionless upon rescue?”
Last night, we told you about a tourist who is in police custody after allegedly scamming a high-end resort of twenty-seven thousand dollars in services. As we reported, a man who is identified as forty-year-old American national Nicolas Paula spent nine days at It’zana Resort and left the resort without settling his debt. He was detained in San Pedro on Tuesday. Well, News Five has learned that allegations against this individual surfaced from as far back as June 2020 in Costa Rica. A vacation home rental company in Costa Rica shared on social media that the same individual, who at the time was being identified as Christopher Marchena, was using pictures and videos of their homes to scam people. The report alleges that Marchena was deceiving people by offering them very low prices and asking for advance payments. That was almost four years ago and today he has found himself in a great deal of trouble far from home. Further allegations are that he scammed multiple business establishments in Belize. We continue to follow.
Thirty-eight-year-old Brandon Gillett, a court bailiff, appeared before the Chief Magistrate for a second time earlier today. As we’ve reported, he was arrested and charged in December 2023 for firearms offenses. This morning, when Gillett appeared in court, he requested a sentencing indication. He was informed that, by law under a section of the Firearms Act, the minimum sentence is five years. However, the Chief Magistrate, using her discretion as it relates to first-time offenders, can impose a lesser prison time for someone with no previous convictions. In Gillett’s case, she could sentence him to one year. Upon hearing that, Gillett told the court that he is prepared to go to trial and, with that, his case was further adjourned April thirtieth. At that time, Gillett is expected to be provided with disclosure in the matter and a new date for trial will be agreed upon. A search of Gillett’s residence in Los Lagos on December twenty-first, 2023, turned up a Springfield .223 rifle which was altered, as well as a nine millimeter pistol. He was charged with five counts of altering a firearm. He remains out on bail since December twenty-ninth after he was able to pay the ten thousand dollar sum.
With the municipal elections only days away, the current term of office comes to an end on Friday. But, most P.U.P. mayors are not packing up and cleaning their offices until Thursday when the city councils and town councils are dissolved. That is with the exception of one, Mayor Sharon Palacio. She was elected in March 2021 and made history as a woman in politics. But, since taking up office, the tides have never turned in her favor. Whether it was disharmony within her council, a rift between her and her area representative, questions concerning her motivations, or a public feud with the prime minister, Mayor Palacio has spent a lot of time in the spotlight for the wrong reasons. But, she believes that half the truth has not been told and she says that she will do just that in a tell-all book, soon to come. We caught up with Mayor Palacio in her Belmopan office today, ahead of her exit. News Five’s Paul Lopez reports.
Paul Lopez, Reporting
Mayor Sharon Palacio made history in March 2021, when she became the first woman mayor in Belmopan’s history. But on the last week of her three-year term, Palacio is not receiving high praises for this accomplishment. Today, we met her in her city council office packing up her belongings with not a single one of her councilors anywhere in sight. Despite being elected as a People’s United Party mayor, she remained at odds with the city’s area representative, Oscar Mira.
Sharon Palacio
Sharon Palacio, Outgoing P.U.P. Mayor, Belmopan
“Personally as far as I am concerned the area rep and I we have some type of togetherness. So if you go way back you’ll see how the relationship started there is a history. But there comes a time if you say or do something I do not agree with then I will stand up. My standing up to the area rep has been for some time. So, if anybody want to interpret how they want that is there issue, but if they come to me and listen to the genesis of the truth of the disorder, the whole world will jump on my side.”
The People’s United Party did not endorse Palacio as its mayoral candidate for the March sixth elections. They also disqualified her from contesting the party’s municipal convention. She has accepted her fate, but says that is not the last Belmopan residents will hear from her.
Sharon Palacio
“There is lot things I haven’t said and I will not say to you Paul, forget about it, but it will be written in my book. There is a lot of things I have to say, because there are other women who I want to support because in this country I am a proud mayor, I am the only female.”
Paul Lopez
“This book you are speaking off, I would imagine you are speaking of literally writing a book?”
Sharon Palacio
“I have written and I am only waiting for elections to finish before I publish my book, because my journey ends on election day and as soon as election is over that book will be published. The name of that book will be called a mother’s dream.”
Paul Lopez
“What will the chapter that speaks to your political journey say in this book? Will it speak to lost time, unwanted leadership perhaps?”
Sharon Palacio
“No, it will highlight a beautiful journey, a journey whereby Sharon Palacio came in and my ethnicity is always being discriminated against in this country. That chapter will reflect the truth, it is going to speak about everything and I think there are things a lot of people don’t know they will read and find out and if they want to say that racism doesn’t exist in Belize, that is a lie, a big lie.”
But, perhaps there are not enough pages in any book to tell the story of how divided Mayor Palacio and her councilors were. Neither would that story have a happy ending because, with the exception of Councilor Sanie Cal, Palacio and her councilors have been shelved.
Sharon Palacio
“When it comes to the actual convention, if you were studying how everything went, all these mayors got endorsed. People would need to ask why Palacio didn’t get endorsed. That is a part of the book. Oscar Mira, the councilors are just a mini part of the entire story. The big picture is all the way at the top, all the way at the top. So, let’s leave it for the book.”
Paul Lopez
“How upset were you went this idea was projected upon you that you spent more time focusing on Africa and pushing forward that agenda than on the city and the works of the city and do you believe you could have done things differently in that respect?”
Sharon Palacio
“That is a perception. The whole thing about Africa would have been a therapy, because the racism started from the very beginning, whereby, let me tell you something since you want something and I don’t care. The first breakdown was when I fired a corrupt traffic manager. The powers that be wanted me to take that man in and I said hell no. Who am I, a person from down south to tell these people no. They would have never accepted that and that is where the trouble started. And the councilors became victims themselves.”
And so, as she clears her desk and says her final goodbyes, there are some that still see Mayor Palacio as an influential figure in the city. But, will her influence play a role in who wins the Belmopan municipals on March sixth?
Sharon Palacio
“I will not go out there and say vote for this one or that one, I will never say that, but my people will know what to do. My people are more annoyed than myself. Remember I have big family and when you spoke about Sanie Cal surviving, he escaped. Who is Sanie Cal, who the nephew of Moises Cal. If people put that together do you think Sanie Cal would have any kind of position here?”
The 2024 municipal elections are upon us and across the country infrastructure works are being undertaken ahead of March sixth. But, one project in Belmopan is causing a stir among residents. Not only is it revealing how deep the divide has been between the P.U.P. area representative and the P.U.P. city council, there is also the likelihood that due process was not followed. Area Representative Oscar Mira and Mayor Sharon Palacio sat down to discuss upgrades to five streets in the Maya Sites area. In the execution of the project, workers began connecting existing dead-end streets to the George Price Boulevard. Residents in the area say they were not consulted on this and Mayor Palacio says she did not agree to that aspect of the works. News Five’s Paul Lopez reports.
Paul Lopez
Paul Lopez, Reporting
Since its inception, the Maya Site in Belmopan has had five dead-end streets. And now, a decision has been taken to connect those cul-de-sacs to the George Price Boulevard. Residents in the area are pushing back and the mayor says she had no part in that decision.
Anthony Chanona
Anthony Chanona, Maya Site Resident, Belmopan
“cul de sacs lend to ‘neighborhoodness’. It lends to citizen security. Children can recreate on a street. it allows elderly people to take walks because it limits the flow of traffic. Only the people who live on the street do business on the street. That is the idea of cul de sacs, it helps citizen security and it builds ‘neighborhoodness’.”
Anthony Chanona, a former Belmopan Mayor, and a resident in the area for twenty-eight years, says the project will increase security risks. He further contends that the proper processes were not undertaken in the execution of the project.
Anthony Chanona
“What it does, it opens up our neighborhood to all and sundry. Any motor vehicle can now enter and exit these streets that were the private domains of only the residents. That is what the cul de sacs gave us. And therefore the neighborhood will get nosier. It takes away or citizen security because now we don’t know who is entering and who is leaving. The children on these streets riding their bicycles are now exposed to two way traffic. It doesn’t add anything to what we had. It takes away our rights. And I am saying that you cannot ram this down the throats of the neighborhood and don’t ask us whether we agree.”
The city’s municipal leader says that she objected to the project when Area Representative Oscar Mira first made the proposal during a meeting in her office. She says the only agreement she entered into was to have the streets paved.
Sharon Palacio
Sharon Palacio, Belmopan Mayor “I decided I don’t have the money but I know the area rep has access to funds. I called him and said I would like for us to partner on the streets. My job was to prepare the streets for paving. So we spent a sum of money to prepare the streets. Recently Mayor Chanona called me upset about the opening of the cul de sacs. He asked me if I gave permission. I said no I did not. I made it categorically clear to the area rep. cause he said around the table, I am going to burst them open. I said, why and he said because it is good for development. I said look, Mayor Palacio is not in agreement with bursting them open.”
Mayor Palacio has since issued a cease and desist order to the ongoing works. Today, no further developments were being done in the area. Concrete culverts lay along the George Price Boulevard awaiting a final determination, while at least one intersection has been completed.
Sharon Palacio
“When my mayor Chanona stood up I said ok this is my time to stand out and make sure that my point is clear. That is where I sent a cease and desist to the company.”
Paul Lopez
“How is it that as the mayor these works would have been able to go ahead without your approval, consent, some sort of agreement from you. You are at the municipal level the head of the city.”
Sharon Palacio
“In this case a lot of things have happened in this city by the same persons we are speaking about and I see it as development anyhow and I would have loved to be a part of those works. But when I would pass by and see certain things happening I say ok, it is for the best interest of all of us. So I never reacted I kept quiet. By right all these streets should have come through me. I never sent a cease and desist any at all. This is the first I have sent and I know the parties involved are very unhappy but all I am calling on is speak to the residents.”
With the cease and desist order in place, works that were ongoing to pave the streets have also come to a screeching halt.
Anthony Chanona
“I was happy to hear that he has conceded to not proceed but they should continue with works on the streets. That was never stopped. So, why did we have to get to this point? Just follow the rule of law and do what you were hired to do.”
Sharon Palacio
“Right now I am calling on the area representative to go and pave those streets as we agreed. I was there earlier today and that is the reason why I went live because I wanted to see if the paving has started, and it hasn’t.”
We also heard from Oscar Mira, the People’s United Party Area Representative in Belmopan. He contends that based on registered and authenticated street plans from 2006, those dead ends in the Maya Site area should be connected to the George Price Boulevard. He says that the decision was taken to connect the streets based on those plans. Here is more from Mira, courtesy of our colleagues at Plus TV.
Oscar Mira
Oscar Mira, P.U.P. Area Representative, Belmopan
“We met in her office and she called her city administrator and the city engineer. We went through the plans of what she wanted to do. She suggested again that she would prepare the streets for paving and I would do the rest. I thought it was a good initiative and project. Unfortunately when we were putting in the culverts we had another meeting and she came back with a stop order. Perhaps I believe that if the mayor had done her homework and check on the official map for Belmopan, I have a plan from 2006 showing ten lots being a subdivision of a portion of open space in Belmopan. Those were the areas we are talking about, because in the past there was nothing else after those streets there was a cul de sac. I think most of us remember those days. However with the new plan, this was in 2006 which is registered and authenticated it now shows that the area has been opened unto the George Price Boulevard. That is when the boulevard was also surveyed. So we decided to do the streets and if you notice the maps it all leads on to the boulevard.”
Mira also responded to the calls from residents in the Maya Sites area and Mayor Palacio to have the paving of the streets completed, despite the cease and desist order. Mira says that the streets will be paved in the coming days.
Oscar Mira, P.U.P. Area Representative, Belmopan
“I think he have it wrong. If they want to return it to a cul de sac, because it has already been opened. This map is from 2006, registered, authenticated and all the signatures are there so if they want to revert it back I think that is where that process needs to be done by the Belmopan City Council. But, for now the official map shows that it is an open street. Should they want to return if back before 2006 that is where that process needs to be done. I believe that those residents that live on those streets are deserving of proper streets and we will continue to work on paving those streets. We will get to that issue of the culverts later. I believe the residents deserve to have their streets paved and that is what we will be working on in these coming few days.”
Four years ago to date, a crew of Belize Defense Force airmen, including majors Adran Ramirez and Radford Baizar, along with corporals Yassir Mendez and Reinaldo Choco, perished in a helicopter crash in Belize District. They were reportedly conducting aerial surveillance near the location where a drug plane had landed sometime earlier that night. The accident happened in the wee small hours of February 27th, 2020 as the men set out from the B.D.F. Air Wing in Ladyville and were flying over Western Lagoon. In the wake of the tragedy, the Government of Belize, under the Barrow administration, promised to compensate the families of the deceased men. For the wives of Yassir Mendez and Reinaldo Choco, who opted not to settle with G.O.B. and proceed with civil claims in the High Court, they are yet to receive anything.
Audrey Matura
Audrey Matura, Attorney-at-law
“The point where we are is that we finally got a court date again and that date is sixth of March at 9:30 a.m., before a new judge, Justice Tawanda Hondora. Now this is good news in that finally it’s assigned a new judge. It’s bad news in that it’s the third judge we have and it’s good news and bad news in that the notice says it’s a mention. A mention means that you’re not going to try any issue that day which in fairness to the judge, you can’t. I mean, here’s a new judge being given this file, the judge has the right to go through everything and manage it.”
Isani Cayetano
“Explain to me how the two families have been holding over. I assuming that they were waiting for this settlement for them to be financially able to handle their affairs. What has happened in the interim?”
Audrey Matura
“Well it’s interesting. The two families, although I represent both of them, each has their own circumstances. In the case of the Choco family, the good news was that Mrs. Choco is still a teacher. She was a teacher and she still is a teacher. Financially, she needs to still be working and seeing how she can put her way through school. But she’s still in a better position in that at least she has a career. In terms of the Mendez family, that’s far more difficult because Mrs. Mendez has always been a stay-at-home mom. Her work, her full-time work was looking after their three children and all children are minors, so her husband was absolutely the sole breadwinner, sole breadwinner. So she has had to find a way to figure out how to make ends meet. So it’s hard for them personally, compounded now about the financial setback. It is, and no matter what the settlement is, just having this case hanging over, you want some finality and that finality is not there. Every year, when the twenty-seventh of February comes around, it just opens back those wounds.”
