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That lack of inventory for the fleet of vehicles is cause for concern, since, as the motoring public knows, each one represents 10s of thousands of dollars in public funds spent. We asked the Chairman to discuss that matter with us.

Reporter
"The government of Belize purchases these expensive vehicles annually. Yet, we don't have a proper list, and a proper inventory of the value of these things - the status they're in."

E. Andrew Marshalleck, SC - Chair, Commission of Inquiry
"There were statements made before the Commission that sometimes government vehicles were in mechanics' yards, and nobody even knew they were there for years until somebody asked to buy them. But not the part, the draft regulations prepared by the IMF Working Group had long since recognized this and had recommended the keeping of an asset management register, not only to keep a list of the inventory of vehicles that government-owned, but also to keep the current values of those vehicles, and also to identify the person responsible for the maintenance of each of them --To put a public officer in charge of them. Had those lists and records been available to the government, then, the Minister of Finance, when faced with any decision regarding its sale, could readily assess whether or not the price being offered would have resulted in a gain or loss to the government - financial gain or loss - and an appropriate decision taken. In the absence of any of that. All the decisions become questionable."

COI Critical Of Former PM & Finsec

We also asked the Chairman to justify and explain the published views expressed that quote, "The violation of financial laws... was so routine that the Former Prime Minister... and the Financial Secretary were candid in describing in detail an informal practice of selling motor vehicles... that not only constituted flagrant violations of the law but which also very likely constituted actionable criminal offenses at the material times..." End quote.

That's a very critical view of the leadership of the government department which is responsible for the disposal of government assets. Here's how the Chairman explained why the Commission came to that conclusion

E. Andrew Marshalleck, SC - Chair, Commission of Inquiry
"The Finance Audit Reform Act provides for these assets to be sold by way of one or the other tendering procedures. The Financial Secretary, the [Former] Prime Minister, and the Head of the Vehicle Care Unit described a procedure that fits into none of the tendering procedures. So, they were all in breach of the Finance and Audit Reform Act. As you will recall, the Prime Minister had made any breach of the final finance audit reform of criminal offenses. That was one of the reforms he undertook. These were technical breaches, but there were breaches, not because any particular officer made a misstep in interpreting and applying rules. It's because the rules that they have historically applied are themselves, from start to finish, in breach of what is contemplated by The law."

Reporter
"Mr. Peyrefitte is insisting that he followed the Vehicle Care Unit's instructions and the Financial Secretary."

E. Andrew Marshalleck, SC
"Yes, yes, a lot of people did, not only him and I noted of it, I noted in the report. I was saying, not because a wrong procedure was adopted and followed by the ministry, there would have been unwitting participants in the unlawful activity. In other words, they're approving it to you - I understand his position, perfectly. I asked to buy. They approved it for me. They did everything. I paid my money. I took the receipt. They give me the thing, but the whole procedure was against the law. His participation in it would have been unwitting. It's not a deliberate breach. So, it doesn't mean that his behavior is criminal. But it also doesn't mean that it was -."

Reporter
"It was okay."

E. Andrew Marshalleck, SC
"It was - yes. It was nonetheless unlawful."

Reporter
"How do you treat those unwitting participants who didn't know that -."

E. Andrew Marshalleck, SC
"You don't. We move forward, and we fix it going forward."

On Wednesday evening, when we asked Former Prime Minister Barrow about that part of the report, he told us via Whatsapp, quote, "The evidence has been misrepresented... and the applicable law has been improperly cited, misapplied. The spleen and bias of the Chairman, in particular, is clear." End quote.

How To Fix The Fleecing

But while Former Prime Minister Barrow doesn't think much of the report, the Commission has pointed recommendations for the government on how to address that major lack of protection of the Government's fleet of vehicles.

Knowledgeable insiders suggest to us that the failure to keep a close watch on each and every government vehicle makes them an easy target for political graft. Here's what the Chairman had to say about the need for accountability there:

E. Andrew Marshalleck, SC - Chair, Commission of Inquiry
"What we've done in the proposed changes to the regulations, in the schedule to the report, is offer this scheme that anything under $10,000, the Financial Secretary gets a discretion to deal with, so not tendering procedure. Ten to $1,000,000, you go open tendering, selective or limited, if appropriate, to be decided by a tender committee comprising the Financial Secretary, the chief executive officer of the ministry directly involved with tendering, and the finance officer of that ministry. Now that's a proposal, but what it's trying to do is to get at exactly the problem you've identified, which is a problem that exists and it's not being satisfactorily confronted. It is, how do these decisions get made? What's guiding them and who's making them? So, the idea was to create some rules that set it out very clearly, so nobody makes a mistake going forward as to what is to happen. Anything over $1,000,000, then that goes to open tendering procedure, unless it comes within one of the exceptions: national security or something involving intellectual property, one of the other exceptions."

The Commission is recommending that the IMF Draft Financial Regulations - which you heard the Chairman reference in our interview - be revisited and expanded upon for oversight reasons. They are also recommending strict compliance with oversight contemplated in those regulations, as well as the rules set out by the Public Procurement Procedures Handbook, and the Finance and Audit Reform Act.

Did Attorney Marshalleck Go To Open Tender?

But, the strict rules needed for government contracts and opening tendering go far beyond just government vehicles and assets.

That type of scrutiny and compliance with the Finance and Audit Reform Act is actually needed for the procurement of any goods or services which would have to be paid for from the Consolidated Revenue Fund. These also include the construction of roads and buildings, but also the procurement of services such as legal, accounting, management, advertising, and consultation.

So, we asked Chairman Marshalleck about what he knows of the bidding process that occurred for any contracts he got to act as the Government's attorney. Here's that part of the interview from yesterday:

Reporter
"You, yourself, have represented the government, and the question was - the question is, did you receive the contract through some open process in terms of are you?"

E. Andrew Marshalleck, SC - Chair, Commission of Inquiry
"I don't know what informs the government selection process. the - that if I was invited to offer services and to tender for it, no, I've never. The occasions when I've been I'm engaged by the government - and there are very few -have always been by them contacting me, and asking me if I'm prepared to undertake this."

Reporter
"Are you certain that they followed that tendering process when they approached you?"

E. Andrew Marshalleck, SC
"Look, the way things are working, I'm not sure that - I'm not comfortable at all that all the i's are being dotted and the T's are being crossed. But that may be a personal concern, and we do need to be moving in a direction that nobody needs to have those concerns that we're all content that whenever we deal with the government and all of that has been taken care of. That is why we are pushing for these reforms, and for these clearly stated rules. So, everybody understands exactly what steps need to be taken for these things to be properly done. But what we can't do is pretend that the way it is being done now is fine, or the way it was done in the past was all fine. Maybe it wasn't. Maybe it was. In some instances, I don't know. But we do need more transparency in how that's done, and we do need very clear rules so that both the government and those transacting with the government know very clearly that all the rules are being followed."

Remembering The Great George

And...changing gears now...

If you don't normally work on Saturdays, then you might not remember that tomorrow is a public and bank holiday. It's the second time we'll be celebrating George Price Day and NICH is preparing an exhibit to observe it. The plan is to showcase who George Price is, outside of just being the "Father of the Nation," and they hope to tell this story using photographs of his past. Ilona Smiling, the curator, told us more.

PM Briceno Remembers His Mentor

And the Prime Minister also spoke about George Price's impact on Belize and why he was deserving of his very own holiday. He mentioned working alongside the Father of the Nation and how Price laid the foundation so that Belize can become the country it is today. Here is a snippet from his message:

You can find a link to that on our Facebook page.