His name is Andris Pukke and he is the felon who orchestrated the Sanctuary Bay real estate scam which has Prime Minister Dean Barrow, ministers and other high ranking officials in a most embarrassing situation. According to the Federal Trade Commission, Pukke is a convicted felon who also used the aliases Marc Romeo and Andy […]
In the document filed by the F.T.C., the Prime Minister’s law firm and his partner, Rodwell Williams, are named. Aside from suggesting that the Prime Minister owns a piece of land in Sanctuary Bay, which Barrow has flatly denied, the document speaks to two lots owned by Williams. It also highlighted that Barrow and Williams […]
Present at Wednesday’s press conference was Joy Grant, the Governor of the Central Bank of Belize and Grant was there to answer to a very specific allegation. The F.T.C. alleged that the Central Bank knew about the fraud and did nothing. It says that in 2016, the then Central Bank Governor Glen Ysaguirre wrote to […]
Prime Minister Dean Barrow, having learned that the F.T.C. filed such damning documents against him and his government, summoned the Chargé d’ Affaires, Keith Gilges, to make sure his complaint against the F.T.C. reaches the U.S. State Department. While the PM has taken on many challenges, big or small, on Wednesday, Barrow told the media […]
After negotiations, A.I.B.L. and the F.T.C. were able to come to an agreement which resulted in the F.T.C. filing an application to stay proceedings against the bank. An appointed liquidator, Julian Murillo, was at the headtable of the press conference along with the PM. He told the media that subsequent to the commencement of the […]
After the Prime Minister’s press conference, the People’s United Party fired a press release describing the PM’s conference as an attempt to clear the air. The P.U.P. says that Barrow “hastily convened a press conference to deal with the exposure in the U.S. court where he and some of his ministers were accused of possible […]
There is a new pressing issue between the Ministry of Education and the Belize National Teachers Union that is bubbling beneath the surface while school is presently out. It has to do with the renewal of teaching licenses and the accumulation of hours for continuing professional development. CPD, as it is called, is a necessary […]
So what will teachers do now that the ministry has sent out the memorandum while they are on summer vacation? According to Executive Secretary Keisha Young-Flowers, B.N.T.U. is prepared to support its membership in whatever is decided upon regarding the matter since there is nothing in place to administer a renewal process. Senator Elena […]
Two inmates were beaming with pride as they stood among a group of graduates on Sunday in Belmopan. The two successfully completed a programme with Kaina Online High School. Five other inmates also hope to graduate some day from the programme. The accomplishment is a turning point in their lives, showing that despite struggles behind […]
A one-day business plan development workshop was held today at the BTEC building on the ITVET Compound in Belize City. It’s sister agency, the Small Business Development Centre, which also falls under BELTRAIDE, has organized a series of workshops to assist entrepreneurs as well as persons with great ideas, who need of technical support for […]
With a huge scandal starring him in the face, Prime Minister Dean Barrow today called an urgent press conference in which he responded to the claims and allegations made in a U.S. court document against him, his fellow U.D.P. parliamentarians and the Central Bank of Belize. The allegations are related to the Sanctuary Belize scam, […]
PM Barrow also responded to a statement in the claim which says that “There are other important connections between the Belizean government and S.B.E.” In the claim, allegations are also made against Deputy Prime Minister Patrick Faber and U.D.P. Minister Manuel Heredia Junior and Erwin Contreras. It says that Faber and Heredia reportedly communicated with […]
One of the most serious allegations made against the Barrow administration is that there was knowledge of the scam prior to the F.T.C.’s actions to halt it. According to the F.T.C., the Central Bank of Belize knew about the fraud, but did nothing. It says that in 2016, Glen Ysaguirre, the then Governor of the […]
The Central Bank of Belize is said to have been aware of the scam, but failed to act properly in the Sanctuary Belize scam. The Bank today issued a statement categorically rejecting the allegations and reaffirming its commitment to safeguard the health of the financial system and protect the pegged foreign exchange rate. It states […]
U.D.P. Senator Aldo Salazar is also named in the claim. It says that Salazar, who represented A.I.B.L., allegedly “facilitated the fraud by helping the developer wrongfully seize Sanctuary Belize lots from American victims.” The claim says that Senator Salazar accompanied A.I.B.L. C.E.O. Pelayo and bank manager, Charles Ellis, to Pukke’s California telemarketing headquarters. The documents […]
And the visibly upset Prime Minister told the media that after learning and reviewing the claim, he urgently got in contact with the U.S. Chargé d’ Affaires to make an official complaint to the U.S. statement. Prime Minister Dean Barrow “I sent first for the chargé to complain formally to him and via him […]
Before the Prime Minister’s press conference today, the F.T.C. filed an application in the U.S. District Court of Maryland for a stay of the proceedings it commenced against A.I.B.L. This, according to the Prime Minister, forms part of an agreement discussed in June. Prime Minister Dean Barrow “It wasn’t put in writing. We got back […]
Prime Minister Barrow, during his press conference this afternoon, also touched briefly on Telemedia’s G.S.T. issue. Aside from reiterating the position taken by Financial Secretary Joseph Waight that the company owes nothing to the General Sales Tax Department, the PM also confirmed that an audit is presently underway to determine whether there is legal responsibility […]
At a press conference held by the People’s United Party last Wednesday, Area Representative Kareem Musa attested to the existence of a letter in which the chairman of B.T.L.’s Board of Directors is purportedly requesting a tax waiver from the Financial Secretary. According to Musa, who is the Opposition’s Shadow Minister for Communications and Public […]
An employee of the Ministry of Human Development has been charged with human smuggling of four Honduran nationals, who are in Belize illegally. The employee is thirty-five-year-old Sergio Adrian Guerra. Guerra and another Belizean, forty-year-old Edwin Naj, were allegedly busted on the Crooked Tree Road on Tuesday morning. They were transporting four Honduran nationals, two […]
Back to the big story involving Sanctuary Bay, when the dust finally settles on the A.I.B.L./Sanctuary Bay fiasco, will Prime Minister Barrow set his sights on the Federal Trade Commission for dragging his name and reputation through the mud with false information? According to the PM, he will not be going after the F.T.C. and […]
Notwithstanding the Central Bank’s role as the country’s financial regulator, questions are being asked about its apparent lack of oversight in respect of the Sanctuary Bay real estate scam. When asked about the matter, Governor Joy Grant reiterated that the transaction involved Americans solely and that A.I.B.L. was not necessarily out of line in the […]
This morning, the Statistical Institute of Belize and the Inter-American Development Bank formally launched the Belize National Statistical System Portal and the S.I.B. website. The initiative comes as part of S.I.B.’s support to strengthen the country’s capacity to produce and use quality official statistics. The introduction of the portal indicates that considerable progress has been […]
The objective of the portal is to standardize and reduce the amount of effort needed to transfer data between organizations, as well as give the general public access to disseminated data that can be used to generate reports and graphs. Dr. Leopold Perriott, Director General, S.I.B. “A National Statistical System can be seen as […]
A timely forum is taking place today. It is offering relevant information to the authorities on how to detect and protect children who are being abused. According to a report, over a thousand children are experiencing some form of abuse and neglect; most of them are girls who are being sexually exploited at a tender […]
