“I have nothing...”- that’s what Works Minister Anthony Boots Martinez said on Tuesday night’s newscast when we asked him about suspicious transaction reports made by the Belize Bank. The issue came to the forefront because the Leader of the Opposition wrote to the Prime Minister on Monday asking him what he plans to do about the, quote, “criminal activity.” When we caught Boot Martinez on Tuesday, he said he does have an active account at the Belize bank, but had nothing to hide. We asked him if he would be willing to disclose his holdings, and he said yes. But we took that to be a political “yes”; the kind of yes which politicians are often forced to give, but it really is just an indefinite postponement.

But not for Boots Martinez. We found him sitting on the stairs across from our office today, with 38 pages of bank statements in his hands. They are the statements for December of 2007 right up to yesterday. He handed them over, allowed us to inspect, and then sat down to answer all questions. A quite remarkable staging of events and here’s how it went.

Hon. Anthony “Boots” Martinez, Minister of Works
“I told you two days ago that I have no problem in putting it out. I have no problem for the facts to speak for itself but failing that, you have gotten the facts. You have everything there.”

What you’re seeing here has never happened before. A public official laying bare his bank statements – 10 months of it - for what he says is his business account. It’s a bold and unprecedented move, so the first thing we wondered, was why?

Hon. Anthony “Boots” Martinez,
“Well I think in openness and transparency and you are a public figure and the allegations have been flying left right side and center. I think it is only right and I have never heard from the FIU of any suspicious transactions involving Belize Bank but it is out there, the Leader of the Opposition has written a letter, so I will make the facts speak for themselves.”

And those facts do a lot of speaking. First Martinez says it is his business account. We note however that it is not in a company name but in his name and he is the sole signatory. Also worth noting is that almost every single check paid out is for a round figure, very few included cents – the kind of things that is added unto let’s say utility bills. But what most grabbed our attention are the sizeable cash deposits and that’s what also drew the suspicious transaction reports.

Jules Vasquez,
But Mr. Martinez you were elected to office in February and in March you make cash deposits of $23,650 on the 5th. Thirty two days later you make a cash deposit of $30,000, in between you have two other $4,800 cash deposits, all in the month of March $61,850 in cash deposits.

Hon. Anthony “Boots” Martinez,
“Look at the payout, look at the end of March, look at the end of every month, look between the months where you can see consistently that it is a business account. Like for example in the month of March, I will put it on record, I had sold some new brand computers that I had in store at a internet café. I am going as far as that, but I am saying to you that that is not a dormant account if you look at the ending balance of almost every month, it is also almost down to nothing. It is a revolving business and what you need to look at is what was in the account from December of last year. That’s why I provided you with the financials from December to now and you could see what is the ending balance; the ending balance as of yesterday evening.”

Jules Vasquez,
Yes it is at $8,932.13.

Indeed it is a very active account, dozens of checks are issued every month. In December a month before he was elected, the balance went from $50,000, the product of an intra bank transfer, at the start of the month to $10,500 at the end of it. But what’s all this business he’s doing?

Hon. Anthony “Boots” Martinez,
“That is not a personal account, that is a business account.”

Jules Vasquez,
But my question is I don’t see you have a store front that you do business at. $61,000 in cash deposits in one month is a lot of money.

Hon. Anthony “Boots” Martinez,
“But you don’t see I have a store front but you see I end up in overdraft you see. Let us be and put the thing on the table: I don’t have a store front and there is nothing there indicating that money is being piled up piled up piled up. You would see right there where there is overdraft and we don’t have a store front and we have overdraft facilities there. So in business some months the pay might be great, some months the pay may be small.”

Jules Vasquez,
Specify what is this or are these businesses?

Hon. Anthony “Boots” Martinez,
“I told you I am a importer, seller of pool tables. I do pool repairs, I rent apartments, I have a internet café.”

Jules Vasquez,
Should you be running a business, the taxpayers are paying you $8,000 a month to do the people’s business?

Hon. Anthony “Boots” Martinez,
“Man let me tell you something, to do the people’s business – I have an established business so it doesn’t mean I deal with the day to day transactions. I am the owner of the business, I don’t deal with the day to day transaction of the business but I am the owner and I will not dodge and hide away from that.”

Jules Vasquez,
Minister you have shown me December 2007 and January 2008. I am saying that in those months, though there is a lot transactions, a lot of traffic in the account – pages of it, in fact since you were elected I’d say, there are no large cash deposits.

Hon. Anthony “Boots” Martinez,
“Put it aside, that is just how the nature of the business was in terms of business wise, in terms of cash deposits. That’s why it is my business account, it was me who took the money, it was me who signed the declaration form declaring where you’re depositing those cash money from.”

Jules Vasquez,
Are you able to recall what specific transactions netted you those large cash deposits for a total of, the two large cash deposits in March are for a total of $53,000? Boots it is a lot of cash.

Hon. Anthony “Boots” Martinez,
“Man that is a lil bit of money. How do you mean that is a lot of cash?”

Jules Vasquez,
It is a lot of cash.

Hon. Anthony “Boots” Martinez,
“Man that is not a lot of cash for business. You see two things happen, I sell pool tables, I repair pool tables, I deal with a internet café, I told you I did a transaction where I sold some of my new brand computers, so I think that maybe sometimes I am going too deep into my business so I have to be honest as I could. The facts are there and then we only need to lament how you reach the stage where you are in overdraft.”

Jules Vasquez,
The thing about cash transactions Minister is that cash transactions usually hint at illicit activity.

Hon. Anthony “Boots” Martinez,
“It depends on what business you are in. You do business too so whenever somebody will come and pay you $50,000 in cash should that be deemed an illicit transaction?”

Jules Vasquez,
It is not, it is irregular.

Hon. Anthony “Boots” Martinez,
“Now if you’re talking about irregular that’s another thing. Irregular and illicit are two different things. Nothing in my account shows any illicit activity.”

Jules Vasquez,
I didn’t say it did. But why cash transactions, why huge or remarkable cash transactions, why….I am saying if I am buying some computers from you Boots and I am on the level I will pay you with a check.

Hon. Anthony “Boots” Martinez,
“Let me say to you two things. One of those transactions, I have cashed a check and take it to the Belize Bank, the cash, because I am doing business and I couldn’t wait for the three days. You need be conscious also too so again the cash transactions, one of those, was a check. I have cashed a check and take the money to Belize Bank.”

Jules Vasquez,
But you cashed it at a third party.

Hon. Anthony “Boots” Martinez,
“The first party because it was given to me, it is my check.”

Jules Vasquez,
But you cashed it with someone outside the banking system?

Hon. Anthony “Boots” Martinez,
“No at the bank, at another bank, not that bank.”

Jules Vasquez,
You cashed it at another bank?

Hon. Anthony “Boots” Martinez,
“And took the cash there what I accounted for.”

Jules Vasquez,
Because you didn’t want to wait the three days for the check to clear.

Hon. Anthony “Boots” Martinez,
“So I am just saying that any which way money is money and a check is not money.”

Jules Vasquez,
Since you were elected to office in February this account shows transactions of $131,700 deposited in cash.

Hon. Anthony “Boots” Martinez,
“And what does the account show in terms of what I have paid out? Look and see what I have paid out, that is how business goes. It is not only how much you deposit, maybe you can check the total deposit and the total payout.”

Jules Vasquez,
Okay you have a business, you receive, you make transactions, you make deposits, that’s fine. $131,000 in turnover is not a lot of money you know, that’s not a lot but then $131,000 in cash for somebody who does not have a, you’re not selling fry chicken for cash, you don’t have a storefront that you’re selling from.

Hon. Anthony “Boots” Martinez,
“You know what’s the value of a pool table?”

Jules Vasquez,
But I would pay for it with a check. But most legitimate, in fact all legitimate businesses do large transactions in check.

Hon. Anthony “Boots” Martinez,
“Yes but I’m saying what is wrong? Is that wrong for me to collect a check for $30,000 in my name and go and cash it, and the nature of everybody’s business is different.”

The nature of business is different, but while some of this may raise eyebrows, Boots isn’t worried.

Hon. Anthony “Boots” Martinez,
“I will not have no sleepless nights over it because the facts, be it what it may if there were allegations, the facts have to be brought forward of which the facts would have been brought forward anyway if there was any pressing issue. But I brought the facts forward because I have problem, it is out there in the air. I think I am a public figure and people need to know in real truth and I don’t want people to wonder if or but or it is true because you hear all kinds of things about it is a million dollars, it is a half million dollars, it is a lot of money. You could see, the facts are there.”

But he says by the end of the year his business account should grow substantially from this $8,000 balance that it was at yesterday.

Hon. Anthony “Boots” Martinez,
“By the end of the year that account as I understand it from my business, that account should have about $140,000 by the end of the year because we have a lot of outstanding bills.”

But that account balance won’t be increasing at the Belize Bank. Martinez informed us that he today closed his account at the bank but left with nothing, because they took the balance towards a home mortgage he is paying off.