And, finally tonight, a little more from yesterday's Zoom press conference with the ousted principals of the Saint Francis Xavier Credit Union in Corozal.
They have been forced out by their regulator, the Central Bank of Belize who has sent in an administrator to take over the business of the credit union.
The officers of the board and the general manager feel that they are the subject of a witch hunt and that they have been unfairly ousted.
But, they also have a lot of tough questions to answer about their management of the union's finances. We aired some of those yesterday, and here are a few more from the 70 minute long press conference:
Jules Vasquez
"The San Pedro bank manager at least in 2018 was your spouse. You son was the manager for the Caye Caulker branch and the son of the assistant GM was the manager of the Sarteneja branch. Would you consider those arms-length arragements and are they suitable for the prudential management of a large corporation like the Saint Francis Xavier Credit Union? Is it too much friends and family involved and are there sufficient controls and oversight?"
Raphael Dominguez, Suspended GM, SFXCU
"Jules, that question I can partially respond to that. As the general manager of the credit union, I did not hired my son nor my wife. That came from the past board."
Mayet Castillo, Chairman of Supervisory Committee
"I must say that when Mr. Dominguez found a wife in the credit union, she was already a worker at the credit union."
Reporter
"Was the membership informed that he was seeking compensation for defamation of his character? Were the members informed that he was going to be receiving the amount that it is allaged he received of 75,000 and were they informed also that he was going to be receiving $11,000 for working the month that he was not in office?"
Mayet Castillo, Chairman of Supervisory Committee
"In the general meeting that we had, they did not mentioned figures, but they did say seek lawyers; for them to see that you have been wrongly terminated and the moment they are giving you a mandate to seek lawyers, they know that monies are involved there."
Reporter
"Before this newscast comes out, would you be able to say if members already knew the amount that Mr. Dominguez was paid out or this would take them by surprised?"
Mayet Castillo, Chairman of Supervisory Committee
"I think that is separate."
