And while those are the broad strokes of a very major allegation against Rene Montero - today the former minister and Cayo central Rep was under attack on multiple fronts.
While Julius Espat was trying to get police to charge him - the Minister of Sports asked Espat's ministry to retrieve a a starting gate for horse races alleged stowed away on a property associated with Montero.
Now, a starting gate which is - a basic stall to hold horses just before a race - seems like something simple but today this object was at the center of a high stakes political debacle that unfolded very quickly.
It started with the allegation that this particular gate, constructed and then donated to the Horse Race Committee by Cayo Steelworks, had been taken by former Minister of Works, Rene Montero. Once the news broke, Montero's lawyers fired off demand letters which explicitly stated that the claims made against their client were false. Courtney Menzies put the details of this story together and has this report.
This morning, the Ministry of Youth and Sports repossessed a starting gate used for horse races from a property in Red Creek associated with former Minister of Works, Rene Montero.
According to the Minister of Sports, Kevin Bernard, he received a letter from Cayo Steelworks, the company that donated the starting gate, telling him that it was to be managed by the nationally recognized Horse Race Committee - and does not belong to Montero, who the letter claims initially requested the gate from the construction company.
A few hours after the news of the repossession was out, Cayo Steelworks received their own letter, this time from Montero's attorney, demanding an apology and retraction of their statements which implied that Montero was in possession of the starting gate.
It's a sticky situation, and we sought some clarity from Minister Bernard.
Hon. Kevin Bernard, Minister of Youth and Sports
"I received a letter from Mr Stewart who is from Cayo Steel indicating to me that they had donated that horse race steel gate, the starting gate, for the San Ignacio Horse Racing Committee sometime back and it was brought to my attention that that starting gate was being housed at a private property allegedly belonging to one Rene Montero, the former Minister of Works."
"So when I received this letter I immediately contacted my colleague in San Ignacio and through the CEO in the Ministry of Infrastructure, I asked if they would be willing to assist the Sports Council to retrieve the starting gate, which they willingly accepted and the reason I asked the Ministry of Works because one they have the space, they have the equipment, to be able to move the starting gate and in my letter dated the 5th of January I asked the CEO if they would be willing to house it at the Ministry of Works compound, which they readily accept."
Hon. Julius Espat, Minister of Infrastructure Development & Housing
"The commissioner of police was in communication with us. We took our equipment and the police escorted us, and the equipment was retrieved this morning. That is as far as we are aware. We are presently storing the equipment on our compound until the association can find a permanent place where they can store it."
But, in a letter to the media, Montero's lawyer insists: the Red Creek property does NOT belong to Montero and that it is actually the Santa Elena Horse Race Committee that placed the starting gate on that property.
In addition, a statement from Montero says, quote, "I have worked tirelessly to bring horse racing to the Peter August Stadium and to Santa Elena after it was abandoned for many years… It is gross negligence by this vindictive Government of Belize who continue to bear false allegations against me." End quote.
AND WHILE the property doesn't belong to Montero, he certainly makes good use of it, as these photos show him holding a convention on the lot in question.
He has also done an interview with our newsroom at the same property.
But while Montero disclaims ownership or possession, Bernard's position is that any corruption that the previous administration was involved in needs to be snuffed out.
Hon. Kevin Bernard, Minister of Youth and Sports
"You know if I would go into the National Sports Council and all the mess we met, you know as Belizeans we would be ashamed of ourselves but at the same time I think it's alarming to point out the faciness, as we would put in Kriol, of these people."
The property in questions is known as "Gosen" and pictures of the convention Montero held are from 2018.
