The Prime Minister today held his first Cabinet meeting in 3 weeks, and in that time a lot has happened, including one of his ministers taking a leave. Yesterday we told you that Oscar Mira - according to GOB - has taken a leave of absence while an audit is being conducted into the Ministry of Defence.
So how did that first Cabinet session go? And what does the PM think about the allegations against Mira? We spoke to him today after the meeting.
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"Obviously it is something of concern and we felt that it was the best decision that Minister Mira ask to be excused from Cabinet and also that we then ask both Minister Espat to take over Home Affairs and Minister Usher to take over the Freezones."
"We were saddened by what has happened but our work comes first we have to look after the interest of the government and the people of Belize that's what we were elected for."
Reporter:
"The invoices reflect payments from your office to MP Farms over $130,000 in payments, over 11 invoices, how do you explain that?"
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"What is there to explain? I think you're grasping at straws, I have no idea the people at finance, the people in my office, the ones that do that, I don't think there was anything illegal that was done there and we followed the process."
Courtney Menzies:
"What does it mean to you that the dealings with your ministry, all 10 payments were above $10,000 however with the Ministry of Defense, we saw over a thousand transactions below $10,000?"
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"Certainly we do our best to follow the process and in this instance when we saw this continuous payments under $10,000 obviously it raises questions and it raises an alarm and that is why I called the Financial Secretary to send the auditor general to take a look at what's going on."
Reporter:
"What happens when those findings are made, will those findings be make public can you commit to making those findings public?"
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"Well obviously the report I think we will be able to make it public that's as far as I'd be able to commit."
