Outgoing minister presents Police Trust Fund

Minister of National Security Jorge Espat’s resignation from Cabinet becomes effective on Monday, but before departing he took the opportunity to hand over the four hundred and fifty-eight thousand dollars of the Police Trust Fund to the care of Commissioner Hughington Williams.

Jorge Espat, Minister of National Security

“This ceremony has both unique and special meaning for me. It’s not to dedicate a new building. It is not to hand over equipment and supplies. It is not to announce the seizure to illegal firearms and drugs. It is to present the Police Trust Fund.

The fund is testimony to our success in building partnerships, expanding contact with the non-criminal public and developing new relationships with some of Belize’s top business leaders and generous citizens. I am deeply contented and immeasurably grateful to the more than fifty-five organisations and sixty individuals who contributed to the Police Trust Fund. The contributions range from two hundred dollars to seventy-five thousand. The value of the funds stands at four hundred and fifty-eight thousand, one hundred and fourteen dollars and seventy-six cents.”

Although Espat agreed to take questions from the press, he declined to provide details of the reason for his resignation, saying only that he would remain active as the area representative of the Freetown Division and a member of the People’s United Party. Following public remarks highly critical of his own government, made on September twenty-eighth, it is believed that his colleagues in Cabinet voted a recommendation to remove Espat from that body.