Immigration Ministry Reports Missing Funds to Police

An internal probe is now underway at the Ministry of Immigration after one hundred and sixty thousand dollars went missing from its Belize City office. The ministry has formally reported the matter to police, and CEO officials confirm an audit request is already in motion. Authorities say they are tightening scrutiny and following every lead as they work to uncover what happened. With both a criminal investigation and financial audit pending, the ministry is promising full accounting and says no detail will be overlooked until the missing money is found.

 

Tanya Santos, Chief Executive Officer, Ministry of Immigration

“Cabinet has been updated on the matter. The preliminary report was completed last week. This week we filed a police report and we have also officially requested an audit from the Audit Department of the situation in Belize City. What we encountered were several instances that can be identified as criminal activity. So that is within the remit of the police department to investigate. We highlighted instance of those activities to them so they can come in and do a deeper dive, a deeper investigation and find out more details of what was going on.”

 

Paul Lopez

“Is the investigation still focusing on one individual? Have we identified any additional possible suspects?”

 

Tanya Santos

“For now, it is one individual until the investigation leads elsewhere.”

 

The ministry has also filed a police report on two missing nationality certificates.

 

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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