In September of 2002, he conned the KHMH out of almost $500,000 but up until yesterday few knew 35 year old Romanian, Robertino Operescu, known only under the assumed name of Tariq Aziz: a name he copped presumably from Saddam Hussein's one time deputy Prime Minister. Tonight, police believe they have their hands on the elusive swindler after he was discovered in a chance encounter.
On Tuesday Tricia Mak who has been implicated for the KHMH fraud was at the Novelo's Bus terminal in Belize City when she spotted the man who had been her employer and set her up to cash hundreds of thousands of dollars on bogus checks form the KHMH. She quickly called the police and Oprescu was found inside a bus and was detained.
He is tonight in detention after police searched his Sixth Street residence where they found a bundle of false share certificates of Tropical Holdings company which he was trying to sell for $300,000. For that, he is being charged with two counts of possession of false documents. Tonight, he remains in police detention where he is being questioned about the KHMH fraud.
This man's tale does not end here however, INTERPOL tells the Belize Police that Oprescu is also wanted in his home country of Romania for similar offences.