7 News Belize

Controversy Continues on CitCo’s Bulldozer and Bobcat
posted (August 14, 2018)

We also asked Deputy Mayor Oscar Arnold about the bulldozer that magically turned up last week Tuesday. That is just one of the heavy pieces of equipment that had been missing, there is also a Bobcat. Well, Arnold gave us an update today. He says they are still trying to get to the bottom of what happened with these machines since no official police report was filed.

Oscar Arnold, Deputy Mayor
"At the Mayor’s desk we received a memo outlining an analysis of the ones we got in - in a state of this repair, some of the repairs that has been done on the bulldozer were done just roughshod, not done to any technical specifications. We got it without any diesel, any fluids in there, any oil, everything was taken out, there was no battery - so that is the update on the bulldozer. We understand also that the other piece of equipment which is the Bobcat is being repaired somewhere in Unitedville. We've received since then a lot of residence calling in with pictures, videos of the Bobcat being used to clear land in Lord's Bank, on the George Price Highway and even up in Unitedville. There's an individual, I think the name Mike was called in that area, who was in possession of part of the equipment so as far as that lead, we have our people following that up. We are looking at whether there's going to be legal or criminal recovery of anything. It's hard because an original police report was not done, at the time of people who had knowledge of what was happening. What we're finding out is that there was a lot of people that were involved in this thing that knew that is was happening and just didn't care."

Reporter
"Are you getting any support and interest from central government in terms of getting to the bottom of really what happened since they were the ones who purchased the equipment? Who gifted it to the council?"

Oscar Arnold
"Good question, the Ministry of Finance has wrote to us and said you know when we paid for the equipment, everything then was turned over to the Belize City Council, so the responsibility really lies on the municipal body to find out exactly what happened here. They have provided copies of emails and correspondence that was sent back and forth and that is how we have the listing of equipment and so on - but basically they are saying that you know what, we did our part, what happened after that doesn't really affect us to that matter. The Ministry of Local Government which is the oversight body for all municipalities didn't have an idea of the transaction as well, so while they've pledged their support, there's very little they could have done or offered because they didn't know that this transaction even took place."

Home | Archives | Downloads/Podcasts | Advertise | Contact Us

7 News Belize