In last Thursday's newscast, we told you how Andre Vega, son of the former Deputy Prime Minister, Gaspar Vega, won a major case when his attorney convinced the Court of Appeal to set aside a judgment from the Supreme Court. That 2019 judgment said that he must pay back 400 thousand dollars to the government and people of Belize.
That case was probably one of the most outrageous disclosures that happened under the former Barrow Administration, and the fallout of that scandal caused a senior shakeup in the Former Prime Minister's Cabinet.
Andre Vega, son of the then "Lands" Minister, Gaspar Vega, was "compensated" with 400 thousand dollars of taxpayer's money, all because the Ministry, which was under the stewardship of the his father, made a "mistake" and sold a duplicate title to a piece of land that already had an owner.
But was it an innocent - yet very costly - error in judgment, or deliberate act designed to siphon public funds and enrich a political connect? The fine-print details suggest many shades of grey.
Our Daniel Ortiz has been following this story since it first became public knowledge back in October of 2016. Tonight, he takes a closer look at the outcome of last week's Appeal judgment in the historical context. Here's that story:
A prime piece of real estate near the Haulover Bridge became a public headache when basically, the Barrow Government shot itself in the foot, and issued a duplicate land title to it, even though it was already private land.
It's identified in the Lands Registry System as Entry 14608, a 1.057-acre parcel between the Caribbean Sea and the Phillip Goldson Highway.
Documents showed that on January 14, 2013, Gaspar Vega approved a purchase of the piece of land from the Government to Hilmar Alamilla, who was well-connected to Vega. Viewers will remember that Alamilla is currently on remand as an accused murderer who is awaiting trial for the July 2017 gun killing of 24-year-old Daniel Sosa.
The land was assessed at just over 6 thousand dollars. But - as seen in this document - "Lands" Minister Gaspar Vega directed Former Lands Commissioner Wilbert Vallejos to discount the value of the land to $2,500. The documents do not explain why he complied with such a questionable directive to give yet another discount on this valuable piece of sea frontage.
These documents show that lands surveyors at the Department clearly instructed their bosses that this piece of land is privately owned, and not Government land. This meant that it should have not been sold, but the Lands Department did so anyway. The title was issued to Alamilla on May 7, 2013, and on December 30, 2013, - only 7 months later - Alamilla sold the land, which you'll remember, already belonged to someone else. Who did he sell it to? That new paper owner became no less than Gaspar Vega's son, Andre.
But since the government had no right to sell the land, it became legally bound - through its compensation policy as the administrator of all lands in the country. The instant that duplicate title was printed, the government became liable to compensation - at market value - to the second paper owner.
File: October 17, 2016
Hon. Vanessa Retreage, Minister of Natural Resources (2015-2016)
"It is clear that the government of Belize did not have the right to issue title to land which it did not own."
That market value was later assessed at a massive 400 thousand dollars, which the government then compensated Vega for.
On September 3, 2015, shortly before Vega had to hand over the Natural Resources Ministry to Godwin Hulse, an agreement was made between Dominque Gomez, who acted on behalf of her boyfriend, Andre Vega. Gomez was treated as a vendor to the paper ownership, and the government played the role of the purchaser so as to correct this "mistake".
The Government paid Gomez - and by extension Vega - the sum of 400 thousand dollars. It was agreed that the sum would be paid in installments; 100 thousand was paid immediately, and 50,000 was paid every month until the full sum was handed over.
The clear implication of abuse of public trust was not enough for former Prime Minister Dean Barrow to press for his 2nd in command to face criminal or civil proceedings.
File: October 17, 2016
Jules Vasquez, 7News
"Has there been talk that as a part of the easy out, Mr. Vega will resign and that Mr. Andre Vega will kindly repay the money without the government having to go through what internally would be unsavory?"
Dean Barrow - Former 3-term Prime Minister
"I don't know how any circumstance which has seen Hon. Vega put an end to his career as a minister, in circumstances where he and his family have been under tremendous assault and pressure. I don't know how that could be described as an easy way out."
But, the subsequent political hemorrhaging did result in Gaspar Vega resigning from Government.
File: October 17, 2016
Dean Barrow - Former 3-term Prime Minister
"I accepted the resignation of the Hon. Gaspar Vega from the cabinet of Belize - his resignation as a minister of government. I must make clear that Gaspar said to me that he would never knowingly have signed titles to land that didn't belong to the government. He made clear that he recognizes that in all the circumstances, especially given that his son became the "owner" of one of the two parcels and was paid compensation after the facts were discovered in terms of the titles having been issued in error. In all the circumstances, his position naturally became untenable."
So, the focus then became the State's push to get Andre Vega to pay back that 400 hundred thousand dollars to the government and people of Belize.
File: October 17, 2016
Vanessa Retreage - Former Minister of Natural Resources
"Where it is found that monies have been paid out wrongfully, such monies must be recovered. Unjust enrichment at the expense of government cannot be countenanced."
Their lawsuit against Andre Vega did yield big results in 2019 when Former Supreme Court Judge Courtney Abel ordered him to give the money back.
File: July 19, 2019
Daniel Ortiz
"The judge has made a ruling against your client ordering that he returns the money and that your client was unjustly enriched at the expense of the government and people of Belize. What are your comments on that outcome?"
Estevan Perera, Attorney for Andre Vega
"The decision was just made by the judge. The judge hasn't provided us with the written judgment so we can't really comment on all of the findings of the judge or the reasons why he ultimately made that decision at this point in time."
Daniel Ortiz
"What is your client's position at this time? Can he return this money?"
Estevan Perera
"I haven't spoken to the client with respect to the return of funds at this point in time. Again, we are waiting for the decision to come out in writing, and then we will be going through the judgment. The contents of the judgment and reasons and we will decide whether or not we will appeal. We do believe that there are many grounds to appeal. And we do believe [in] the first instance that we will appeal."
Well, a panel of Appeal Court Judges has reviewed the case, and they say that Andre Vega suffered "harm" by the government's "negligent misrepresentation" for purporting to sell him already private land.
The panel said, quote, "Where the court below fell into error was... in absolving the GOB from blame for the consequences of its wrong in issuing the Minister's Fiat Grant 182 of 2013; and in transferring the blame for the consequences of that wrong to the Defendant, VEGA, instead of laying it squarely at the feet of the GOB where it truly belonged...
The case is devoid of any evidence whatsoever that VEGA in any way participated in, or was responsible for, the GOB issuing Minister's Fiat Grant 182 of 2013."
But, remember that the Ministry's technocrats did leave warnings for their superiors that this land was not government property. So, really, who is at fault for Gaspar Vega's ill-advised decision to authorize the sale to Hilmar Alamilla?
And now that the adverse judgment against Andre Vega has been struck down, he gets to keep those many hundreds of thousands of taxpayers' dollars.
And this untidy outcome, which leaves a sour taste in the mouths of law-abiding citizens, is a stain on Prime Minister Barrow's legacy.
Daniel Ortiz, 7News
"Is this not an instance of corruption itself, sir, and will you as the leader of the country take steps to recommend an audit of his term and possibly a criminal investigation?"
Dean Barrow - Former 3-Term Prime Minister
"Sir, you've just heard the attorney general say that an audit has been completed. The findings of the auditor general will no doubt be released shortly. The question of the compensation, in this case, taxpayers want to know that we will seek to recover the compensation and I told you that we will and the investigation is ongoing."
That audit's final report never saw the light of day because the Former Auditor General was dissatisfied with the way it was carried out.
File: March 19, 2021
Dorothy Bradley - Former Auditor-General
"The truth is that we spent almost 2 and a half years at Lands, trying to gather information... And when we started to reconcile that information, we could not because the information was terribly distorted... So, it wasn't credible for us to put out there."
So, both Papa Vega and his son get to put this saga behind them without any lasting criminal or civil consequences.
File: October 17, 2016
Mike Rudon, Belize Times
"At least on 3 separate occasions, the people in the ministry say 'you know what this land is not available to let, its private land'."
Dean Barrow - Former 3-Term Prime Minister
"Man stop right there. There is nothing on the file that says that. Queries were raised admittedly. There is nothing on the file that says 'minister this land is private land, it is not available,' so please."
Daniel Ortiz, 7News
"For those listening, if they are concerned that this is another example of you and your government explaining away the actions of those within your government and the public service, can you assure us that this is not what you are doing currently?"
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow - 3-Term Prime Minister
"We are giving an account of the incident to the public as we are obliged to do. Explaining away suggests that we are making excuses, we are trying to shy away from the hard decisions. My God, man, the minister is gone."
Clearly, then PM Barrow was weighing the political calculus of effectively forcing the Deputy Prime Minister out of Cabinet, which no doubt contributed to the UDP's decimation at the polls in 2020 - but the cost to the public purse exceeds and endures well beyond that.
This afternoon, we contacted former Prime Minister Barrow for comment on the outcome of this matter where Andre Vega gets to keep the money that was paid to him in compensation. Via telephone, he told us that both he and Gaspar Vega are out of politics and that he said what he wanted to say on the topic when the issue first emerged.
He added that he didn't want to "pour oil on this fire".
