Every year Belizeans send and receive millions of dollars via Western Union. But Albert Jones' complaint isn't about Western Union itself or the money he went to pick up - his complaint is about the questions he had to answer before getting his money. Jones complains that before picking up the money from Western Union - he was required by the Central Bank to indicate where the money was coming from and what he was going to do with it. And that is a lot to answer when you consider that the money he received was a grand sum of one hundred Belize dollars.
Albert Jones,
"Why is it that the poor people who walk the streets to get a thousand dollars or two hundred dollars or a thousand dollars from a relative to do basics in life, I mean you don't take a hundred dollars to go and buy a kilo of cocaine or stuff like that. But you have men who are getting millions who don't answer for it. You come and pick up a hundred dollars and you will have to tell them what you are going to do with it, that is sad - seriously sad."
And while Jones has a major gripe, it's standard practice for any sum above a hundred dollars. According to the rules, it's to prevent money laundering.
