FIU brings 2nd case for failing to declare excess cash this week

Wei Quan Zheng

The Financial Intelligence Unit has had a busy week in the courts; so far it has busted two persons for failing to declare well over the prescribed amount of cash in their possession.  The latest arrest was on Tuesday involving a Belize/Chinese national who claimed he was traveling to visit friends and relatives in China. He was detained before boarding his flight at the Phillip Goldson Airport and found to be carrying in excess of ten thousand dollars in Belize currency. Thirty year old Wei Quan Zheng, a businessman of Caye Caulker, had in his backpack, twenty-three thousand US dollars plus smaller amounts in other denominations. Since Zeng spoke very little English, Lee Mark Chang, president of the Chinese Association President, acted as translator. After the facts were read to him in court, Zheng said he accepted them to be true and Magistrate Sharon Frazer asked Zheng if he had anything to say. Zheng claimed that not all the cash was his and that he was taking money for relatives of some friends. He asked Magistrate Sharon Frazer for leniency and said he did not know of the FIU regulations.  The magistrate imposed a fine of ten thousand, which he has paid up. On Monday, Belizean American Gregory McKoy was nabbed on arrival at the PGIA with more than fifty thousand US dollars in cash, which he had failed to declare. McKoy was fined twenty thousand dollars.