The funds used in the construction of at least 118 highway sections and their supervision are under the magnifying glass of the Comptroller General of Accounts (CGC), since their destination is not clear and they ask the Public Ministry (MP) to investigate possible irregularities on the part of from authorities of the Ministry of Communications, Infrastructure and Housing (CIV) of the administration of Alejandro Giammattei.
The Deputy Comptroller General of Accounts, Geovani Castellanos, confirmed this Friday, April 19, that he filed a complaint with the MP for two cases of irregularities in the management of funds assigned by the Ministry of Communications.
He pointed out that the first complaint is for more than Q6,900 million that were approved through decree 21-2022, which includes works such as the construction of the Belize II Bridge and several overpasses.
The second complaint is for Q258 million and the construction of the Bicentenario Schools in remote sites, where an increase in the amount of construction was detected.
In addition, he said that an audit of the Decent Kitchens Program is regarding to be completed, where criminal complaints might also be filed.
“It is a complaint of decree 21-2022, there are more than Q6,900 million that are being reported in more than 118 sections and their supervisions,” said Castellanos at the conclusion of a summons in the Congress of the Republic.
“We are talking regarding more than 60% of the country’s road network. No generalities, because as I explained to the deputies, -the case- is under reserve in the Public Ministry,” Castellanos added.
“There is everything,” added the official when referring to the differences that have been found between “what was executed, what was paid, the physical progress of each work, supporting documentation, there are many deficiencies and anomalies detected.”
He said that in the case of Cocinas Dignas, an audit is being carried out on the construction of 754 at a cost of Q55 million.
Supervision
Castellanos added that another complaint was filed for the handling of Q258 million in the construction of 14 fourteen schools, since 13 of these were reported.
He said that several former officials and companies were denounced, but did not delve deeper due to the confidentiality of the case.
For his part, the deputy of the VOS Bench, Jairo Flores, said that the destination of said funds is monitored, which is why CGC authorities have been summoned on several occasions.
“Here we have shown that there are notorious cases of corruption on different topics and the ones that have stood out the most is decree 21-2022, which was the budget expansion directed to the Ministry of Communications, where there are 118 works that were executed and developed” said the parliamentarian.
He added that “the Comptroller General of Accounts came to make public – to Congress – with this summons that they filed a complaint for Q6,900 million from the public treasury that has anomalies. “It is the complaint with the highest amount, I believe, in the history of the country, of complaints presented to a ministry, in this case to the Ministry of Communications.”
Flores said that among the projects that might have anomalies are the Belize II Bridge, overpasses, highways and “different projects that we list here in an anomalous manner.”
Regarding the construction of the Bicentenario Schools, the parliamentarian said that CGC confirmed the discovery of “different types of anomalies.”
“Payments that were made for actions or work not carried out, poor quality of the work, design carried out to favor a specific supplier and, in addition, schools that were built in places where there are no children, where there is no stable land and where we put in risk to children, where there is no water, where there is no light, where they are filled,” he added.
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