P.U.P. mayoral aspirant denies knowledge of scholarship scam…

It’s the count down to elections and the campaign is beginning to pick up dust from both sides of the political spectrum. Belize City Mayor, Zenaida Moya when confronted on Monday about thousands of dollars in cheques made out to her brother’s trucking company, SM Construction, said they were not new. Tonight the P.U.P.’s mayoral contender, Dr Cecil Reneau, denied he knew about a scholarship scam at the Ministry of education back in 2007 while he was Chief Education Officer.

Dr. Cecil Reneau, P.U.P. Mayoral Candidate, CitCo
“I was the Chief Education Officer in the Ministry of Education. There was also a Chief Executive Officer. Now even though there are two chiefs, their job description and their duties are different. The Chief Executive Officer is responsible for the management of the Ministry of Education’s money. He is—or whoever the person is—is the warrant holder; that’s the person that signs the vouchers that goes to the Accountant General’s department, which is the treasury fir approval and payment. I was responsible for the management of education countrywide or schools to ensure that our teachers get paid.”

Marion Ali
“So you didn’t know this was happening?”

Cecil Reneau
“When that was ventilated before the last election I said very clearly then that something was happening in the Ministry of Education. But immediately upon that surfacing, those persons were dealt with, dismissed from the Ministry of Education and that was the end of that. Now if there should have been any further action that was beyond me. I was the Chief Education Officer; I signed no voucher.”

Marion Ali
“But still you will have people who will say how could you not know that this was happening.”

Cecil Reneau
“Dearest, we are human beings. How can we know everything? When you are at home in your bed can you know when a thief is in your yard? The point is when the thief gets in it is how you deal with it. This is what happened; I found—when that situation was revealed and surfaced, I dealt with it through the sources that should have terminated those persons, who should have corrected the error and that was done.”

Marion Ali
“Was it an error? Were they errors? What was it?”

Cecil Reneau
“It had to be an error of judgment. Do you know…”

Marion Ali
“You said it’s not falsifying vouchers.”

Cecil Reneau
“Dearest, I said then and I’m saying now I had absolutely nothing to do with that, absolutely nothing to do with the making of vouchers and the signing of vouchers.”