The government is moving apace to make the 20 million dollars Venezuelan grant money available to Belizeans who most need it. While it is a process that many would want to be hurried along, the UDP government has opted to ensure that the process of distributing the grant is done in a completely fair and transparent manner.
That is the way the current government is looking at distributing the finances, and while that may be the case now, the same cannot be said as to what was done when the PUP was in office. In fact we would not have even known about the Venezuelan grant money had the UDP not won the general elections on February 7, 2008. Belizeans need to be reminded that it was not only 20 million dollars that the government had received from the Venezuelans. In the run up to the general elections all can remember the free for all that the PUP administration had, just days before Election Day.
That free for all came courtesy of another sum of money, another 20 million dollars which was granted to the people of Belize for the use in assisting poor people in housing repairs and construction. That, however, never materialized and while there were always the claims that the money was squandered, the current UDP government sought to prove this. As a result, an audit was conducted on the way the Venezuelan Housing grant was distributed.
The Guardian has received a memorandum prepared by the Auditor General’s office which presented its findings a year ago on April 22, 2008. In it the Audit Department points to numerous irregularities in the way in which a total of 350 thousand dollars was distributed in the Fort George Division. It points to wrong doing from the onset where on four occasions four transfers were made from the Central Bank of Belize to a Belize Bank account number 645-1-1-1504 in Belmopan.
The transfers were requested by Financial Secretary to the then Governor of the Central bank, Sydney Campbell. The first request came on January 28 for $150,000; three days later on January 31, 2008 there was a request for $75,000; then another came on 4 February 2008 for another $75,000; another for $50,000 was requested on February 5. All requests were promptly fulfilled and from there it was a free for all.
The audit points that the “Financial Secretary wrote the Manager of the Belize Bank… requesting the operation of a checking account…” however, “no approval for the opening of said Bank Account was seen granted by the Accountant General…” The Audit Department quotes Financial Order #301 in which “No official bank account may be opened unless authorized by the Accountant General to whom all applications shall be made…” the audit concludes that the account “was opened without authority…”
After the account was opened, the process continued irregularly with signatories to the account being named and provided to the Belize Bank without the Accountant General being kept in the loop as is required by financial orders. The names of four persons: Joseph Waight, Financial Secretary; Betty Ann Jones, Deputy Financial Secretary; Jacqueline Trapp, Finance Officer and Anna Hanson, Financial Assistant were submitted to the Belize Bank. Trapp, however, did not submit a sample of her signature and did not sign any of the cheques.
In seeking an explanation for the opening of an account at the Belize Bank to disburse the Venezuelan Grant money the Financial Secretary explained that “this was done due to the congestion on the SmartStream Computer System.” The Auditor’s report concludes among other points that there was no need for the opening of the Belize Bank account since “the Government of Belize has a robust computerized accounting software with requisite controls in place to accommodate such public expenditure. The allegation of congestion on the system could have otherwise been resolved.”
While the opening of the account is one matter that clearly seems irregular to say the least, the disbursement of the funds is quite another matter which similarly is filled with irregularities. The report points out to people getting Housing grants at addresses that were rightfully occupied by other people. What’s more, the address listed for those persons receiving housing grants was an apartment building which is the property of the government. That building is a complex located on Pickstock Street. This begs the question which house could have been repaired with the grant if any at all. Even more is the fact that the responsibility of conducting repairs to the complex lies with the government and not the tenants.
Compounding matters is the fact that some received assistance more than once. Some got a double bite at the cherry, receiving assistance through the government’s SmartStream system and then through the Belize Bank account. What’s more, while the Venezuelan government granted the money for housing assistance, numerous grants were given for purposes other than housing assistance. Among those, reasons were varied from opening snack shops and a TV repair business to paying medical, education and household bills and grocery bills and even for fixing of teeth. Then there were those issued for which there were no purposes identified.
In the audit report it was noted that “estimates of proposed works were not included or affixed to any application.” And “recipient of housing grants were not made to sign vouchers acknowledging receipt of cheques. Consequently it was difficult to obtain assurance that cheques made payable to applicants were actually received by them.”
While that’s bad enough it gets worse where the disbursement of money was placed in the hands of one Francois Chebat who at the time was not even employed by government. Nonetheless, the then Prime Minister Said Musa on January 15, 2008 produced a hand written authorization addressed to Betty Ann Jones in which Chebat was to sign housing grants on Musa’s behalf. No less than 74 grants amounting to $71,200 were approved by Chebat.
It’s a laundry list of wrongdoings and that is just for one constituency at the time and was for just a fraction of the pre election bonanza that the PUP was responsible for in the run up to the general elections. With that kind of precedent now exposed, it can be understood why it is that the UDP government is taking its time in the disbursement of the Venezuelan Grant. So much was squandered and that simply will not reoccur under the UDP.
