Belize celebrates its Silver Jubilee, marking 25 years of Independence, this month, and in these austerity times, there is tension between the two main political camps over who gets to spend the ?cheese.?
The Government of Belize has earmarked $200,000 for the September celebrations budget this year, according to Robert ?Bobby? Leslie, Cabinet Secretary and celebrations accounting officer, who works out of the Office of the Prime Minister.
Yesterday, the man accused of shooting to death his 5-month pregnant common-law-wife, Irene Gibson, 36, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of causing death by careless conduct.
Lloyd Brakeman, then 29, now 31, was accused of shooting Irene Pamela Gibson, 36, once in the chest.
BTL says GOB will forgo $5.9 million in taxes for Intelco transaction of ?no value?
With continued growth in its cellular base, the Belize Telecommunications Limited (BTL) is boasting another year of record revenues?a hefty $132 million?for the financial year ending March 31, 2006. The books read pretty on the surface, but a more detailed look at the financials will reveal two major issues that have purportedly left the company and its shareholders over $30 million short. Even with this loss, though, the company is this year boasting $26 million in profits.
Police are trying to solve the case of a man who was chopped up and left to die in an old house with no one but his sorrowing puppy to bear him company in what his attackers believed would have been his last minutes.
This morning, sometime after 10:00, Amandala visited an abandoned home just up the street from our office on Partridge Street, where we observed a Hispanic man, 41, lying on a bed, suffering from many chop wounds and covered in blood from head to toe. His gaping wounds were testimony to the savagery of his attackers. We also noticed a machete near the man, and his puppy was voicing its distress in front of him.
On Wednesday morning in the Belize City Magistrate?s Court, Belize City resident Aaron Logan, 29, a mason of #6773 Tibruce Street, was charged with two counts of robbery after two Northside students alleged that on August 24, he held them up at gunpoint and robbed them of their Nokia cell phones, valued at $480 each.
IMF: DFC should be allowed to collect without interference on its loan portfolio
No need for a leak of the IMF (International Monetary Fund) report or for pulling anyone?s teeth to get details on the report this year. The world is getting a glimpse of ?preliminary? information on the outcome of the visit of the International Monetary Fund officials to Belize during their annual Article IV Consultation.
The Department of Environment is responsible for issuing an Environmental Clearance Plan to the Belize Electrical Company Limited (BECOL) after a Chalillo Environmental Impact Assessment, resulted in the discomfiting discovery of various levels of mercury in selected fish species from the Macal, Mopan and Sibun Rivers. The matter is of serious concern because of the adverse impact that consumption of fish species with high mercury levels?which can be formed naturally, to include the decomposition of vegetable matter? can have on the populations that consume them.
Fast police work has led to the arrest of three of five men believed to have been involved in a robbery that occurred late this evening shortly after 5:00 p.m., in the vicinity of the Nova Scotia Bank, Miles 2 ?, Northern Highway.
Unconfirmed reports are that at about 5:00 this evening, an employee of the Government of Belize Book Store was robbed of $7,000. The money is believed to have been the payroll.
According to Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Chester Williams, ?it was good police work? that aided in the investigation and the subsequent arrest of one of the four men responsible for the torture and murder of David Pook, 20, a resident of the St. Martin De Porres area, reputedly over a woman.
Commission probes $50 million Belize Bank ?loan,? and other questionable disbursements? Novelo?s $30 million, Universal?s $17 million, Godfrey?s $17 million?
In its eighth public hearing session today, Thursday, the Commission of Inquiry appointed to probe the finances of the Development Finance Corporation (DFC) between 1999 and 2004 learned more about what crippled the institution and why it appeared?even as it was crumbling ?to be doing so well. The secret was several millions in bailout money from the Government of Belize using taxpayers? dollars.
Today, the head of the Internal Affairs Department, Inspector Robert Mariano, told Amandala that his department has contacted Elario Elejio, 61, a resident of the St. Martin De Porres area in Belize City, who has alleged that he was brutalized by police yesterday, Wednesday, and that he intends to get a fully documented statement of the incident. Mariano said that as soon as investigations come to a close, a release would be forwarded to the media.
DFC guaranteed 298 loans without adequate collateral
DFC ?up the creek? for Universal Health Services loan; $17 million Belize Bank loan was guaranteed with DFC holding just second mortgage
Franklyn Magloire, the Development Finance Corporation?s (DFC) manager of credit and projects, has broken record. He is, to date, the witness to be held for the longest and most extensive testimony at public hearings convened by the Commission of Inquiry, appointed to investigate the finances of the Corporation between 1999 and 2004.
