Belize CitCo to file civil suit against Fonseca
Tonight the Belize City Council is seeing red after the Director of Public Prosecutions informed them by letter on Wednesday that criminal charges will not be filed against former P.U.P. Mayor David Fonseca. Via telephone this afternoon D.P.P. Kirk Anderson explained that the allegations of theft could not be confirmed. Under the law, theft is defined as the intention to permanently deprive another’s property. Because in fact Fonseca has paid back the more than two hundred thousand dollars he received through salary advances and loans, the charge is unproven. Anderson contends that it was a break down in internal controls that allowed the ex-mayor’s borrowing to get out of control. However tonight, Belize City Mayor Zenaida Moya asserts that there is the issue of another bulk sum of tax payer dollars that were issued to Fonseca for distribution in a charity donation program.
Zenaida Moya, Belize City Mayor
?He has paid for the bounced check amounts and we ensured that he paid also for the salary advances.?
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
?And that was for how much??
Zenaida Moya
?Total for both of them was two hundred and eighteen thousand dollars. What he has not paid for is the amounts he says was for the social assistance fund. We know that at the end of the day, that all the checks, and we do the checks on hand, and all the vouchers that showed that all these amounts were in fact paid to Mayor David Fonseca or Mayor William Fonseca. In no instance were these amounts, let?s say if it were for medical attention to K.H.M.H. or for Jane Doe or John Doe. All the time if it was for four thousand five hundred, David Fonseca, three thousand five hundred, William Fonseca, it doesn?t matter none was made to any amount, so we feel pretty confident that there is no way he can prove that those amounts were in fact made to charitable donations. The amounts that were budgeted for charitable donations were five thousand dollars. I believe if my recollection is correct, I think it was a hundred and fifty-five thousand dollars that was the charitable donations amount that was in contention no??
Janelle Chanona
?So you are confident that what you have in place will protect taxpayer?s money??
Zenaida Moya
?Definitely it will protect. I must say that no check whatsoever will ever be made in any Mayor Zenaida Moya name as it pertains to charitable donation. We have a system whereby any money goes towards charitable donation it will be made directly to those who may need that assistance. So the public can feel very confident that this will not be happening.?
In related news, Moya says through an agreement with Belize Waste Control, the City Council has secured the use of two additional trucks to improve garbage collection in the old capital.