Will Former UDP Minister Be Forced To Testify? 

Senate Special Select Committee public hearing is expected to resume today at 11 a.m. We are told that on the witness list is former UDP Minister of Investment Erwin Contreras.  We are also told that moves are being made to have Contreras appear before the committee with one report suggesting that he was ‘picked up’ by officers of the Special Branch Unit and expected to be escorted to the George Price Centre where the hearing will take place.

Attorney William Lindo Jr. is representing Contreras.

Back in May, the committee’s public hearing on the Portico “Definitive Agreement” was postponed after Contreras decided not to participate. The committee later expressed disappointment in Contreras’s refusal, especially since he previously acknowledged signing the “Definitive Agreement.”

In a May 29 press statement, the committee said, “The Committee is most disappointed at this information as Mr. Contreras has already admitted that he signed the “Definative Agreement”, which committed the Government and the people of Belize to grant Portico financial concessions worth hundreds of millions of dollars for 30 years. Mr. Contreras is the only person and former Government Minister who can explain why he signed the Agreement.”

This is a developing story.