Benque Mayor confirms employee theft of council funds

There is another case of missing monies in the west. Last month, Julio Santos was fired and then charged for the Theft of thirteen thousand dollars plus from the Border Management Agency. Well today, an employee of the Benque Viejo Town Council has been fired for thousands of dollars that went missing at the council. In this case, the employee colluded with another employee of the Texaco Gas Station and passed of excessive fuel bills to the council. Mayor Nick Ruiz told News Five that he would only take the matter to court if the monies are not paid back.

Nick Ruiz, Benque Viejo Mayor
“We uncovered that there was an employee of the council working in collusion with somebody from our local fuel provider; the service station. We discovered it rather promptly and we carried out our investigation. They both owned up to it and they have agreed to pay it back. That being said, it is important as a public official to state to the nation, that the proper and relevant authorities have been notified and should they breach that standing agreement then—because we must be accountable for every single dollar that comes out of the public coffers—we will go to court. But I hope that’s not the case and I really feel confident that they will own up to that agreement.”

Delahnie Bain
“You mentioned also that that employee has been terminated.”

Nick Ruiz
“Essentially, that was something that we had to do because, as you well know and the prime minister has been very emphatic on this, we cannot tolerate this sort of stuff.”

Delahnie Bain
“What was the actual amount of the vouchers?”

Nick Ruiz
“The amount in question at the time of our investigation—what we have been able to ascertain from our investigation does not exceed four thousand, one hundred Belize dollars. there have been rampant speculation that it was eleven thousand, no it’s not that. It is four thousand one hundred what we have clearly been able to ascertain and hold them accountable for.”

Delahnie Bain
“Do you know if any action has been taken against the employee from the gas station?”

Nick Ruiz
“As I said, we have a standing agreement. The Texaco management and ownership was involved in the agreement.”

While the mayor would not confirm the name of the employee, information to News Five suggests that he is Miguel Castellanos, the son of a sitting councillor.