Mayor Cawich Defends City Council’s Handling of Investigation

The investigation may be over, but questions about how the Belmopan City Council handled it have not gone away. Mayor Pablo Cawich confirmed today that employee Efrain Novelo is no longer with the council, although the inquiry found no evidence supporting the allegations of sexual harassment against him, which Novelo denied. Reports later surfaced that officials had tried to keep the findings out of public view. Cawich rejects that claim and says the council remains committed to transparency and to providing every employee with a safe working environment.

 

Pablo Cawich, Mayor, Belmopan

“A committee was formed to investigate, so if a committee was formed, how can anything be attempted to be swept under the rug. As you are fully aware, forming a committee takes time. The process for a committee to do its investigation takes time, generating reports takes time, if there is anyone who believes that because of the time frame that someone was trying to do anything wrong, it is just that they fail to understand processes.’

 

Paul Lopez

“Is the subject of that investigation still an employee at the Belmopan City Council, your advisor?”

 

Pablo Cawich

“He was not my advisor, he was the local economic development advisor and the gentleman was on contract and the way our contracts are set up are for it to have mutual separation and agreement with time. So, the council has parted way with the gentleman but it had nothing do with this, we just no longer required his service.”

 

Again, the report notes that Novelo denied all allegations made against him.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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