Dr. Carlos Itza Says S.I.C.B. Should be Audited

Carlos Itza

According to Doctor Carlos Itza, S.I.C.B. manages millions of dollars every year. He says that for the cane farmers to understand the gravity of the alleged mismanagement, an audit should be conducted.

Dr. Carlos Itza, Chairman, Sugar Cane Production Committee

Mismanagement can take many different roles but I am also speaking deliberate ways of misspending and deliberate ways of not managing properly the resources that are given to the institution. I’ll give you one example; the SICB receives about one point million dollars from the proceeds of the sugar that is reported. It also received about five million dollars for fuel from the Government of Belize. It receives over thirty million dollars of investment from the European Union, IDB and other international funders. I am speaking about the entire portfolio. There is mismanagement of all the funds that are coming to the industry and I believe that a proper audit will be able to expose what is precisely happening at each level. Now some of the areas that I am had mentioned to you where there are mismanagement is because I am the first hand person seeing the mismanagement. Now there are other mismanagements that are not visible that only an audit can be revealed.”

Doctor Itza has lodged a complaint with the Office of Institutional Integrity with respect to SIRDI, the Sugar Industry Research and Development Institute. He alleges that there has been “Mobilization of funds without proper Project Steering Committee oversight and wastage of resources without tangible results.” The Office of Institutional Integrity is an ‘integral part of the Sanctions System responsible for investigation allegations in I.D.B. financed activities.