For the past 2 days, we've been closely examining the findings of a leaked audit of the past government's Unemployment Relief Program. A team from the Auditor-General's office has unearthed worrisome findings at the Belize City Labour Office. The evidence trail paints a clear picture that some of the 38+ million dollars, which was supposed to aid struggling households to survive last year's impact from the COVID pandemic, was instead diverted by dishonest public officers and persons close to them.
The program ended before the new Briceno Government took office, but the task of making things right now falls the new officials within the Ministry of Rural Transformation, Community Development, Labour & Local Government. Chief among them is Valentino Shal, the CEO of that Ministry, and as we showed you last night, the Auditor-General had an extensive list of recommendations for him to take, to address the fleecing of the public purse.
He spoke yesterday to our colleagues from Love News. He told them that his Ministry has requested a full police investigation:
Valentino Shal - CEO, Ministry of Labour
"According to the Auditor General's Report, they have identified just about 62 thousand dollars that may have been fraudulently taken from the program. It could be more. We don't know for sure at the moment, but according to the report, it's around 62 thousand dollars that are under question."
"The Auditor-General forwarded her report to us through the Ministry last month at the beginning of June, and as soon as we got the report, we reviewed it, and we immediately took some immediate actions. We have dismissed one person. We have suspended another, and another one has resigned on health reasons and has purportedly left the jurisdiction. In addition to the administrative measures we have taken, we have also - as the Auditor-General recommended - reported the matter again to the police, as we had done back in November. And now, the matter is being criminally investigated by the police. And so, once they come back with evidence that can hold up in court, a person or persons will likely be charged criminally for any wrongdoing that may have occurred under the program."
"At the moment, it seems to be low-level officers, but again, this is just one office. This was a national program, so what we intend to do is to examine the entire program, nationally, and see if anything of the same nature occurred in other offices around the country."
"This program was intended to assist people who were struggling, who were being heavily impacted by the pandemic. And if these monies were diverted, as [is] being alleged, then it is absolutely unacceptable. This is not what public officers should be doing, and I want to say that we have some very hard-working public officers, public officers who work diligently and with integrity. But, every now and again, we'll find these types of acts and behaviors by public officers. And when we do, we will deal with them accordingly."
