7 News Belize

Chairman Accuses SSB Staffers Of
posted (January 10, 2012)
Social Security's Board of Directors will have an emergency meeting tomorrow to discuss what Chairman Lois Young calls "insider trading."

She's referring to confirmed reports that Social Security employees, including senior management, have made loans to bring down their mortgage balances to under fifty thousand dollars - that they get into the Prime Minister's mortgage forgiveness programme. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity to get fifty thousand dollars deducted from your mortgage debt. But today, the Chairman told us that for SSB employees to qualify themselves for eligibility after the plan was circulated internally in late 2011 - violates the spirit of the government's proposal - and constitutes what she says can only be called insider trading.

She says that any staff member's mortgage balances which were reduced to fifty thousand dollars or less after the date when the first request was made by government will be included in a list which will be reviewed by the Board tomorrow. She says she is concerned about people at Social Security who got wind of the proposals and may have taken advantage of that information.

And the PUP is also concerned. The party issued a release implicating senior management today stating that very senior members of management have positioned themselves to benefit from the program. We called CEO of SSB, Merlene Bailey Martinez who told us she was driving and could not speak - but assured us that the board will deal with the matter tomorrow.

The PUP release adds that quote, "certain 'select' members of staff of the SSB have obtained loans at commercial banks and other lending institutions in Belize, to pay down these mortgages, to take their balances below $50,000 in order to benefit as well." The release concludes, quote, "If this program was ever meant to help struggling Belizeans, then what it is alleged is happening at the SSB, could only be described as a travesty."

The PUP has demanded an immediate investigation of the entire scheme of the SSB mortgage debt write off and calls upon Board members especially those representing the Private Sector and the Trade Unions to speak out on the matter.

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