Rosalva Kotch is an administrator at the Belize Bank in Dangriga - but tonight she is the suspect in a major case of theft from the bank.
The 34 year old was taken to Dangriga Magistrate's Court yesterday and charged for 256 counts of theft from the Belize Bank Dangriga branch. The allegation is that she stole 271 thousand dollars over a period from January 2008 to December 2013.
We called the Belize Bank Headquarters today, but were told only the President could comment and he was in a meeting. We need to stress how unusual it is for a bank to actually bring criminal charges against an employee. Typically so as not to startle depositors - these matters - which do happen - are dealt with internally, the employee is terminated and usually some discreet re-payment plan is agreed to.
But, in this case the quantum or the severity of the allegations may have forced the bank's hands in going public.
It is over a quarter million dollars but police could not say how she allegedly stole it. We did ask if the case is related to Nasley Sommerville, the Ministry of Health Employee accused by the government auditor for withdrawing 189 cheques for a total of over three hundred thousand dollars from a Ministry account at the Dangriga Belize Bank. But that totaled over 350 thousand dollars, and was from 2010 to 2013, so the dates and figures don't exactly match.
In this case, Kotch who is from Benque Viejo was offered bail of seven thousand dollars and one surety with her case adjourned until April 22nd. In this case, she could not meet bail yesterday because the land she was putting up as surety had to be valuated first. But instead of remanding her, she was allowed to go home and return today when the valuation was straightened out. So she formally received bail today.
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