Last night we showed you the net worth filings of elected officials and parliamentarians. The one that caught our eye was Senator Chris Coye who filed in 2019 - before the PUP won - that his net worth stood at 24 million dollars.
That generated a lot of public commentary - but, tonight, his UDP colleague Lee Mark Chang is cheering him on. Chang who filed his net worth as between 4.5 and 5 million dollars between 2018 and 2020 says he has no problem with the process - but says that big businessmen and women might be dissuaded from public life because of the law:
Lee Mark Chang, UDP Area Rep.
"Whenever we get a letter every year with the application forms and with the duty to fill out and stuff like that, so I would take that to the banks, to all the banks that I deal with, which is the three banks in Belize. I tell you these are the information I need. I need to put it in one letter and so that I could give it to my accountant friend and she will help me fill out the form. It's a little bit complicated, but she will help me sit down and just put all the numbers together and then we just send in all our filing with the proof from the bank of your documentation."
"That is how I do it every year."
Jules Vasquez
"Why do you choose to do it when many don't?"
Lee Mark Chang, UDP Area Rep.
"I cannot speak for others, but I can speak for myself that it is mandatory by law that I have to declare, because I decide to be a public figure or at least a member of the government and to serve my country. So I have to report it on a yearly basis."
Jules Vasquez
"When persons like you choose to enter public life, people who are successful in business and have multiple investment, it's a trade-off you make."
Lee Mark Chang, UDP Area Rep.
"I guess that is why a lot of businessmen, we don't have much businessmen going into politics and a lot of people try to stay away from politics because sometimes a lot of people don't want their private life out in the public open."
"I would prefer my information to be only to a small group of people that can scrutinize what I have in terms of my report. But I mean, the law is a law amd we really can't dodge that."
Jules Vasquez
"Do you think your colleague, your parliamentary colleague, is being unfairly victimized for being honest, really?"
Lee Mark Chang, UDP Area Rep.
"Well, yes, of course. Honesty is the best policy. That is how I go about it. And he was honest in terms of what he does. Chris is a very smart guy, very brilliant lawyer, and he is one of the best. So he deserves everything that he has, you know, and I'm happy for him."
"And I think Chris did the right thing, and he did the honest thing, and he just did what the law dictates us to do."
Chang says he continues to file - but acknowledges that most of his colleagues on both sides do not. There were 36 filings from 2018 to 2020 in the November 15th Gazette - and those were for 18 elected persons - mostly town councillors and parliamentarians. Our estimate is that there are over 100 elected and selected officials who should be filing.
