BELIZE CITY, Mon. Apr. 25, 2022 — A Red Notice has been issued by the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) for the detention of former Minister of Works, Rene Montero, Sr., who has been wanted by local police for over seven months now. Since September of 2021, police have sought—to no avail—to detain the former Minister on the charge of Willful Oppression after it was found that he had willfully abused his authority. According to Belize’s constitution, any public officer or juror found guilty of the aforementioned crime is liable to be sentenced to two years of imprisonment.
The Red Notice, which has a publication date of March 2, 2022, in addition to displaying Montero’s photo and identity particulars, deems Montero an escape risk. It notes that upon the former minister’s arrest, immediate extradition will be sought.
The allegations against Montero, who served for 12 years under the Barrow Administration, came in January 2021 after Minister of Infrastructure Development and Housing, Hon. Julius Espat made a complaint to the Belize Police Department about the former Minister’s “prolonged abuse and misuse of public resources”. Montero is believed to have used those public resources, which include expensive equipment belonging to the Ministry of Works, to develop his own personal properties and those of his friends and family members. A month after the complaint was filed, a compiled police report was delivered to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), The Integrity Commission, and the Commissioner of Police for review. Months later, in September, police issued an official warrant for Montero’s arrest.
Shortly after police declared Montero, Sr. a wanted man, UDP senator Michael Peyrefitte declared the charges bogus, stating that they were only meant to embarrass the former minister and that he would hand himself over to the police upon returning to the country, as he had supposedly been visiting the United States for medical reasons.
“Rene Montero called me from the United States yesterday and said that he’s there for medical purposes and as soon as he’s done with that he’s going to come right back and face some wilful oppression, some obscure charge in the Criminal Code that says that sometime between 2016 and 2020 he committed willful oppression,” the senator had stated.
Similarly, one of Montero’s attorneys, OJ Elrington, had told Love News that the move to arrest him was just “political mischief” distracting from bigger issues. Seven months later, however, Montero is still nowhere to be found.
According to Interpol, a Red Notice is a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action. It is issued for fugitives wanted for prosecution or to serve a sentence.
Even long before an official complaint was made against Rene Montero, Sr., reports of his misuse of public equipment had already begun to circulate. In one instance, it was alleged that a number of Government-owned equipment, once believed to be missing or stolen, had been confiscated from one of Montero’s properties. And in another, a former associate of the ex-minister appeared on a Plus TV morning show with photos that purportedly were evidence of the use of government equipment on a private farm. At that time, both Montero and his son, Rene Montero, Jr. had maintained that all the allegations being made against him were false.