The audit department's investigation into irregularities at the immigration office in Belize city continue and the case of missing money is widening into a scandal.
The person at the center of it is the director Peter Parchue's 23-year-old daughter April - who worked as a cashier at the Belize City office shortly after she was hired in February of last year. According to our source, the investigation has turned up evidence of misappropriation amounting to over $30,000 involving some 50 receipts, which were reportedly falsified.
7NEWS has obtained a copy of one of those documents - receipt number 08179 issued on October 10th of 2003 and it shows how the fraud was perpetrated. The original receipt given in this case to Vacile Pintea shows that she paid $275 for a various immigration services - but the yellow copy of the same number 08179, which goes into the immigration records - registers receipt of only $10. Now, the difference of $265 is left to the account of the cashier - who signed both documents. Again, this is just one of what sources tell us are as many as 50 fraudulent receipts dating as far back to May 6th of last year.
It's going to be tough trying to determine the scale of the scandal and that's why immigration officers have reportedly been visiting a number of immigrants asking for their original receipts to compare them with the duplicates on record. It has all appearances of a full out fraud and possibly criminal wrongdoing specifically theft, and tampering with official documents - but the man who would investigate such a crime, Head of the National Crimes Investigations Branch Superintendent Edwardo Wade today confirmed to 7NEWS that he knows nothing about the case and has not been assigned to investigate.
Disgruntled immigration officers tell us that they resent the disparity in treatment because three officers at the western border have been charged for criminal offences and this case involving greater sums of money is not being criminally investigated. Because of that resentment - particularly in the west things remain uneasy between the command and the rank and file. Proof of that came over the long weekend when police were called out to man the border - to prevent any strike as had occurred the week before.