D.F.C. Commission still waiting for auditor

It might have been put on the back burner recently, but latest word out of the D.F.C. Commission of Inquiry reveals that its members have been hard at work. Via a press release issued this week, Chairman David Price maintains that data collected so far include board meeting minutes and papers, loan files, a loan administration manual, as well as sworn testimony from personnel of the Development Finance Corporation. According to the commission, it is now in the process of “scrutinising and reviewing these volumes of documents and records with a view to determine whether wrong doing occurred and to identify those responsible if possible.” That stated however, the commissioners are complaining that a forensic auditor has yet to be appointed to bolster its investigation. Tonight members of Belize’s financial community suggest to News Five that since there is little doubt that something did go very wrong at the D.F.C., perhaps the hundreds of thousand of dollars it would take to import a forensic auditor would be better served investigating the evidence already in hand. The Commissioner has promised to hold public hearings as part of its inquiry, however, the schedule of those sessions has yet to be finalised. Joining Chairman Price as commissioners are Chief Magistrate Herbert Lord and Merlene Bailey Martinez.