Last night we showed you one of the most explosive stories we've ever reported on: the acting Chief Forest Officer, John Pinelo accused a businessman - who also has a logging concession - of trying to bribe him. And the businessman, Cesar Godinez accused the Chief of trying to extort him. It's a dark tangle of accusations and counter accusations - and, tonight, Jules Vasquez has the full story:
One company, Selva Conservation Limited - and two stories of how the acting Chief Forest Officer - became a shareholder:
John Pinelo, Ag. Chief Forest Officer
"I was shocked when you sent me a document with my name on it. I never signed anything to be a member of this company. I don't even know what the company is doing. I was asked if I wanted to be a shareholder. Yes, I will say that I never signed anything or accepted to be. I have never participated in any meeting or any discussion with anybody that professes to be the directors or managers of Selva Conservation."
Cesar Godinez, Owner - Selva Conservation Ltd.
"I did my proposal, I submitted it. John saw it. He reached out to me. And, the only way that I would be able to get co-management of an area back here is, you know, you have to grease the wheels."
Jules Vasquez
"You're saying that John saw the application from Selva conservation and he then asked you to be a shareholder?"
Cesar Godinez, Owner - Selva Conservation Ltd.
"Yeah, he asked me to "make me a shareholder, I can facilitate it."
Jules Vasquez
"Who asked you to be a member of the company?"
John Pinelo, Ag. Chief Forest Officer
"Jules In this job, you get offered a lot of, a lot of things. And, that is just the way, the nature of being a head of a department."
Jules Vasquez
"Offered things as inducements?"
John Pinelo, Ag. Chief Forest Officer
"Things are offered, I try not to entertain myself with that, but I was approached by one Mr. Cesar Godinez, who is a long term concessionaire in the Mountain Pine Ridge."
"And, I never signed anything just because I realized that he could use whatever he had to come back at me on a day like this. And the day is here."
Cesar Godinez, Owner - Selva Conservation Ltd.
"Why would I want to give out shares in a company?"
Selva Conservation applied to co-manage areas of the park for recreational purposes. The former Chief Forest Officer Wilbur Sabido weighed in against it in this memo from June of last year - for context, here's a piece of the story I did at the time:
"A company named Selva Conservation wants to manage four recreation sites in the Mountain Pine Ridge area: they are Pinol Sands, Rio Frio, Granite Falls and the Ballerina Area.
It's proposed as a Private-Public-Partnership promising improved management of the Mountain Pine Ridge recreational sites, and contributing to the financial sustainability of the National Protected Areas System - among other objectives."
But, it was never approved:
John Pinelo, Ag. Chief Forest Officer
"Let's say I forced whoever to put me in a company. Why is the company not doing absolutely anything in a very lucrative area like the Mountain Pine Ridge?"
Cesar Godinez, Owner - Selva Conservation Ltd.
"We didn't get no, we didn't get the areas, we didn't get the co-management. So then that's when he reached out and said, if you give this amount of money, I will make sure it goes, and I have, I have proof that I gave him money. That's for a fact. I have all my WhatsApp messages, when he would call me, sometimes I would not even answer his calls because it's a, it's a, I've been in business, I know how it goes. He would reach out to me, I would give, I would give, I gave him a monies and he would say, if you don't give me the money, I won't make it go through."
And to prove these claims Godinez provided us records of money transfers he sent to Pinelo's account in August and September of 2025, one for a flat 5,000 dollars and the other for 3,500 dollars.
Pinelo told us over the phone that those were for purchases made from his company PC.COM.
Jules Vasquez
"But he told me that this monies that you sent him were for products you bought from his company in Belmopan, PC.COM."
Cesar Godinez, Owner - Selva Conservation Ltd.
"No, I don't buy any, everything I buy is from, I ship through Amazon."
Jules Vasquez
"So, have you purchased any products from his companies and sent payment to him because of that?"
Cesar Godinez, Owner - Selva Conservation Ltd.
"Never purchased, I have never purchased anything from his company. I didn't even know he has a company that sells products."
Jules Vasquez
"So now those payments you made to Mister Pinelo, you're saying those were because he demanded those payments."
"You're saying it's extortion?"
Cesar Godinez, Owner - Selva Conservation Ltd.
"Yes like extortion yes."
He also sent us screenshots from that time from Pinelo saying he had an idea for the "Selva" - presumably the company - and that he was trying to get the permit.
In another he says "we need to start doing activities". Selva Ltd did propose recreational activities in Mountain Pine Ridge.
John Pinelo, Ag. Chief Forest Officer
"I don't actively participate. I don't even know what Selva conservation is doing. Selva conservation definitely does not have any concession at all in in Pine Ridge."
"This is coming out now, and the only reason I would say that I think it is coming out is because my appointment for chief forest officer is coming up."
"I am acting, and so anything will come out of the woodworks to try and blackmail me or solve my name. So that whoever is making decisions look at me negatively."
And Pinelo has his own accusations to make
John Pinelo, Ag. Chief Forest Officer
"Mr. Godinez approached me after a meeting with my CEO and offered me money to help him facilitate his activities. And I told Mr. Godinez, I don't need any of your money. I am well off how I am, and I will be well off after you disappear from this environment. And then I mentioned it to my CEO, so she was aware that this gentleman was actually offering me a bribe to facilitate his documents."
But that is a serious allegation. You are accusing someone of a criminal act. Offering a public officer a bribe is a criminal act.
John Pinelo, Ag. Chief Forest Officer
"And why didn't you make a criminal complaint? I guess it was foolish of me not to follow it up."
Jules Vasquez
"He said you offered him a bribe right there in the Ministry's office."
Cesar Godinez, Owner - Selva Conservation Ltd.
"I don't remember the last time I have been to the forestry office in Belmopan, the last time I was there was for my, it would be like 3 months ago. 3 or 4 months ago, I haven't seen John since I would say almost a year now when I, nothing got delivered so I didn't give him any money."
"But yeah we had a fall out, I didn't give him anymore money so he got, I guess, there's no money coming in so we've fallen out then that you can say but why will I be paying someone when they're not, they didn't deliver."
"He kept asking me and asking me and I gave him a couple of times, so..."
Jules Vasquez
"So now, but you realize that when you offer or when you pay even if you didn't offer, when you pay someone a bribe it's also a criminal offense."
Cesar Godinez, Owner - Selva Conservation Ltd.
"I don't know but I guess, what can I do? It was done. He asked me for money, I gave him."
John Pinelo, Ag. Chief Forest Officer
"In doing my job, I step on people's toes because they want to do business the way it was normally done. And because I pushed for us to follow the procedures people are building cases to try and mess me up."
"But now I have to sit and talk to my lawyer and find out what recourse I have to defend myself, because obviously somebody out there is trying to mess up my name to badmouthed me in doing my job."
We did try to get comment from the Belize Companies and Corporate Affairs Registry by phone and email, but, consistent with their track record of opacity, they did not respond.
