One week after we first discovered mass fraud being practiced at two city butane companies, the revelations continue to startle.
Tonight in a collaboration with PLUS TV we have the testimony of an insider, someone who works in a senior position at a large butane company and knows all their dirty tricks.
Specifically, he knows exactly how the meters on the Butane trucks and tanks are rigged and to what extent.
He spoke to PLUS TV on the condition of anonymity this afternoon in Belize City.
Our colleagues at PLUS who have been running full tilt with the story since we broke it last week, offered to give us a first go at the interview.
To protect the whistleblower's identity, we have altered his voice and darkened the video. When you hear what he has to say about what amounts to a policy of deliberate meter rigging, you'll know why he's scared to show his face:…
Interviewee
"In most cases or 90% of the cases the meters are being tampered with. They tamper with the meter and thief about 2 - 2.5 - 3 gallons from each tank, in the process of tampering with the meter; they regulate the meter so that the meter would spin a bit quicker. The numbers on the meter would move and hence the reason that the impact comes on the consumer itself."
Luis Wade
"So what you are telling me is that companies are deliberately tampering with the meters on vehicles so that customers are getting less than they pay for?"
Interviewee
"Basically it's not only on the trucks but also at the plants. There are technicians that the company has that comes in to regulate meters; let them spin a bit quicker so that the company can gain more and rob from the consumer itself."
Luis Wade
"How is the tampering taking place? Give us a technical blow by blow of how the scam works from the inside."
Interviewee
"The meters come with a seal. It goes from the meter box to the meter head, at times or in many cases the seals are broken from the meter head and they release the meter head from the meter box. On the meter box has a spinning wheel. They regulate the spinning wheel by releasing the screws from them so that it spins faster. When they spin faster they place back the meter on the meter box and when they do their test it shows that the gallons are passing. The meters are spinning, its spinning quicker than it's supposed to be spinning so hence the reason on a regular tank the meters shows 22 when actually you are getting about 18 gallons."
Luis Wade
"Now for example on the Channel 7 experiment in which Jules Vasquez did a demonstration, he took in his cameras. From a person who has worked in the industry; the industry right now is saying that what Mr. Vasquez did was not accurate, what Mr. Vasquez - they would have wanted to be there to see what is happening. Let me ask you a question. The results that Mr. Vasquez got on Channel 7, would you say that that is totally outside of what normally happens or is that within what happens every time from your knowledge?"
Interviewee
"From my knowledge that's what basically happens on a daily basis. See what happens is that Mr. Jules Vasquez with his cunningness just went to the plant without anybody knowing and did a spot check on them and hence the reason the result that came out. Because they did not know that Mr. Vasquez would have done something like that. So the meters were not regulated back to the standard that they should have been and was kept the same place that they were, hence the reason showing the miscalculation of the gallons and the pounds in the tank."
The interview was conducted by Luis Wade - who'll have more of it on his morning show Eyes On The Nation tomorrow.
We'll also have more from that interview in tomorrow night's newscast when you'll hear the whistleblower explain that butane companies do have scales which were used in the past - but which have been put to the side in favor of the flow meters, which are easy to rig, and which cannot be tested for accuracy by the Bureau of Standards because it doesn't have the equipment.
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