Aguilar says that authorities knew fully well about the transactions, but simply turned a blind eye, and if they will levy criminal charges against him, there?s a whole ring of high profile people who need to be handcuffed as well.

We reproduce that interview below:

Ramos: Your letter to [Keith] Arnold [BTL?s chairman] said the practices to exchange money on the parallel market date as far back as 2001. Who formulated these policies and who is it that sanctioned these practices?

Aguilar: It was with the authorization of the board of directors at the time, because, again, I believe it?s public knowledge that [US] currency wasn?t available and BTL needed currency to pay for equipment and all of its other expenses that it had?

Was it authorized by the Government of Belize?

I wouldn?t say authorized, but they certainly knew. The authorities knew what was happening.

Did you report to the Central Bank that you were doing these transactions?

What we need to understand and what is out in the open and everybody knows, it is an illegal transaction. So what, basically, the authorities did was just turn a blind eye to it, because something like this there would be no written report going in, saying we are changing so much money.

Did you ever deal with the Casas de Cambio, or just private agents?

Yeah, Casas and private agents, but the point is, because of the demand that BTL had for foreign currency, no one individual could supply it. We dealt with maybe 10, 12 people.

And this was how much money between 2001 and the time you left?

Close to 100 million US.

And there?s not been any problem up until last December?

Never. Not one problem.

So what happened in December?

It?s basically the risk. Because of the volume involved, you have no choice but to give the Belize dollars in advance and then you wait. Depending on how much you?re changing with that one individual, you wait three days, sometimes two weeks, sometimes three weeks. When the money comes back, then you give more and that cycle continues and that continued for four years.

And you did all these transactions strictly in cash? There are millions of dollars?

Mostly I would say 90, 95 percent of all the transactions were in cash. Again, it was an illegal thing. Like I said, everybody turned their eye and so no individual wanted any receipt, no cheque that whoever wanted to use it against them would say, all right, you?re doing an illegal transaction so everything was cash. Few people would accept a cheque, except for, relatively speaking, small amounts. That?s the process and every group of people that sat on the board during those four years knew.

So it started under Carlisle, continued under Prosser, continued under the Government?

Yes.

And everybody knew?

Yes.

And so now, they are hauling you in for questioning. Explain that.

Well, as far as I am concerned, it was reported to the police. So I see it as the police, if they are responsible, they have to do an investigation. And obviously, I am the one who handled all this money so they have to talk with me. As to how fair their investigation, well, they need to answer that, ?cause I am not alone in this thing. I didn?t and don?t own BTL. So I can?t, on my own, say I do this or do the next.

Everything you did was approved by someone higher up?

Yes. Had to be.

Were you ever concerned about where this money was coming from? These US dollars?

Well, I dealt with, I called established people, people I knew or who came with references and so I didn?t think that it would be, the source would be from criminal sources. You?re talking people who have real estate development, who have tourist development, have partners internationally, and so I never thought, I can?t say I was absolutely certain, but I didn?t have a great suspicion that the source was criminal.

In hindsight now, do you wonder, though, if there was some element of money laundering taking place with these exchanges?

I guess. Yes. That?s a possibility. You have to face the reality. My regret is that because of the way things turned out, I should have refused to do something like this. But if I had done that, then BTL could never have expanded the way it did, because there just wasn?t any currency and, of course, the owners could not have gotten, withdrawn the money that they did.

So, the money wasn?t returned in December and then there was another transaction that failed in May. Do you have any idea what happened to the money or what happened with these people? Are they around? Have they given you an explanation as to why they haven?t come up with the money?

Yeah, the one for May, like I have reported to the police and to the executive of the company, I am not concerned about that, because that is an individual I?ve dealt with for about two or three years and because of the way the process worked, we always had what I would call a running balance. And that kept going on until whatever period we would say we have sufficient US so we will stop?

In his situation, he is out of the country. He should be coming in either today or tomorrow. Well, with the experience I have now, I can?t really vouch 100%, but I really am not concerned and I explained all of that to the executive and to the police.

And you trust this person because he is married to your relative?

Yeah, and more than that. I?ve been dealing with him two, three years.

And the other person?

The other person came highly recommended.

Highly recommended? By a board member?

That?s all I can say. He came highly recommended.

Highly recommended. And so you trusted that person?

That?s all I can say.

This was the first time doing this transaction with that person?

Yes.

Do you know if he?s in the country right now? Have you been provided with an explanation as to why he hasn?t come up with the money? Any dialogue with him at all since then?

No. But I prefer not to comment much about that. But like I say, the police have all the information. What is important for the people to know is that I have given the police all the information and it?s not just talking. I have supporting documentation. Well, my attorney has all that information also, so I personally think the police now have much better understanding and information as to exactly how these transactions were carried out, who authorized them and the risk that everybody recognized.

So you were released, though, as the CFO of BTL and they said that it was for ?good and sufficient reason.? Do you personally think that it was for good and sufficient reason?

No. I don?t think so. Because they are really saying it?s all my fault. In all the transactions, I don?t know if you can even call it a misjudgment, because of the nature of the transactions. So, I don?t think it?s justified.

How do you recover as a professional from this kind of situation? You?ve spent virtually all your professional life at BTL. So where do you go from here?

Well, I would really like to say thank you to everybody who has supported me. I?ve gotten a lot of support from the business community, from the workers of BTL. So I think that just with a little bit more time then I could start getting back into earning a living. Right now, I don?t think that I want to go and work for anybody. I?ll just try and do my own business?

When the police asked you to go in for questioning, was that the first time you sat with them and talked with them?

First time, yes.

They hadn?t come to you before, gotten any information from you before?

First time?

If there was any criminal thing done in all of this, what would have been criminal?

The illegality of it? of the whole process.

You were the executor?

Well, if you want to go to that extreme, there were accomplices also. So, if that?s the direction that everybody wants to take, then there is a group of people that would have to go.

Do you know that admitting that could land you with criminal charges?

I?m not saying it?s criminal. I?m saying that if that?s the way the police would want to go, then it can?t just be one person.

You were CFO [Chief Financial Officer] under Mr. Tesucum, under Mr. Boyce and then under Mr. Prosser, and then you became the CEO?

Yes. And was also put on the board of directors.

When that executive committee [headed by Boyce] took control of BTL, these transactions still continued?

They continued just before they came in and well, I don?t know what they?re doing now.

But up until the time that you left BTL, those transactions were continuing?

Yes.

When Amandala interviewed BTL chairman, Keith Arnold, who is also the director of the Financial Intelligence Unit and Central Bank governor up until 2002, he never once labeled the BTL foreign currency transactions illegal. Instead, he called the transactions ?imprudent practices.?

?Given the amount of money that BTL required, BTL?s management may have resorted to imprudent practices to get foreign currency. My understanding is that they could not get it from the established sources, meaning the commercial banks,? Arnold had told us on Monday, September 12.

Attorney Ellis Arnold is representing Mr. Aguilar, who has not been charged with any criminal wrongdoing to date, though he was reportedly asked to accompany police to the Police Station on Tuesday evening, at about 4:30.

For clarity, in December, 2004, under Prosser, Aguilar gave $6.2 million to Dion Zabaneh [a member of Belize?s prominent Zabaneh family] to convert to US dollars. In May, 2005, when the Government of Belize was in control of BTL, Aguilar gave $1.4 million to Hasan El Sayed to convert to US dollars. El Sayed is an in-law of Aguilar?s.

Zabaneh, we understand, came recommended by a high profile, power-wielding Government official, also connected to the Police Department.

What we must note is that, according to our sources, most of the foreign currency exchanges on the parallel market happened between 2003 and 2005.

BTL withdrew expensive Belize dollars from an overdraft account at the bank?expensive because such an account carries interest rates as high as 13%. The Belize dollars were then handed over to the agents, who eventually returned the US dollar equivalent. The US cash were deposited in the Belize Bank, even under Prosser?s reign.

BTL?s liquidity is tight due to $30 million held in the Belize Bank in the form of a loan to the bank, executed under Ashcroft?s reign. A former BTL secretary, Wilman Black, had written the Central Bank, charging that the transaction violates the bank?s license.

The foreign owners of BTL created added demand for US dollars to satisfy their management fees and to pay the fees of their foreign attorneys and consultants. Even Prosser?s ?aircraft charges? and entertainment expenses, according to BTL?s financial reports, were charged against the company?s account.

BTL?s latest financials for the financial year ended March 31, 2005, say that over $21 million was charged against BTL?s account for the acquisition of Intelco. A significant portion of these funds was to pay ICC?s [Prosser] management fees and expenses, as well as consultant fees.