It's been a bad week for the former Minister. His former cabinet colleague Mike Peyrefitte, and both his former and current party leader Dean Barrow and Shyne Barrow have all called him out variously for acting illegally, improperly and possibly in a corrupt manner when he signed the definitive agreement in October of 2020.

And now, the Port of Belize - which is part of the Ashcroft Alliance - has taken an unusual step - its CEO Ted Peralta is asking the Ombudsman to investigate former UDP Minister Erwin Contreras for corruption.

Noting the ombudsman's rarely invoked powers to investigate wrongdoing by public authorities, a letter sent to Gilbert Swaso yesterday says, quote "We hereby request that you investigate the circumstances of the signing of the Definitive Agreement by and between the Government of Belize and Portico Enterprises Ltd…which was signed by former Minister Erwin Contreras purporting to bind the government to obligations unprecedented in their extremity. We request that you do so as there are objectively reasonable grounds to believe that, in signing the Definitive Agreement, Minister Contreras committed either a corrupt act or an act of wrongdoing."

Peralta lists all the circumstances that point to corruption including the interviews from Dean Barrow and Mike Peyrefitte and asks the Ombudsman to launch an investigation.

In closing he says "we respectfully request that you launch an investigation into this most scandalous affair since the Definitive Agreement - signed unlawfully-exposes the Government and people of Belize to tremendous financial exposure and potential losses."