Photo: Kamera Kathleen Belisle, charged
BELIZE CITY, Tues. Apr. 23 2024
A security guard must have thought she hit the Jackpot when $47,935.45 in Belize currency was deposited into her account.
She didn’t do anything, say authorities, to verify and clarify where the huge sum of money came from, and that’s why she was charged with the offense of dishonestly retaining a wrongful credit.
That’s the indictable offense charge read this afternoon to 32-year-old female security guard, Kamera Kathleen Belisle, an employee of Elite Security Co. Ltd., who is posted at the Philip Goldson International Airport.
Belisle was brought into Court #8 this afternoon at around 2:00 o’clock where she was arraigned before a Magistrate on the single charge.
Belisle, a resident of #9122 Mahogany Street Extension, Belize City, was unrepresented when she was read the single charge of dishonestly retaining a wrongful credit. The prosecutor indicated to the court that the matter will be dealt with on indictment at the High Court and not summarily at the Belize City Magistrate’s Court, so no plea was taken from her.
Allegations are that on March 8, 2024, in Belize City, she retained a wrongful credit of $47,935.45 Belize currency, which was sent to her Belize Bank account #, knowing that the credit was wrongfully sent to her account, and she failed to take such steps to make sure the transaction was cancelled.
The prosecutor, Sgt. Christopher Smith had no objection to bail being offered to Belisle; however, he asked the sitting Magistrate to set stringent conditions.
With that, the sitting Magistrate of Court #8 offered Belisle bail in the sum of $6,000 plus one surety of the same amount, or two sureties of $3,000 each, which she was able to meet by 4:00 this evening.
Conditional to Belisle’s bail is that, while she told the court that she does not have a valid Belizean passport, she is not to apply for any new passport or any form of travelling documents without the permission of the court; she is not to contact any of the witnesses in the court or any other prosecution witnesses; she cannot leave the country without permission of the court; and she must report to the Mahogany Street Police Station every Friday with effect from this Friday, April 26, 2024.
Belisle’s next court date is set for June 24, 2024.
On Wednesday, March 20, 2024, at about 2:00 p.m., Prem Balani, 25, a Belizean accountant at Nando’s Wholesale LLP, visited Precinct 2 Police Station Crimes Investigation Branch Office and made a report on the matter.
Balani told police that Nando’s Wholesale LLP is one of the sales agents for the Belize Government Lottery, and on Friday, March 8, 2024, at about 10:51 a.m., he sent $47,935.45 to a Belize Bank A/C believing it to be the account of Bi Yun Chen at Lowe’s Supermarket who is a sub-agent for the Belize Government Lottery. On Wednesday, March 16, 2024, at around 9:08 a.m., Balani said he received a call from a sales representative at Nando’s Wholesale LLP who was inquiring about the payment to Lowe’s Supermarket as to why the money had not been sent.
Proof of payment was sent to the sales representative at Nando’s Wholesale, and shortly afterwards, the representative informed Balani that the Belize Bank account # was wrong, that it belonged to someone else.
That’s when the Belize Police Department launched an investigation into the matter and sent a request to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) to ascertain who the account belonged to.
On April 12, 2024, the police received information from FIU confirming who owned the account in question, which led police to arrest Belisle, who was shown to be the owner of the account where the money was wrongly sent to.
Belisle was detained at the Ladyville Police Station pending investigation for dishonestly retaining a wrongful credit.
She was later visited by the arresting officer in the case, where she was cautioned and informed of the offense committed. She was then asked if she wanted to participate in an interview with police, which she refused, said police.