A month ago, we learnt that the Belize City Council had contracted GEL Quarry Company Limited to do some work in the city. At first glance, it seems like a routine contract award, but once we did our digging, we learnt that the company was linked to Councillor Edmund Kwan.
That then opened a Pandora's box, since it hasn't been the first time the Council has used that company. And it also isn't the first time that there have been murmurings of the Council award related party contracts.
And in the political world, this type of hustle is a side gig for politicians, and it is one of the most telling indicators that corruption may be rearing its head.
Our team at 7News decided to dig deeper into GEL Quarry's relationship with the City Council. Courtney Menzies has this report.
In May of this year, the Belize City Council had plans to expand the Eternal Gardens Cemetery, located at Mile 13 on the George Price Highway. Reports are that they had initially considered awarding the contract to Cattouse Trucking Services - a company owned by relatives of Councillor Kaya Cattouse.
But awarding a contract to a related party is often a sign post for corruption - however it is not something the mayor would completely disavow:
Daniel Ortiz
"So can you assure us that the contract won't end up in some very friendly or family-related person of the councilors. where you have other people who may have a better bid?"
Bernard Wagner, Mayor of Belize City
"I can't assure you of that."
No assurances from the Mayor, but the councillor with responsibility for cemeteries was keenly aware of the conflict:
Michael Novelo
"I also expressed to the mayor that I don't want no shady looking situation with this particular incident, because we know Cattouse Trucking is affiliated with a councillor and we also have other bids that are associated to other councillors. I expressed to the mayor fully that the council cannot handle another political situation like that. So, if it was left to me, none of those ones would have even been considered."
And while information is that the contract did not ultimately go to Cattouse Trucking Services, or Cattouse Construction Materials,
there was another approved to one of those "bids associated with other councillors" that Novelo spoke about. That's GEL Quarry Company Limited.
This invoice shows that GEL Quarry was paid $45,373 for the project to expand the cemetery, and it's dated October 2021, 7 months after Councillor Edmund Kwan, was voted into office.
And these company documents lodged at the Companies Registry show that Kwan was listed as a director, along with Gilberto Gallego and Luisito Sosa, whose initials collectively spell out G-E-L.
In addition, GEL Quarry's Facebook page puts its headquarters at the same location as Quan's Trading Center, which is Kwan's family business.
And, on his LinkedIn, Kwan is listed as a manager for GEL Quarry Company, though he claimed he had lost the password to that account.
But, regardless of Kwan's titular or beneficial interests, the City Council has consistently used GEL Quarry's services.
Back in June 2020, the company was contracted to do work in Lake Independence. Granted, Kwan was not a councillor at that time, but even after he joined the Council, the contracts kept on coming.
How many? We wanted to find out, so we sent a Freedom of Information Request to the Council on December 7th, requesting all contracts that had been awarded to them since Councillor Kwan took office in March of 2021.
In response, the Council had their attorney, William A Lindo - whom, we note, is the brother of the City Administrator, Stephanie Lindo Garbutt - write back saying quote, "The Council has instructed us... to say that it will grant access to the contract it has entered with GEL Quarry Co Ltd, at a mutually convenient date and time." End quote.
The letter was dated December 20th, and on December 22nd, 7News wrote back saying that we were prepared to view the document on that same day, or any time this week. We also asked for clarification on what Lindo referred to as "the contract," since we have knowledge that more than one had been awarded.
Since then, we have yet to receive a response from them and, as such, have not been given access to view any of the contracts.
But through our sources, 7News has obtained documents which show at least two contracts awarded since October of last year, including the 45,000 dollar contract to expand the cemetery.
The second contract was awarded more recently - 1.2 million dollars to upgrade the Lake I area.
It's a glaring conflict of interest that the Council has approved, but according to Mayor Wagner, he is blissfully unaware of any relations between Kwan and GEL Quarry.
Bernard Wagner, Mayor of Belize City
"I have no knowledge that Councilor Kwan is a shareholder, you'll have to show me that. To the best of my knowledge, Gel Quarry and Councilor Kwan has no relationship"
But while Kwan's role in the company is no secret, the mayor says he told the Council that he had no interest in the company, and Kwan himself also told the media that he had given up his shares earlier this year, though he gave no exact date.
And since access to the Companies Registry has now been closed to the press, we may never know if Kwan has indeed surrendered shareholdings and beneficial ownership
We will continue to await a response on when we will be permitted to view the contracts from either the Council or their attorney. Presently, the two week period during which documents should be made available has expired.
