D.F.C. hearings postponed again

The public hearings of the Commission of Inquiry into the Development Finance Corporation have been postponed yet again, mostly due to more legal wrangling. Co-chairs Merlene Bailey Martinez and Herbert Lord have both been served with notice that the Novelo family is asking the Supreme Court to shut down the commission. The Novelo’s are alleging that the Commission has exceeded its one month timeline specified in S.I. one-twenty-three of 2006. However this afternoon Merlene Bailey Martinez asserted that the statutory instruments states that the Commission is to “endeavour” to complete its work and that’s just what they’ve been doing. According to family spokesman, David Novelo, the application for the injunction will be heard Tuesday morning in the Supreme Court. In the alternate, the Novelo’s are also asking that accountant Mark Hulse be removed as forensic auditor because of his role in the receivership of their bus company. Hulse is proceeding with his mandate tonight however as we understand he was granted a one week extension by the Ministry of Finance to complete his final report inclusive of the additional information requested by the Commission last week. In addition to those legal complications, there is also the matter of serving Glenn Godfrey with his summons to appear before the Commission. Apparently Godfrey isn’t expected back in Belize until tomorrow. We were unable to confirm whether or not the former Chief Executive Officer of D.F.C., Troy Gabb is feeling well enough to testify. Both men are scheduled to testify before former Minister of Finance Ralph Fonseca makes his appearance in the witness box. Co-chairs Lord and Bailey Martinez will be meeting later this week to review their options before announcing the new dates for the public hearings.