He was BTL's former head of finance and its acting CEO but last night, Gaspar Aguilar was just one more suspect in an investigation into millions missing from his former employer. Aguilar was taken in for questioning at around 4:30 pm and released at 10:30 pm. What was he asked about and what did he say? Well those are the burning questions, and this morning, with permission and under restrictions from his attorney, Aguilar spoke to Jules Vasquez.
Gaspar Aguilar,
"Basically it was s statement, it lasted six and a half hours, and I provided the investigating officer with all the information that I have. They now have everything that I know and everything I told them I have documentation to support what I said, and the fundamental thing is that everything was authorized; this whole transaction from 2001 was authorized by the Board of Directors. So I am giving this statement now, or informing everyone, and of course its limited by what my attorney is telling me I can say."
Jules Vasquez,
From a personal perspective, do you feel any fear that you may be held criminally liable or responsible?
Gaspar Aguilar,
"Well certainly I have that in mind and that is why I went to an attorney. I have an attorney because everyone knows these are major forces you are dealing with and I am expecting anything."
Jules Vasquez,
But in your mind are you personally clear that you did nothing wrong?
Gaspar Aguilar,
"Yes. As far as I'm concerned it was a Board process that has been going on for years, about four years, and everyone understood what the risk involved was. Like I said I have written authority, the whole process is documented, and the police have all of that information. Now its up to them how they see they need to move."
Jules Vasquez,
$7.6 million is missing from BTL, $6.2 million was declared in the financials, you were the head of finance. Why is this not immediately and directly your fault?
Gaspar Aguilar,
"Because the entire transaction, this is one transaction out of hundreds, and whoever enters into this type of commercial arrangement is fully aware that there is tremendous risk and this is one transaction that fell into that risk out of hundreds, out of a US$100 million. So that is what people need to understand, that this is not a one off thing, isolated, that I did."
Jules Vasquez,
But someone has to answer, someone has to be responsible. In your mind you said its not you, is it the person who got the $6.2 million, Mr. Zabenah, is it the Board of Management?
Gaspar Aguilar,
"Well like I said I can't state too much. Police have all the information, they are trained, they know who they should be going after, and with the information and the documentation then it's their call."
Jules Vasquez,
From throughout this process is it your feeling that the Central Bank or the Ministry of Finance, the regulators of the financial sector in our country, were aware of such large movement of U.S. on the parallel or black market?
Gaspar Aguilar,
"Well I can only confirm what the public already knows, the system is there, and they had to know. You can't hide that volume of transactions, both in the number of transactions and in the dollar value. The authorities know."
Jules Vasquez,
You're at home, you're unemployed, you're facing a possibility or the prospect of criminal charges, you are at the center of a criminal investigation into millions of dollars of missing money. How did it all come to this?
Gaspar Aguilar,
"I don't know I'm at a lost myself. I have my suspicions but I have to keep that to myself."
Jules Vasquez,
Is it your feeling that someone put an executive hit out on you?
Gaspar Aguilar,
"Jules I really can't comment on that."
Police have also gathered information from members of BTL's executive committee. The allegation is that in December Aguilar handed Dion Zabenah $6.2 million in exchange for $3 million but never received the U.S. dollars and never recovered the Belize dollars. Up until the time of Aguilar's departure, BTL's management had not made a police complaint against Zabenah.
