Another headache that the Prime Minister is contending with is the Integrity Commission. Two of his appointees stepped down because they didn't want to have to endure the scathing scrutiny of the Politically Exposed Persons disclosure rules. So the Prime Minister has to find two more members, one of them a chartered account. But one of his appointees who did stay on has come under scrutiny. Armeid Gabourel is a former member of the Belize Airports Authority Board of Directors - yes, the same board that was made to resign after the Castro cheques appeared. Today the Prime Minister said that her former service on the BAA, and the signing of a five thousand dollar cheque in Castro's name - is not fatal for her appointment to the integrity commission:..
Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"It is my understanding that Miss Gabriel was one who in fact opposed and it's on record as having done so the decision of the board to approved a sort of ongoing commitment to assist the minister in his constituency, so I wouldn't. Clearly we had to ask everybody to resign. You can't at this point making distinctions, but I wouldn't see the resignation there as being fatal to 
the Integrity Commission appointment. I am more concern about finding the replacement to the new resignations now even before formal constitution of those on the Integrity Commission that have said we simply are not prepared to live with the PEP obligations."
Gabourel told us that there is nothing irregular about any cheque bearing her signature as those were the stipend for board members in the regular course of their duties.
As to the cheque for Castro, she says it was a board decision and he brought a pro forma invoice from the free zone for football team jerseys - and brought an invoice marked paid from the zone.
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