US$10 million – government claims its missing that much from the Venezuelan grant given to the government at the end of last year. And still tonight, there are many more questions than answers. The very big question about the missing money emerged on February 8th – the day after elections when a Vice President of The Venezuelan Bank of Economic and Social Development wrote to the CEO of Foreign Affairs, Amalia Mai, asking her to account for a grant of US$20 million, not US$10 million. Today, Mai told us that she, “had nothing to say…and doesn’t know anything about the letter from Venezuela.” As Foreign Affairs CEO and PUP insider, Mai is believed to have worked closely with Housing Minister Ralph Fonseca as he negotiated the loan with the Venezuelans.
What we can say is that Governor of the Central Bank Sydney Campbell confirmed that government received the money on December 28th. The instructions were wired to the Central Bank from the Federal Reserve Bank in New York in two installments: one for US$9 million, the other for US$1 million. Financial Secretary Joe Waight has written to the Venezuelan government asking for more information and a clarification what was the agreement with the government of Belize.
The Prime Minister has called on Opposition Leader Said Musa and other Cabinet members to state whether the figure of US$20 million is accurate and if so, to explain what happened to the other $10 million. Musa has still not commented – or at least not to us – and later on in the news – we’ll ask aspiring leader Francis Fonseca what he knew about it.
