SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO EMBARRASS YOURSELF WITH A YACHT TO BE A DEMOCRATIC SENATOR, but apparently it helps: Jeff Greene denies his anchor damaged Belize reef.

On a Tuesday morning five years ago, Summerwind, a three-story, 145-foot luxury yacht, maneuvered above the celebrated barrier reef that lines the coast of Belize.

There it dropped anchor — and plunged into controversy over severe damage to a coral reef system officially recognized by the United Nations as one of the world’s most magnificent and irreplaceable treasures.

“The guys from the area told me they were beside the boat before it dropped anchor, and they were yelling and waving their hands, shouting, `No! No, don’t drop here,’ ” recounted Melanie McField, a marine scientist with the Smithsonian Institution who surveyed the reef soon after the incident. “It was bad. There was a lot of damage.”

The owner of that yacht? Billionaire Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Greene.

The real-estate mogul from Palm Beach was not aboard the boat at the time. And, oddly, Greene today says the incident never happened, despite extensive publicity about it at the time (including statements from his representatives), eyewitness accounts, scientific surveys of the damage and an extensive case file at the country’s Department of Environment.

At least he pays his taxes. As far as we know, anyway. Oh, wait: “Greene bought Summerwind in 2003, registering it in the Marshall Islands, a well-known tax haven.”

It’s a two-fer! Reef damage and a Kerry-like tax-avoidance scheme.