Audit Shows Split Payments Predate Defense Scandal
For years, split payments operated like a loophole hidden in plain sight. Public invoices were broken up, approval rules were sidestepped, and oversight systems failed to stop it. A decade-old Auditor General’s report had already flagged the practice, but today, as thousands of invoices at the Ministry of Defense come under review, those findings carry new weight. The question now is not just how far back this goes, but why government after government allowed it to continue. News Five’s Paul Lopez has the story.
Paul Lopez, Reporting
Split payment invoices at the Ministry of Defense have dominated the news in recent weeks. But an Auditor General’s report from 2015-2016 shows this is not a new practice, nor is it tied to only one administration. The audit, which reviewed financial records at the Isabella Palma Polyclinic, found eight cases where payments were split. That number is tiny compared to the thousands of invoices now under review, but the method is the same: break up payments to avoid approval rules. At the polyclinic, expenses above three thousand dollars needed approval from the Regional Manager. Similarly, government ministry payments above ten thousand dollars require higher approval.
Here are some examples pulled from that audit report. A $4,819.32 invoice from a restaurant was paid on the same day, using a check for $2,000 and another for $2,819.32. Both carried the same invoice number.In another instance, a $3,444.20 quote from a vendor was paid on the same day using two separate checks, valued at $1,722 and $1,722.20. And if this decade-old pattern looks familiar, it’s because it’s the exact same strategy that the Ministry of Defense has been employing for the past five years with its vendors. And while that example is nowhere near the scale of the current Ministry of Defense scandal, we asked Panton today whether she was ever aware of split payments being used while the UDP was in office.
Tracy Panton
Tracy Panton, Leader, United Democratic Party.
“I served as the Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation. Ast he Chief Executive Officer you serve as the accounting officer for that Ministry and I can say never during my tenure was there ever such a practice within the ministry of tourism and civil aviation. I am not aware that it was the practice in any other ministry, but if it was it was wrong and cannot continue.”
It is that very 2015 audit report that the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry is now using to support its argument that split payments are part of a systemic corrupt practice abused by persons in authority.
William Neal
William Neal, Executive Councilor, BCCI
“The thing that is interesting is that you still have your technical people very often in the same position and whether the minister can give you approval by word of mouth and whether there needs to be documentation for you to actually follow through. What are the systems within the government system that actually means you have been authorized. Then you can abdicate your personal responsibility to say I have been instructed to do this and here is my documentation to do it. It is not the normal practice that somebody stands up and say, its not the process that somebody has to do it. So I think it how we put that system in place and put it on, not auto pilot but how it comes the culture itself.”
In her report, former Auditor General Dorothy Bradley stated that the split payments were used to circumvent financial regulations and pointed to a possible willingness to ignore the procurement and payment rules for polyclinics. And based on those 2015 findings, the audit reported recommended strict adherence to the Financial Orders. But there were no recommendations in section for anyone to be held accountable for the practice of splitting payments to avoid established regulations. The question tonight is whether Auditor General Maria Rodriquez will make a similar pronouncement following the ongoing audit? Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.
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