Airport Deal Under Sustained Scrutiny

We also wanted to ask Hon. Wilfred Elrington about that Memorandum of Understanding for the purported one hundred million dollar US dollar investment on an airport for northern Ambergris Caye.

The project has been drawing negative comments after the frontman, Jorge Jaen's credibility, absence of a track record in airport development, and personal history of alleged wrongdoing were brought into question.

A statement issued by International Airport Alliance says the company, quote, "was aware of this personal issue Mr. Jorge Jaen had in the past and still elected to allow him to join the Company. Our decision was based on factual documents the Company obtained showing that the allegations mentioned in the OIG's memorandum were unfounded and therefore, Mr. Jaen was never prosecuted." end quote.

Well, he must have been checking himself, because a search of the US records for this company - incorporated in Florida 14 months ago - shows that Jorge Jaen is one of only two persons named in company documents. The other is a dubiously named John Smith.

And while Jaen is a real estate agent by profession, according to Aviation Minister Junior Heredia, his group also works on airports:..

Hon. Manuel Heredia Jr., Minister of Tourism
"That group has a track record of doing several international airports including most recently in Curacao, recently completed."

We checked on the recent 35 million dollar Curacao International Airport terminal expansion project and it was undertaken by Curacao Airport Partners - not International Airport Alliance - which has no website on its letterhead.

The PUP today issued a release saying, quote, "The revelations that the 'Airport Investor and Developer' (has) a shady past including allegations of major fraud....should also come as no surprise.

The release snarkily adds, "The PUP takes the opportunity to inform the Barrow Administration of a little-known investigative tool called Google, which can provide valuable information on these so-called investors who target Belize - perhaps simply because our leaders have gotten a name for being very gullible and/or easily bought and paid for."

Channel 7

Holding Company for Developer Formed Just 1 Year Ago

The criminal past of Jorge Abraham Jaen, the Miami investor behind the multi-million dollar investment in the Basil Jones Airstrip to convert it into a full-scale international airport, continues to unravel. News Five has received copies of the Articles of Association for International Airport Alliance LLC, the apparent parent company of International Airport Alliance Belize Limited, based in Doral, Florida with a mailing address in Miami. The company was registered in October 2016. Jaen is listed as registered agent and manager along with one John Smith. With just over a year in existence, it lists the company's business as development and management of airports and hotel resorts and promotion of entertainment events. There is no record of the several international airports, including one in Curacao, named recently by Tourism Minister Manuel Heredia Junior as being part of the I.A.A. group's work. Jaen, as previously noted, has serious criminal convictions for such things as voter fraud, conspiracy to commit extortion and grand theft and obtaining property or credit through false statements. For its part, I.A.A. Belize has said that in respect of the allegations coming out of the 2006 Miami Dade County Inspector General's investigations, Jaen was not prosecuted. I.A.A. sent out a copy of the commendation received by Jaen from the office of former Miami city mayor Tomas Regalado for services to the community, which does not appear in the mayor's schedule. We were also directed to a link to what is purportedly a website for I.A.A., but there is very little information to be had about its projects and Jaen is not even mentioned by name. We will continue to follow this story.

P.U.P. Says Its Shades of Puerto Azul

There's more on the proposed international airport. The People's United Party today reacted to the announcement of a proposed multimillion dollar international airport on San Pedro. Calling it 'D�j� Vu All Over Again,' the P.U.P. says that the news that the investor is actually a realtor based in Miami with no experience in building or in airport development should come as "absolutely no surprise to Belizeans." It goes on to name previous instances where purported investors have been paraded with Ministers all too happy to pose to the cameras without doing due diligence. The P.U.P. notes that the 'Airport Investor and Developer' appears to be nothing more than a con-artist with a shady past that includes allegations of major fraud, voter fraud and extortion. The party says the airport pictures bring to mind the photos of senior U.D.P. Ministers Manuel Heredia Junior and Erwin Contreras as well as Kim Simplis Barrow photographed in Cannes with the failed developers and stakeholders at the launch of the botched mega-million-dollar exclusive resort, Puerto Azul. In a similar case, U.D.P. ministers were taken in by another conman, William Danny Mason, who reportedly had a "special bodyguard of police personnel, thanks to the then Police Minister John Saldivar. Mason was paraded in Belize as an Emergency Services expert, and almost every member of cabinet was a regular at his home in Belmopan�.The U.D.P. ministers who loved Mason deserted the sinking ship like rats, but the country has paid the price." The release ends by saying that "the country cannot risk more fallout arising from the incompetence and stupidity of our U.D.P. Ministers."

Channel 5

Suspect investor in San Pedro?

Last Tuesday, the Government of Belize (GoB) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with International Airport Alliance Belize Limited to construct the Efrain Guerrero International Airport on Northern San Pedro, Ambergris Caye.

The total cost of this project, according to a statement issued by the Government Press Office, is USD$100 million.

The MOU was signed on behalf of GoB by Erwin Contreras, Minister of Economic Development, Petroleum, Investment, Trade and Commerce, while Jorge Abraham Jaen signed on behalf of International Airport Alliance Belize Limited.

Amandala has not been able to trace the origins of International Airport Alliance Belize Limited, however we have been able to scoop up background information on Jorge Jaen from the Miami Dade County Office of the Inspector General (OIG).

In 2006, Jaen was named in a memorandum titled, "OIG Investigation into Theft of Court System Funds, Uncovers another Fraud" which was published on October 26, 2006 by the Office of the Inspector General.

The memo revealed that several trained attorneys manipulated the court system in mortgage fraud schemes that victimized South Florida homeowners. Those attorneys were convicted as a result of an investigation dubbed, "Operation Foreclosure Vultures."

"Jaen's name surfaced during the investigation and upon further inquiry OIG Special Agents discovered that Jaen had submitted false information on a car loan application," said the memo.

He lied about his employment and salary and further lied about home ownership to obtain a car loan. He pretended that he owned a home which was actually mortgaged by his ex-girlfriend, Vanessa Ortega. Subsequently, he had been arrested for one count of "Grand Theft" in the Second Degree, and one count of "Obtaining Property or Credit through False Statements."

Information from the Office of the Inspector General website revealed that this was not the first time Jaen was involved in dishonest activities. In 1999, he was convicted for voter fraud. He falsely changed his name and address to vote in an election to re-elect City of Miami Commissioner Humberto Hernandez, who too was later sentenced to prison for four years by the Feds after confessing to offences related to election fraud.

On November 4, 1998, the New York Times reported that Jaen was convicted for "Conspiracy to Commit Extortion" after he was one of three men who collected cash from a bar owner in exchange for lax police enforcement and favorable treatment by the New York City zoning board.

Today, Amandala contacted Minister of Tourism, Manuel Heredia Jr., who claimed that there must be a mistake in the international media. Heredia Jr., claimed that Jaen was not the director of the company, that he was merely a financier. He then directed us to Minister Tracy Panton, who serves on the Cabinet's Sub-Committee for Investments.

In our telephone interview with her, she too claimed that the charges against Jaen were not true. She noted that potential investors are vetted by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), and the Special Investigation Branch of the Central Bank of Belize. In the case of Jaen, he was vetted by the FIU which, according to Panton, revealed that he had not been convicted or charged with any offence.

When we asked Panton if she had seen the report from the Office of the Inspector General of Miami-Dade County, she told us she hadn't.

Amandala