Portico Developer, David Gegg  

After a few postponements of the Senate Special Select Committee’s hearing, the inquiry resumed today at the National Assembly Building in Belmopan. The morning session presided over questions posed to Sunjay Hotchandani, a real estate businessman who said companies to which he is the director sold lands to Portico Enterprises Limited. We’ll share what Hotchandani had to say later in the newscast, but the brow-raising statements came during the afternoon session, when the developer of Port of Magical Belize, David Gegg, appeared before the panel. Flanked by his legal advisor, Andrew Bennett, Gegg opened up with a statement in which he said that despite his letter of March twenty-sixth to the Committee in which he said he would not appear because he was of the view that the Chair of the Committee was biased, he said he has had a change of heart because he felt that it is time that the facts be shared with the Belizean people. Gegg said that the idea for Portico was conceptualized in 2017.

 

David Gegg, Developer, Portico Enterprises Ltd.

“On launching Magical Belize in 2017, and after engaging with consultants in Miami and preparing a detailed business plan, I immediately engaged with the then Minister of State and Chair of the CSCI, Mrs. Tracy Panton. The first documented evidence was dated June 16th of 2017. Volumes of correspondence exist in that regard. In addition, there were several meetings with the CSCI in 2018, 2019, and in 2020 at which presentations were made that, among other things, justified our location over the others. These presentations and the supply of information generally were all prior to the signing of the Definitive Agreement.  I also met with then Prime Minister Barrow, and it was he who instructed that an MOU be prepared and signed with the Government of Belize. That meeting was arranged by then Senator Duncan, acting as a financial advisor, and was also attended by Mrs. Karen Bevans, the Director of the BTB at that time. The meeting was held in the Whitfield Towers on Coney Drive, where the prime minister then had an office. The MOU, as we all know, was signed in September of 2017 by the then minister of Trade, Economic Development, Petroleum and Investments. Mr. Erwin Contreras and co-signed by Minister John Saldivar.  The MOU was non-binding and states that it would be cancelled at any time, but either party without consequence period. There was never any discussion at any time about a cancellation of that MOU, but there were discussions in Cabinet on several occasions about the steps being carried out by Portico according to Erwin Contreras, who I have no doubt will collaborate on this. With our environmental studies in high gear and with the necessary steps being taken to ultimately secure the rights to develop Magical Belize, a team of senior executives from Boscales agreed to visit the country as a meeting had been arranged with then Prime Minister Barrow. That meeting took place on December 12th, 2019 at the Laing Building near to the Municipal airport as requested by the PM. That meeting, also attended by Senator Duncan, letters, plural, were delivered to PM Barrow by a senior Boscales representative. The primary letter was titled Cruise Terminal Magical Belize Equity Commitment Letter Proposal and was dated 3rd December, 2019. That letter indicated that Boscales was prepared to cover the full equity position of the financial requirements of the project. A second letter was also provided to Prime Minister Barrow which featured a list of European bankers providing references for Boscales. The NEAC meeting of August 28th had approved our environmental compliance. I could not believe it. I was over the moon. Please keep in mind that our draft definitive agreement had already been in circulation since June 1st to Ministers Panton and Peyrefitte, as well as to Minister Contreras. My elation was short lived a few days later when there was a suggestion that there may not have been a quorum at the meeting of August 28th. However, in that same meeting of the NEAC of August 28, they had also approved the EIA for the building of the Sartaneha Road, and an Environmental Compliance Plan was quickly prepared and signed. The local media had reported that partial funding for that project would come in the form of  $100 million deposit that was to be made to a private New Yorker. account. In early September of 2020 and wanting to ensure that the government representatives understood the financial commitment which Boscales had provided, freshly dated letters to P.M. Barrow with copies to Tracy Panton and Erwin Contreras were delivered to the offices of those persons at their Belmopan locations. I personally delivered those letters. The letters, two different letters, once again contained the equity commitment by Boscaeis and the references from their European bankers. Those letters were, dated September 2nd, 2020, and I delivered them on or about September 4th in Belmopan. Having not heard from NEAC as regard the approval from Minister Panton or anyone else in the progress of the Definitive Agreement, I reached out to Minister Contreras for some guidance on how to proceed. He indicated that he needed to review the situation before he could commit to the DA, as he foresaw the environmental clearance being an issue. I immediately pointed out to him that the Definitive Agreement for Harvest Caye had been signed prior to their receiving environmental clearance. Mr. Minister Contreras said that he would seek advice and get back to me.”