Over the weekend, one of the city’s most popular residents passed away quietly. He was known as Mister Pou, but his real name is Arthur Francisco. The name Pou stuck to him because of his wife Rose Pou, who set up the thriving meat pie shop. In the industry, Pou’s meat pies are as good […]
The United Democratic Party issued a first salvo on Wednesday of this week against Senator Eamon Courtenay. Today, smack in the middle of an ongoing hearing unearthing corruption in the immigration department, it was the government to tighten the noose. In a release sent out this afternoon via the press office, G.O.B. went on the […]
Try though they might, Financial Secretary Joseph Waight was typically blunt in speaking to reporters today at the conclusion of consultations on the budget with the unions. And Belizeans should get ready for possible increases in taxes – it is something, he said, that is “inevitable.” But where will Government look to for possible increases […]
The Government of Belize has once again extended the Consent Solicitation Offer to bondholders for its terms on the proposed re-negotiation of the 2038 Belize Bonds or Superbond. The offer now expires on the twenty-fourth of February. Financial Secretary Joseph Waight told us that discussions continue and the Government it will make progress – perhaps […]
News Five has seen a copy of the Government’s working document for its ongoing budget consultations with the trade unions, civil society and the business community. It proposes an increase in revenues of up to two percent of G.D.P., on top of the one point five percent obtained last year through increases in import duties […]
Another concern for the business community is the size of Government’s wage bill, bloated by three years of salary adjustment for teachers and public officers, which is now sitting at two-thirds of the expenditure of the administration. While not calling for something as drastic as retrenchment of public officers, Lizarraga tells us serious consideration must […]
The Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Belize Business Bureau have proposed a raft of ideas to help fix Belize’s economy, including emphasizing economic growth, reducing leakages and holes in tax collection, and righting the Government ship. But despite Government’s noises about change, are they really serious? We asked Senator Mark Lizarraga for his […]
As we told you earlier, the trade unions and civil society took their turn with the Government’s budget team today at the Belize Biltmore Plaza hotel. At its end, the interim president of the National Trade Union Congress of Belize, Jacqueline Willoughby, discussed the union’s stance on planned tax increases and where the Government can […]
In making arguments against the Central Bank (International Immunities) Act, Senator Eamon Courtenay said on January thirtieth in the Senate that Belize did a similar thing to the Accommodation Agreement and Settlement Deed in waiving immunity in court proceedings to the New York County or Manhattan courts. But while conceding that that was standard for […]
Daniele Pistolesi, a former investor in the failed Puerto Azul project, has been speaking exclusively to News Five about his role in exposing it as a massive scam and Ponzi scheme. In January, after a two-year investigation that is still ongoing, twenty arrests were made and millions of dollars in assets recovered. As many as […]
She travelled to the Philippines to compete in the most prestigious Miss Universe pageant, within months of becoming Miss Belize. It has been a journey of immeasurable experiences for the beauty ambassador who returned to the country today and was placed in the pan of a pickup truck for a parade through the city. Rath […]
Attorney-at-Law, Dolores Balderamos Garcia has been appointed Senior Counsel. The appointment came today before the Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin who highlighted her stellar contribution through her years of practice and also through her public service in the legislature where she led major changes in the law that positively affected Women, Children and Family Law. The […]
There is an activity to look forward to this weekend. Jamaican artist Da’ville touched down in Belize on Thursday as the featured artist for a concert this Saturday at the B.T.L. Park to mark the three-year anniversary since the public space was renovated by the Belize City Council. The event will also feature a lineup […]
The People’s United Party today issued a statement strongly supporting its lead Senator, Eamon Courtenay in the wake of a full-fledged U.D.P. campaign to remove Courtenay from the senate. The P.U.P. says that with the revelation that the Central Bank (International Immunities) Act has no teeth for enforcement in the U.S. and that Belize’s foreign […]
The crusade by the U.D.P. started with their call on Wednesday for his removal from the Senate. It has to do with the ongoing fight over arbitration awards granted to BCB Holdings and other companies. BCB, now known as Caribbean Investment Holdings Limited, is challenging the Central Bank of Belize (International Immunities) Act in the […]
As we said, a constitutional challenge has been filed in the Supreme Court by principals of Eamon Courtenay’s law firm against the Central Bank (International Immunities) Act and Crown Proceedings (Amendment) Act. The latter legislation is, as he explained to us, a personal matter, as he and fellow attorneys risk jail simply for advising their […]
Former Immigration Director Ruth Meighan has admitted that thousands of persons who did not qualify were granted nationality in the mad rush to get them on the voters list for the 2012 elections. The effect is that the fraudulent exercise would have tipped the elections in favor of the U.D.P. Today, the Belize National Teachers […]
The B.N.T.U., through Elena Smith as the Senator for Trade Unions and Civil Society, has representation in the Senate Select Inquiry where the details of the rot in the system are being exposed. We asked National President Luke Palacio if there is any hope that someone will be held responsible for the illegalities in the […]
Tonight, News Five has further details of an exclusive interview with former investor in the failed Puerto Azul project, Italian national Daniele Pistolesi. News Five has learned that the local face of the luxury resort project Fabio de la Rosa was arrested three days after the first announcement of arrests in January. A total of […]
Turning to the senate hearings…Did former Minister of State for Immigration and Nationality, Elvin Penner, act alone in granting both passport and Belizean nationality to South Korean businessman turned fugitive Won Hong Kim, to help him escape a Taiwanese jail? While the full answer to that may not be known until Penner appears before the […]
As a result of the Won Hong Kim passport and Belizean nationality scandal, the Immigration Department was nearly turned upside down as both Police and internal probes took place. In the end, the blame for the granting of nationality was placed on three officers: Sharon Neal, Omar Phillips and Erwin Robinson. They were tried before […]
In Wednesday’s coverage of the Senate Special Select Committee, we highlighted the comments of former head of Services for the Immigration Department, Edgar Cano, who also served for a brief time as chief officer at the Western Border. Most of his questions had to do with the eight missing visa foils that somehow moved from […]
Perhaps the most depressing bit of information coming out of the Senate’s public hearings is how easily the Immigration Department’s plans and schemes were broken by just about anyone with a shred of a connection. Former C.E.O. of the Ministry of Immigration, Candelaria Saldivar-Morter, says that she and Minister Godwin Hulse were very much aware […]
In January, the Social Security Board announced that they would be going on a country-wide public consultation to discuss increase in benefits; for those making contributions, it means that those will increase. The reasoning behind this proposed increase is that when those who earn more than three hundred and twenty dollars weekly retire, they will […]
Just after seven on Wednesday night, a fire broke inside a wooden house on Victoria Street in north side Belize City. Inside at the time of the blaze was an elderly woman; she was pulled out of the house by relatives who were alerted by the smoke that spread through the small house. Police officers […]
