Tonight there is open warfare at City Hall. As we told you last night, in a letter dated July 8th and released to the media yesterday City Administrator Kiran Vanjani wrote to Financial Controller Patrick Tillett telling him he “acted illegally” and then chastized him for costing the council money and acting outside of his duties. It is a strongly worded three page letter and today Tillett struck back. His response then prompted Mayor Zenaida Moya to lash back at him. And so tonight, we’ll have both sides. The first issue is property taxes. In the letter, Tillett is accused of illegally cancelling property tax arrears owed by residents and for illegally giving discounts. We start with Tillett who told us that he was simply cleaning the accounts and regularizing the books. Mayor Moya, of course disagreed.
Patrick Tillett, Financial Controller – Belize City Council
“In an effort to clean the accounts I asked a staff to make these adjustments but in any event even if there was an issue of doing it, it was just a book entry. None of these customers here are aware of this change in their account. So if the council decided that we didn’t want to do that, we want to leave these here all we could have done was gone back into the computer and make another book entry undoing the adjustment before so there is really no issue because this can be fixed simply by taking back the paper, pass it to the clerk, and say kindly undo.”
Keith Swift,
“But is that within your terms of reference?”
Patrick Tillett,
“I was the acting City Administrator.”
Mayor Zenaida Moya, Belize City
“He does not have the authority to give any discount and as a matter of fact those were not discounts, those were writing off. He does not have that authority okay. No such authority falls on any particular person and clearly somebody coming from the outside to come into our council and give discounts, if that is what he wants to call it. We call it write-offs. No you do not have that authority. Keith I certainly would never give you that authority to simply come in and write off what you want.”
Patrick Tillett,
“Well the truth of the matter is that the whole council is acting illegally when they offer discounts because we as a council has no authority to give discounts and the truth of the matter is that I am not giving people discounts, I am only writing off discounts that are already given.”
And there is the issue of that dump truck which Tillett purchased from Rodla Construction on May 14th for $34,000. In Vanjani’s letter she says the purchase was done unilaterally but more than that – she says the truck does not work well. Tillett says the truck was working but that it was sabotaged.
Patrick Tillett,
“I was informed that the truck does work but we feel that it has been sabotaged to a large extent. I just got information regarding that after the interviews with the previous group. So I understand it worked well when it was assigned to the Works Department and as soon as it had been transferred to the Sanitation Department and it seems there was some mischief.”
Keith Swift,
“Was it within your term of reference to make purchases?”
Patrick Tillett,
“Well when I first came on in April I was actually the acting City Administrator and so the issue of the truck does not really come into question because we also bought three other, we made arrangements to buy three other utility vehicles. We ended up buying two pickups and one Toyota Four Runner for the Mayor. We purchased those three vehicles in the same way we purchased this dump truck is an issue why these three vehicles including the Mayor’s vehicle not an issue.”
Keith Swift,
“He says that truck was good but it was sabotaged.”
Mayor Zenaida Moya,
“Keith you’re making me laugh. Oh my gosh, okay alright. All I can say about that is the truck was purchased while I was out of the country for a short while. Why the rush? Why was the rush to quickly purchase, especially with an amount like that. Why the rush?”
Keith Swift,
“He says you don’t complain about him buying your Four Runner?”
Mayor Zenaida Moya,
“The Four Runner is a vehicle that was outstanding to be purchased. It is a very good first world Toyota Four Runner vehicle and working in mint condition for the record as opposed to what was purchased when it comes to that dump truck.”
Tillett says Mayor Moya’s 2004 4-Runner SUV was also purchased for $34,000. Reports are that the vehicle was originally owned by the Mayor’s brother but was sold to a third party before being sold to the council. So that is where it stands at City Hall tonight. Tensions are high and relations are bitter, and Patrick Tillett says it is all because he blew the whistle on the council’s under-depositing. Mayor Moya says the letter was written before Patrick Tillett made his complaint and she accuses the financial controller who was imposed on the City Council by central government as being petty and personal.
Patrick Tillett,
“I believe the under deposit issue has angered some people. Well the leadership of the council, I would say perhaps the Mayor.”
Keith Swift,
“What is your working relationship like with the Mayor?”
Patrick Tillett,
“Well it has always been cordial. I don’t see it as adversarial.”
Keith Swift,
“Are you on speaking terms?”
Patrick Tillett,
“Well umm we speak when we meet.”
Keith Swift,
“You believe this is all payback for you blowing the whistle about the under-deposits?”
Patrick Tillett,
“I believe so.”
Keith Swift,
“He told me this is coming from you and because you are unhappy that under-depositing that he has exposed, this is payback.”
Mayor Zenaida Moya,
“That particular letter was written even before this man brought this thing to the attention of, when he went and said what he said as it pertains to under-depositing.”
Keith Swift,
“Do you agree with the letter that you acted outside of your authority?”
Patrick Tillett,
“Nope I don’t agree.”
Keith Swift,
“Would have preferred Mr. Tillett to not be your city’s financial controller?”
Mayor Zenaida Moya,
“I feel that he is acting personal now, I’ll be frank with you. I will say one cannot act in such a position and be petty. The whole fact of the matter is that a grown man should not act petty.”
We’ll continue following the story. Tillett today also told us why hasn’t he withdrawn his criminal complaint and the mayor told us why Tillett himself needs to be investigated. We’ll air those cross accusations on Monday.
