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But, that's why it raised eyebrows when the manager of that Bella Vista branch of the credit union turned up employed right at Martinez's Ministry - after he was dismissed from the Credit Union. Jules Vasquez reports:

The flags raised in the special investigation of the Toledo Teachers Credit Union point to monies paid out without a proper source of funds.

Osmond Martinez was the CEO at that time. He authorized the disbursements for government - and he says it was all facilitated by a credit union whose Bella Vista branch had gone rogue - and was accepting contracts not duly signed:

Osmond Martinez, Min of State - Economic Transformation
"It's important to note that the contractor would take the contract that was signed only by him. And to make matters worse, it was accepted by the credit union. And they give him the money."

Jules Vasquez
"The allegation is that it was accepted by the credit union because he was cousins with the general manager. The allegation is that the general manager was running a lot of red lights, regulatory red lights."

That's Bella Vista Branch manager, Jorge Rodriguez. He has since been released from the credit union where the Special Investigation found that he he could be criminally liable for fraud, gross negligence, and gross misconduct.

And where did he turn up? Right at Martinez's Ministry of Economic Transformation. His contact tab says he's a financial administrator at that Ministry. And we sent him an email asking for a comment at his Ministry of Economic Transformation and this is what he sent us:

"For clarity, I am currently employed under a health program, a position I obtained through a competitive and transparent process involving interviews with multiple stakeholders from various sectors. I received no assistance or recommendation from any government official during this process.

To date, I have not received any formal allegations from TTCU or any competent authority. I also wish to note that I left the credit union on amicable terms and remain bound by a confidentiality agreement with TTCU. As such, sharing any information publicly could potentially be used against me."

But, when he spoke to us last week, the general manager wasn't so restrained - he explained the difficulty doing business with the companies owned and operated by Jose Felipe Flores:

Leopoldo Romero, General Manager, TTCU
"The company owners, I don't want to call names, but the company owner is related closely to the branch manager. So there was collusion and these monies came before we intervened in the investigations. As soon as we came across - and our compliance officer was the one who looked at the account and saw there was false information there. if your address is Ecumenical Street in Dangriga and you are in Bella Vista, when we went to Dangriga, there is no such office. So that, those cemented the actions we took right after that, closed the accounts, we can't do business like this."

Indeed, there is no such office, no such company registered with a trade license in Dangriga, and not even a water meter in that name.

That's the company the Ministry - under Martinez's hand was awarding contracts to. But he says those contracts were legitimate, it's the Credit Union which was not - including the man who now works at his Ministry:

Osmond Martinez, Min of State - Economic Transformation
"So assuming that that is correct. Osmond Martinez has nothing to do with the internal affairs of the credit union and the general manager and everyone else within the management system should be hold accountable not only for that accepting, accepting documents that were incomplete, but also of the many other transactions that were done."

Osmond Martinez, Min of State - Economic Transformation
"If the credit union didn't fail we wouldn't have been here today. If the general manager of the bank would have taken the source of funds and give it to the auditor, we wouldn't have been here."

Rodriguez told us that he is "not in a position to grant any interviews" because of "sensitive and ongoing legal considerations."