Crowds of onlookers jostled for the best places around the Magistrate’s Court this morning, hoping to catch a glimpse of Belize City Mayor, Zenaida Moya-Flowers, as she and three other senior staff members of the Belize City Council were taken to the small courtroom on the Regent Street side of the public building housing the Belize City Magistrate’s Court to be arraigned.
In the #1 Court of Chief Magistrate Margaret Gabb-McKenzie, Mayor Moya-Flowers; Director of Finance, Dwain Davis; his assistant, Kiran Bhudrani; and City Administrator, Dr. Kiran Vanjani, were charged with a number of offences.
Three of the City Council officials, including Mayor Moya-Flowers, were charged with twenty-four offences, while Kiran Bhudrani was only charged with two counts of failure to comply with Belize City Council (accounting) regulations.
The three pleaded not guilty and were offered bail of $15,000 plus two sureties of $7,500.
Kiran Bhudrani, who appeared before the Magistrate in the afternoon session of the court, pleaded not guilty to the two charges of failure to comply with Belize City Council accounting regulations, and was offered and met bail of $3,000.
Mayor Moya-Flowers, Dr. Kiran Vanjani and Kiran Bhudrani are being represented by attorneys Hubert Elrington and Michael Peyrefitte. Dwain Davis is being represented by attorney Dickie Bradley.
A complaint that was made out by Assistant Commissioner of Police Miguel Seguro on September 30 alleges that between April 8, 2009 and April 29, 2009, Moya-Flowers, Davis and Budhrani failed to comply with Regulation 16 of the Belize City Council Accounting Regulations by allowing public monies received by the said Council to be used between the time it was received and the time it should have been paid to the City Administrator.
The offence falls contrary to Section 23 (4) and (6) of the Belize City Council Act, Chapter 85 of the Laws of Belize Revised Edition 2000, read along with Regulation 16 and 56 of Belize City Council (Accounting) Regulations.
In addition, the three accused persons are charged with 22 counts of uttering a false document. This charge is contrary to Section 180 of the Criminal Code, Chapter 101 of the Laws of Belize, Revised Edition 2000.
The offences of uttering a false document allegedly occurred mostly in the month of March, 2009, and were for gasoline purchases of $70 from the Esso Service Center, located at Mile 2 on the Northern Highway. The wording of the charge says that the accused persons “with intent to obstruct the course of justice, uttered a valuable security, to wit: receipt # (so and so) dated March, 2009, purporting to be a receipt issued by the Esso Service Center located at Mile 2 on the Northern Highway, upon the purchase of fuel to the value of $70, knowing the same not to be genuine.”
There are 22 charges relating to gasoline purchase for which the accused are charged with uttering false documents.
The background to today’s arraignment lies in a revelation that Prime Minister Barrow made on Friday, July 10, 2009, during a press conference at the height of the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital controversy over the procurement of medicine and supplies.
PM Barrow announced that the Financial Regulator at the Belize City Council, Patrick Tillett, had uncovered some serious financial irregularities at City Hall, where thousands of dollars have gone missing, and that Tillett had made a report to the police. The Prime Minister told the nation that criminal charges would be brought against whoever was responsible for the missing monies at City Hall.
On the following Monday, July 13, 2009, Mayor Moya, flanked by two of her financial managers, Davis and Vanjani, held a press conference at City Hall and explained that the Council had been engaged in a practice that she dubbed “under-depositing.”
When it was revealed that the term was not an accounting term, and that additionally, the practice could lead to dishonest practices, Moya told the media that the Council would not continue to practice it anymore. During the press conference, the Mayor also made references to an audit of the City Council, in which no substantial irregularities were revealed by the Auditor General.
An audit of the City Council, however, that encompassed the period January to April, 2009, has revealed that around $275,000 has been unaccounted for.
Worthy of note, though, is that the charges that were laid today in the Magistrate’s Court made no mention of the $275,000 that is allegedly unaccounted for from City Hall; neither is any of the charges related to the Council’s “under-depositing” practice.
It is not known at this time if the Director of Public Prosecutions is contemplating bringing more charges in relation to the audit findings. DPP Cheryl-lynn Branker Taitt would not give Amandala an interview today.
The first attorney to emerge from the courtroom following this morning’s arraignment was Hubert Elrington. He told the media that the charges that were laid in court were “nonsensical.”
“After all this time that was spent on this and this is what they came up with. We will have to file some motions and have these charges dismissed,” Elrington offered.
Emerging from the courtroom, Mayor Moya-Flowers was her usual defiant self: “When it comes to the matter of the Treasury, will the Minister of Finance be charged? Will he be charged? When it comes to the KHMH issue, will the Minister of Health be charged? When it comes to the border management issue, will the Minister responsible for border management be charged? And the list could go on. They are elected officials just like me. They are no different from me.
“Are those people guilty of wrongdoings? Am I guilty of wrongdoing? I am not guilty of wrongdoing. I will speak about myself. Now as the Mayor of Belize City, I have workers under me, and I expect that as administrators they do their work. I am not over any one of them, telling them what to do. That is not my way of management, I let them work. I was a former public officer. I was a former head of department. I’ve never been over my workers, watching them. But at the end of the day, I expect them to do their work.”….
She went on to add, “Everyone knows that I don’t have a cozy relationship with the Prime Minister, with the leader of the party. This is something that we all knew from the convention. Everyone knows that Zenaida is not a puppet. And from the convention day they wanted to make sure that I was not the mayor. But the people had their way, the people had their say. And I have been elected and I will make sure that I continue serving the people of Belize City. No one person elected me. Eight thousand plus voters elected me.”
When asked if the Prime Minister is carrying out a personal vendetta against her, Moya-Flowers said: “If somebody doesn’t have balls, then they are going to come after me, when I am on my bed delivering a child. That is how foolish it is, when I am on my bed delivering a child. Everybody knows that I am a strong woman. I will not have anybody dictate to me like I am a little girl. I am nobody’s little girl.”
Asked if she will remain a UDP, Moya-Flowers said nothing has changed. “The leader may have his minions who will try to discredit me. His minions and him can have whatever their opinions…I want to tell all my supporters that we will make it through this, me and my family will make it through this. I believe that justice will prevail and they will see that these are just trumped up charges, malicious charges. Very malicious.”