Yesterday evening Mayor Zenaida Moya told us on the phone that councilor Mark King was flat out wrong in his claim that she had hired Pamela Smith as a financial officer on a three month contract for $16,000. Today Mayor Moya could not be reached to elaborate on this explanation because she was busy in meetings and was unavailable. But the blight of serious infighting may be lifted as the emergence new scandal could unify the council again, or at least publicly distract from the infighting.
The Guardian today reports that the council was ripped off on the sale of the pound yard compound to the Novelo brothers. According to today's Guardian, when the Novelo's bought the compound in 2002, it was valued at $3 million, sold to them for the price of $1.2 million, but they only paid $139,000 - just over 10% of the price.
And while City Hall was never fully paid for the property, the Novelo's did get the title. That title was held at the Belize Bank, and when the Novelo's defaulted on one of their commitments, the bank took over the title and ownership of the property. Last year the bank sold the compound to businessman Arun Hotchandani. Now, as we understand it, Hotchandani wants to commence with his plan to build a shopping mall on the compound and he has given the council informal notice that it must vacate the premise.
Of course, the City Council is the one left on the breach here, and Mayor Moya and her team are trying to figure out a way to recover the $900,000 it is still owed. But as it is, Hotchandani has the title free and clear, if not possession of the property and it seems the council's only resort would be to sue the Novelo's for failing to pay.
It's a genuine mess and a legitimate scandal, as the past council simply abdicated its responsibility to taxpayers to get value for public assets. But will it be enough to unify the council, and clean dirty linen that's been publicly aired? It's too early to say, but much of it now rests with Mayor Moya and how she charts the ship of municipal state through its first stretch of rough waters.
