D.F.C. hearings resume on Tuesday

The last time the Commission of Inquiry into the Development Finance Corporation held a public hearing was way back on the twenty-fourth of August. Following nearly two months of hiatus due to September celebrations and the illness of Chairman David Price, on Tuesday the hearings will resume. For those who need to freshen their memories, News Five’s Janelle Chanona has a recap.

Janelle Chanona, Reporting
In eight days of public hearings, the Commission of Inquiry investigating the financial affairs of the Development Finance Corporation produced testimony alleging reckless management, questionable practices and political favouritism.

Loan Recovery and Monitoring Unit Officer Henry Brown Sr. was among the first to testify. Brown alleged that non-payment of some of the D.F.C.?s largest loans was deliberately ignored.

Henry Brown Sr.
?The definition given that these are–some sort of political affiliation and we can?t proceed further with it. I know that there were several non-performing loans in my time that there was nothing being done to it. These persons have been given some huge sums, but no action was taken against them. Then there were those that after a while they said demand it. And even publish like in the case of real estate, with the intention to sell, and then the process was stopped. You don?t question the board; you don?t question the credit committee. They are the finally authority and they give the instruction, and then you carry out the instruction. I don?t think there is any situation you tell the boss, boss look we wah run the show this way ? no you can?t do that.?

Following the first day of the public inquiry, the People?s United Party called for the resignation of Commission Chair David Price, accusing him of bias. Unfazed by accusations of a witch-hunt, the inquiry continued on August third with the D.F.C.?s Eduardo Torres.

David Price
?Did anything go wrong at the D.F.C. during your tenure there as loan recovery officer??

Eduardo Torres, Loan Recovery/Monitoring Unit
?Did anything went wrong at the D.F.C.? Well one of the reasons you guys are here is because something definitely went wrong, right? But we just mentioned before inadequate security. I mean if you are in the banking industry and you want to lend somebody and all the collateral that you have is less than you borrow you are looking for trouble there. So I would say yes something went wrong.?

The fifth public hearing brought the D.F.C.?s credit and Project Manager Franklin Magloire to the stand.

Franklin Magloire
?Management had no say in what was going to be approved, what wasn?t going to be approved. There was no voting. It was either decided by the deputy chairman and the other board member, and if they said that this project was going to go through, it was going to go through.?

David Price
?Regardless of what the management component of that committee said.?

Franklin Magloire
?That is correct.?

Juvencio Rivero, Branch Manager, D.F.C.
?I believe that if I?m working at anyplace and management decides well certain things will bypass your office, there?s a reason for it. And if they did pass it through my office they have a reason for it, so I won?t question why it is not being passed through my office.?

On August twenty second, Magloire continued his testimony, this time regarding loans to Universal Health Services.

Franklin Magloire
?It?s a second mortgage, Belize Bank holds the first.?

Merlene Bailey Martinez
?So Belize Bank also holds first. So D.F.C. guaranteed the seventeen million that Belize Bank loan to U.H.S., Universal Health Services Limited, and also in terms of the ability to collect on those twelve properties. It is a second mortgage so Belize Bank also holds the first claim on those properties??

Franklin Magloire
?That is correct.?

Merlene Bailey Martinez
?Where on earth does that leave the D.F.C., in terms of its ability to move on those properties??

Franklin Magloire
?Local parlance … up the creek.?

Jane Longsworth
?Well sometimes if you need cash. Expensive money is better than no money at all.?

When Manager of Finance, Internal Services and Securitization Officer Jane Longsworth took her turn at the mic, she spoke about a fifty million dollar transaction that she refused to process.

Merlene Bailey Martinez
?We need to establish the wrongdoing that occurred and those responsible that is a part of legal requirements of this commission.?

Jane Longsworth
?Creole seh fish get ketch by deh mouth tru??

When she returned to the microphone, Longsworth cut to the chase.

Jane Longsworth
?It does fall within the dates. In 2004, I can?t say date exactly. It pertains to a fifty million dollar loan that D.F.C. was supposed to have secured from the Belize Bank. And I was given instructions to book it and given some documentation on which to base the transaction. But the documentation was not sufficient, and so I refused to book it. And I did not authorize that it be booked either.?

David Price
?Who gave you the instructions in the first place??

Jane Longsworth
?Who gave me the instructions was Mr. Gabb. Mr. Troy Gabb. The document that I was given was about they were entering into an agreement to borrow fifty million dollars.?

Merlene Bailey Martinez
?From??

Jane Longsworth
?The Belize Bank who had agreed that they would lend the money provided that certain conditions were met. That was the nature of that document. It was an agreement that we would do this if these conditions are met. That was the document I was given and said to process and I did not.?

When the hearings were postponed on August twenty-eight, the Commission maintained that when the proceedings resumed, witnesses would include other employees and board members of the Development Finance Corporation as well as government ministers.

Reporting for News Five, I am Janelle Chanona.

Those hearings, brought to you live right here on Channel Five, begin Tuesday morning at nine-thirty.