Opposition Leader Weighs in On New Developments in Sanctuary Bay Scandal

In 2018, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission investigated the largest real estate scam it has been faced with to date. The architect of the scam, U.S. national Andris Pukke, promised investors a lush piece of land, equipped with world class amenities on a fourteen thousand-acre property in southern Belize even as he sat in a U.S. jail. That property is owned by Sittee River Wildlife Reserve, one of the many entities named in the civil complaint. Another entity named is Atlantic International Bank Limited which has since been shuttered. The scam has left more than a hundred Americans out of pocket of more than one hundred million dollars. Two weeks ago Prime Minister Dean Barrow told the nation that a settlement had been reached. But Opposition Leader John Briceño warned the Prime Minister today that the Sanctuary Bay scandal will not disappear anytime soon.

John Briceño, Leader of Opposition

John Briceño

“Obviously the Prime Minister wants to do everything possible to let Sanctuary Bay disappear. But I have news for him, Sanctuary Bay will not disappear. It will continue to haunt him where he and his law partners, their names consistently continues to come up in court in the United States and more and more is being disclosed as to this whole Sanctuary Bay saga. It is becoming a nightmare for the Prime Minister and I have news for him that it will not disappear. He has no authority to do any settlement. How can he settle on behalf of the depositors? You see that is what the Prime Minister is good at; he throws thing at you because he is lawyer. He has absolutely no authority to talk on behalf of the depositors.”