Yesterday, we showed you CEO Colin Young's categorical denial that his Minister, Joy Grant, used her influence as Chairman of the Board of Directors at the National Bank of Belize to get him a loan at a preferential interest rate and with preferential terms.
That was one of the reasons that Grant and former Manager Jose Marin, a veteran banker, clashed which he says led to his termination.
That's an ugly allegation against the reputation of the 6 month old bank, which was created to provide lower income Belizeans with access to affordable credit. So today, at the Senate Debate on the 2014-2015 budget, Grant, who is a Government Senator, used the platform to the respond directly to the allegations. Here's what she had to say:
Senator Joy Grant
"We want to be clear also that the board of the National Bank of Belize which comprises someone from the social sector, someone from the business community unanimously agreed that it was time to terminate the existing general manager and have moved on from this. We now have a very experience person who is serving as assistant general manager and we will be advertising for a general manager very soon. There are robust internal procedures and processes in place at the National Bank and no one director can approve any loan or advance to anyone."
"In addition to the chartered accounting firm that will come in and do our audit, I repeat that the Central Bank can at any time come in and audit any commercial bank and the national bank is no exception. I want to also say that we have been meeting what is really unprecedented demand for services and in one day we received 77 phone calls, 41 walk-ins and 60 emails from people trying to access the funding at the National Bank of Belize. The staff has worked very hard and the scores of people who now are building their first homes is a testament to what has been accomplished."
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