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PUP Says 76 BAA Cheques Are From Castro
posted (January 23, 2014)
Tonight, the heat is mounting on Minister of State in the Ministry of Transport Edmund Castro - after the PUP released 76 cheques they say were issued at his request from the Belize Airports Authority to various individuals, institutions and businesses. All in all, the cheques, totaling some 116 thousand, 155 dollars and 19 cents, and issued between December 28, 2012 and September 11, 2013 show a pattern of the Minister of State using the Airports Authority as a kind of political piggy bank. Indeed, it is an old practice with politicians and statutory boards, but it's never been revealed before and not in such lurid details.

We say lurid because 10 of the cheques were issued to his son, Jafari a few to his driver Norman Middleton, a few to a business associate, a few to Castro himself, and many to schools and businesses. And while some - such as those to schools or even chicken, butane or beverage companies can be justified as legitimate political work, it's tough to find the same justification for the 10 cheques issued to his son, Jafari. Or for that matter the over four thousand dollar cheque paid to Cellular Plus.

Yesterday in the house, the Prime Minister mustered his best justification for what he clearly considered a detestable practice:..

Prime Minister Dean Barrow
"This is not corruption. The Airports Authority in the full exercise of their jurisdiction obviously assisted the minister on several different occasions. I will tell you right off that I find it utterly and completely distasteful and I think the Airports Authority and the minister are both wrong. So don't think I am here making any apology for anybody, but call it what it is man. It is not corruption. He didn't steal the money from the Airports Authority; he didn't get the money under false pretenses. He obviously was of the view that the Airports Authority, which is a statutory body associated with the section of the ministry for which he is responsible, could be asked to assist him and his constituents politically. I have spoken to the Members of the Authority, and I have told them upon pain of being fired, not another cheque or form of assistance must be given to the Minister."

Of course, the checks seem to extend beyond the ambit of his "constituency work" when we see payments such as those made to UDP soldiers Omar Burns for six thousand dollars, and Allan Kelly for 300 dollars.

Notably, Castro was absent from yesterday's House Meeting. He has long complained that he does not have enough financial resources at hand to do his political work.

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