Mayor Moya says she’s got the proof
And while the House Meeting was the main event of the day, in Belize City Mayor Zenaida Moya had her own side-show responding to the serious allegations that Councillor Mark King made against her on Thursday. And to show that the proof of the pudding is in the eating, Moya was emphatic in denying the allegations, providing a copy of the statement of revenues and expenditure for the last quarter of the Council’s term.
Zenaida Moya, Mayor, Belize City
“This interview is called to categorically deny any allegation that I have stolen any money from the Belize City Council throughout my term as Mayor and to reassure every Belizean that as the mayor I have done my best to manage the Council’s resources and will continue to do so. Any monies paid out have been properly accounted for and the council, the internal auditor and the financial heads can attest to that. Financials of the council are reported at Council meetings. I would like to present the facts; one, a copy of the Council’s statement of revenues and expenditures which was prepared by the director of financial services as currently as July 2008. In it, you will note every person who has provided materials ort rental of equipment services to the council that are duly required, requested for and accounted for by the relevant officers. There is no evidence—I want to also state—there is no evidence of paying any security guard six thousand a month. As a matter of fact, I would never concede to paying security guard six thousand a month. Again, the facts are in here right in this report directly from the Director of Financial Resources where you will get to see the facts. As the mayor of Belize City, there are certain authorities bestowed upon me that require that I make certain decisions. I was elected to lead and this means making certain decisions prudently. Not every decision requires a Council meeting. I also want the public to know that the allegations that the opposition party’s political media house, the Belize Times, has published with the headline entitled Big Thief with the Mayor’s photo will be dealt with by a civil suit of libel because there is no proof that the Mayor of Belize City, Miss Zenaida Moya, has stolen any money from the Council. All cheques that are signed are signed by two other signatories before it reaches the Mayor.”
As for the specific allegations made by King, which included reckless and unauthorised spending of Council funds and special contracts to the business of Moya’s brother, the mayor was indignant but had a straight face as she responded to questions from the media. News Five asked whether any audited report has been made available to the public and whether she remains in good standing with her party.
Zenaida Moya
“The internal auditor Mr. Anthony R. Castillo, has submitted his report and in that report it shows different letters that have been sent to the Auditor General requesting that an audit inspection be conducted urgently on the accounts and associated records maintained by the Belize City Council. From the time we got into office, we have asked for an external audit form the Audit Department. The audit department did come in for a while. However, for whatever reasons, and I have here from Mr. Antonio R. Castillo, they did not finish the work aright? I have statement from him and I have copies of some of the letters that have been submitted to the audit department requesting that an audit be done. I personally have even stated so publicly. We have been requesting audits. So from the time we got in because those audits would help us to know the true financial situation. So we have always and maintained that we need an external audit. Having said that, we still have an internal audit team that carries out audit of the council’s affairs to ensure that everything is done properly and that we have some financial and internal controls. I’ve already spoken with the party leader, and he has already indicated. I already spoke to him on this matter he said Mayor, whatever funds that were spent, services were in fact offered, you at never time stole anything so go right ahead and hence the reason, why I have gone ahead because I have already gotten the blessings from the party leader.”
Mayor Moya also said that contracts were given to many different construction companies, her brother included, and that several of those contracts got the nod from her deputy mayor.
