An employee of the Sales Tax Department has been charged and another remains under investigation tonight for extorting money from a Belize City businessman. The employees were caught red-handed in a sting operation carried out by the Crimes Investigation Branch. The businessman is 31 year old Lloyd Sutherland who runs Royal Catering Services in the Lake Independence Area.
Sutherland told police that on November 14th, Leodan Torres and another Sales Tax employee visited his business place and told him he owed nearly quarter of a million dollars in back taxes, calculated at ten thousand dollars per month for the past two years. Torres allegedly sold Sutherland he would be off the hook if he paid him $1,500. Sutherland didn't have that cash so he worked out a payment arrangement where he would pay Torres $100 per week.
Torres allegedly collected his first $100 on November 18th. He went again on Thursday December 1st to collect but Sutherland told him he had no money and to return the next day. Torres did return and Sutherland gave him two $50 bills. Little did Torres know that it was a sting and he was caught red-handed with the two marked bills that had been provided by police. He has since been charged with extortion.
Torres has reportedly been working as an auditor at the Sales Tax office in Belize City for about a year. The other man has been with the department for over 5 years, neither showed up to work today because Torres was in court to answer to two counts of extortion while the other man is still on leave. A sales tax representative told us that their only knowledge of the incident is what has been reported on the news.
