Abuse of the System? BCCI Weighs In on Split Payments

The Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry is weighing in on the split-payment invoices that News Five has been investigating, and its executives are not mincing words. BCCI President Giacomo Sanchez describes the practice as an abuse of the system, arguing that it would never pass without serious scrutiny in the private sector. Executive Councilor William Neal says the issue goes even deeper, calling it a systemic problem that government must address immediately, even before an audit report is completed. Here is how they responded when we asked about the questionable payments.

 

Giacomo Sanchez, President, BCCI

“It falls nothing short of just being an abuse of the system and the power and you could name the whole nine yards.”

 

Reporter

You are CPA, as an accountant if you are reviewing a company

Giacomo Sanchez

“In the private sector that would not be permitted. That would be an issue. A board of directors, a senior management trying to enrich themselves, that won’t work. Let’s make the distinction, privately owned entities that is par for the course. But public entities or public related entities it has to stand up to greater scrutiny.”

 

William Neal, Executive Councilor, BCCI

“And I will use my experience from working with UNICEF and IDB. We know that procurement you have to have three quotes, a committee that reviews those quotes, makes a recommendation based not necessarily on pricing, but on quality and bang for buck and you could write a rationale, you can do all of that. So there are documentation every step of the way. There are no wrong way once you are following the process and engaging in what the system demands. It is how you manipulate that and that is what we continue to say. There has been no effort to look at the system and say to prevent this is what needs to be implemented on a regular basis.”

 

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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