After a month's delay, the Toledo Teachers Credit Union finally held its AGM. Last month, we told you that they were unable to meet the quorum of 100 people. This past Saturday, the quorum was lowered to 60 and they were able to meet it. It was at this meeting that the credit union revealed to members that its monies had been mismanaged by several employees at the Bella Vista Branch, as we have reported. The general manager explained that investigations are still ongoing and told the members about the financial state of the credit union and the state of the branch.
Leopoldo Romero, General Manager, Toledo Teachers Credit Union
"The board of directors immediately launch a comprehensive internal investigation and engage the appropriate authorities, auditors, and law enforcement authorities to carry on this investigation. These activities are completely under control and all members' accounts have been rectified, hence no member has lost any of their funds at the credit union."
"A complete audit report was submitted to all the authorities with a plan of action. All employees involved in this scheme were terminated. The board of directors clarifies that the central bank of Belize, the regulator of credit unions in Belize, is fully aware of this scheme and is regularly updated on the plan of action taken on the recovery of the funds and to criminally charge these individuals."
"The board of directors has filed the audit report to the special branch investigation in Belmopan and who are now taking the necessary steps to take control of the matter."
"The board of directors also retain the services of an attorney-at-law to assist with the legal matters and to ensure that proper evidence is in place for a successful recovery of these funds."
"For time being, however, all our net surplus has been eroded because by law we are obligated to remove all of the fraudulent loans from the portfolio. These fraudulent loans were given to members who were not aware and in some cases not living in the country."
"And so these loans must be removed because they are of a fraudulent nature. And because they are of a fraudulent nature we then need to move to recover them. But the reserves of the credit union in the last 25 years have been excellent and we were able to absorb without affecting any members' funds or any of the assets of the credit union."
"Apart from the six employees mentioned, we had to release another three, which total nine. So the branche is totally operating with new employees now trained at the head office and all of the controls are from the head office."
"It has doubled the work on the personnel from the head office, but it's a requirement that we have to put in place and that we have to ensure that nothing like this happens again."
