Stake Bank wants Government to cut Portico’s throat: Declare Definitive Agreement invalid, or else!

By Aaron Humes: If by tomorrow, Thursday, the Government of Belize has not publicly declared the recently unearthed Definitive Agreement with Portico Enterprises Limited null and void and undertakes to refrain from taking any steps to pass or enact legislation in furtherance of said agreement, Stake Bank Enterprises Limited is going back to court to force them to do so.

That is the open threat in a letter to Prime Minister John Briceño by a former colleague turned Stake Bank attorney Glenn D. Godfrey, Senior Counsel, this week.

Godfrey notes that the Dean Barrow administration formally approved Stake Bank for a cruise port project in January 2018, affirmed in a High Court ruling in 2021 which paved the way for judicial review of the decision of the National Environmental Appraisal Committee (NEAC) and the Department of the Environment (DOE) in granting Environmental Clearance to Portico Enterprises Limited, as well as the Environmental Clearance plan (“ECP”) between Portico and DOE.

Godfrey cautions that if this claim, which is still before the courts, is successful, Portico would not be cleared to operate lawfully – though would likely appeal.

Senior Counsel Godfrey cautions that without the Government’s undertaking, Stake Bank will go to court to protect its interest and reserves its rights including suing the Government for misfeasance and negligence and claim damages, interest and costs.

While the Government has publicly said Cabinet is awaiting legal advice and so will not pursue the Definitive Agreement which would likely be revised to remove the more offending provisions including the 25-mile ban on other cruise ports which would freeze out Stake Bank and Waterloo Enterprises, it has not definitively said it considers the agreement invalid, merely needing to be revised.

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