Tonight, three withering weeks and a few days after the Minister filed a cyber-bullying complaint against an opposition figure, the Minister has been benched from Cabinet.
The Prime Minister's Office today confirmed that the Minister has gone on Cabinet leave and the high-stakes Ministry of Home Affairs now goes to the New Minister. This comes after damning leaks revealed that the Minister's family businesses systematically profited from government spending through a series of sub-$10,000 payments during his ministerial tenure.
The Reporter looks at the events that led to the major cabinet shift:
It all began to unravel for Oscar Mira on Saturday May 30, when police went to Alberto August's home in Santa Elena to arrest him. He was detained for over 24 hours and then charged for "using a computer system to disseminate a false statement" - namely a Facebook post mocking Mira. The police minister had made a complaint the day before - claiming that August had cyber-bullied him.
His fellow UDP and former Mira rival, John Saldivar came out of what he called a political slumber to call on public officers to leak material about Mira family dealings with government and they did.
An avalanche of smart stream screenshots revealing a continuous conveyor belt of payments to Mira Family companies for food items, with all the invoices all methodically kept under the $10,000 reporting threshold.
Mira denied any wrongdoing:
June 17, 2026
Oscar Mira, Minister of Home Affairs
"I sit on no procurement committee."
"I had no say, I had no influence and I have never in my ministry or any other Ministry tired to influence the position of that committee."
Reporter
"How is it that so many of your fmaily members are able to to benefit form lucrative government contracts?"
Oscar Mira, Minister of Home Affairs
"Tenders are published in the newspaper. Any interested person can apply and pay for that tender."
"I had no say, I was not part of those committees. If they did so then they did on their own, not with my influence or with anything to do with me."
But the patterns were striking and so was the vastness of the enterprise: Jenny Mira Fruits and Veggies, Stanley and Brian Mira's MP Farms, then Stanely Mira in his own right.
And the correlation has to be made, MP farms for example did the most robust business with government when Mira was full Minister of Defence in 2025.
On Thursday, after returning from 12 days of leave - the PM said he had called for an immediate audit:
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"Well, the first thing is that, today I am speaking with the Financial Secretary, for him to to ask the Auditor General to, to go and to do an audit into that period in question."
Jules Vasquez
"From a political perspective, though, the PUP is hemorrhaging because this is seen as a family enterprise eating off the government."
"Do you think that maybe Mr Mira has to be moved from that ministry, or put on suspension."
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"So, it is, this is before I can say mek we take a look at the report. And then I think I'd be in a better position to decide what would be the next step."
But, he couldn't wait - the revelations on 7news kept coming and coming, the pressure mounting - and the PM acted today: he put Mira on leave, and handed his hot button portfolio over to Julius Espat.
After we broke the news, a release this afternoon confirmed:
"Recent media reports have raised questions about procurement processes relating to Hon. Oscar Mira during a period when he served at the Ministry of Defence.
Hon. Mira has requested that the Prime Minister, in the circumstances, relieve him of his official Cabinet duties for the period during which an audit of those procurement processes is to be conducted by the Auditor General. The duration of the audit is expected to be three months.
"It is important for the public to know that concerns regarding Ministerial conduct are taken seriously," said Prime Minister Briceno. "Our duty is to secure value for taxpayer dollars as well as compliance with procurement regulations."
The be clear, the leave is enforced, not voluntary - Andre Perez was put on the same and came back from it in 8 months when an allegation of sexual harassment against him emerged. Whether Mira can re-emerge from the rubble remains to be seen, as mounting allegations of family enrichment threaten to bury him.
