JPAC Hearing Exposes Troubling Audit Pattern

Leaving the fuel pumps behind, we turn to the National Assembly, where the Joint Public Accounts Committee put government spending under the microscope today as it dug into the Auditor General’s 2016/2017 report. What emerged wasn’t just a stack of old numbers, but a worrying pattern: the audit begins with a disclaimer, essentially saying the office couldn’t fully verify the government’s own records. Key documents were missing, ministries couldn’t account for their expenditures, and when auditors went looking for answers, several CEOs simply didn’t show up. And here’s the kicker, Auditor General Maria Rodriguez says this isn’t a relic of the past. A decade later, the same roadblocks persist, and she’s urging Cabinet to step in and get their senior officials in line.

 

Maria Rodriquez, Auditor General

“I am glad that this is being highlighted because many instances the executive says to my staff, I am not available or they simply don’t respond and I don’t have anywhere to go. Where do I go to say that they don’t want to make themselves available. I think that is very important to distinguish at this point, separate and a part from the parliament, the executive has to make themselves available to answer queries from the office of the auditor general.”

 

Janelle Chanona, Senator

“Is it then your position that I am hearing that this remains an ongoing issue as you proceed with your auditing duties in terms of live issues?”

 

Maria Rodriquez

“It is an ongoing issue and unfortunately one of the root causes is improper handing over. The new persons that are there will say well I was not here ten years ago. I don’t know anything about it. But it should not be that way. The regulations give way for proper handing over. And to get to that when we get to the BDF report, that is what I want to mention, the findings are ten years old but I am not certain if today that BDF Fund is being managed the way it is supposed to be managed.”

 

Auditors Flag Questionable B.D.F. Training Payment

 

The fund in question is the B.D.F.’s Non‑Public Funds, money and property the force manages for its members, not government revenue. Today, B.D.F. Commander Brigadier General Anthony Velasquez faced the JPAC, saying the force improved transparency between 2015 and 2017. But auditors found a troubling case from 2016: the German military paid the B.D.F. one hundred and fifty-two thousand dollars for training that the Belize government was already funding. The incident triggered police and FIU investigations, but no one was ever charged.

 

Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs

“It is clear that after the fact in 2016 a deposit had gone in. Do you know whether this deposit was paid into the private coffers or to the government?”

 

Brigadier General Anthony Velasquez, Commander, Belize Defense Force

“To the best of my knowledge this deposit was paid to the BDF fund account.”

 

Kareem Musa

“Not from the German’s directly, but from a local Belize account?”

 

Brigadier General Anthony Velasquez

“I am unsure form where the funds were sourced, but definitely it was paid into our BDF account. For it to have been directly from Germany it would have been a wire transfer. All accounts show it was paid from a local account, but I am not too sure of that.”

 

Kareem Musa

“It was clear from the Auditor General that this was a highly irregular procedure of collecting by a private company in Belize and then paying over to the government and the Auditor General even mentioned that she is not sure if those funds were ever reimbursed to the government or where those funds went, if it even went back to the private company.”

 

Brigadier General Anthony Velasquez

“Immediately after this incident the Ministry of National Security produced standing orders which streamlined the Non Public Funds of the BDF and the BCG.”

 

Taxpayer-Funded Agencies Stonewall GOB’s Auditors

 

The Auditor General’s struggles didn’t end with unreturned calls and missing documents, today we learned that in some cases, her staff was literally locked out. Auditor General Maria Rodriguez revealed that both the Belize Agricultural Health Authority and Border Management blocked her team from accessing their financial accounts, a stunning move for agencies funded by taxpayers. So, who’s stepping in to fix this breakdown in oversight? For that, the JPAC turned to the Financial Secretary, who was summoned to explain how something like this could happen under his watch.

 

Joseph Waight, Financial Secretary

“Officers are responsible for what is on their desk and what is found on their desk, and I think that needs to be stressed. For instance, if the accounts are not brought up to date and somebody retires, gets sick, or moves somewhere else, the new person is responsible to finish that work. They can’t say well because it is from somewhere else or it happened before my time. That does not play in accounting.”

 

Godwin Haylock, Chair, Joint Public Accounts Committee

“This committee is critical of what the auditor general said this morning that in attempting to do her audit in BAHA and Border Management that she was not allowed to go int their.”

 

Joseph Waight

“The auditor has wide scope, wide coverage, not only the central government but also parastatals that are funded by the government. And in fact when that issue came up we sought legal advice and it is clear that they do fall within the scope.”

 

As the committee presses for answers, the Financial Secretary insists that every agency must open its books to the auditor because accountability doesn’t pause when the paperwork gets inconvenient.

 

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.

 

Watch the full newscast here: