The money laundering scandal at the Coye Moneygram Agency is big – apart from one point five million dollars in cash stuffed in suitcases, and seven people charged with money laundering, we’ve also got wholesale identity theft and fraudulent misuse of the entire driver’s license database. But tonight, it’s gone from big to huge as the former Moneygram master-agent in Belize Dean Fuller and his companies OMNI NETWORKS and FULTEC have been charged for money laundering.

Fuller appeared in Belize City Magistrate’s court today with his attorney Michael Peyrefitte. As the principal of both companies he was charged with two counts of money laundering, one for OMNI NETWORKS and the other for FULTEC. The charge sheet states that between 9th of October 2007 and the first day of January 2009 – those companies were involved in transactions that were the proceeds of crime. His attorney Mike Peyrefitte today told us that he couldn’t say much because there is not a single specific allegation in the particulars of charge are very vague.

Fuller pleaded not guilty to both counts and his case was adjourned until tomorrow, July tenth. Why such a brief adjournment? Well, Magistrate Aretha Ford inquired if this charge was connected to the Coye case – and when she confirmed that it was – she decided to synchronize it with that case – which is going back before the Chief Magistrate tomorrow. So when the Coye’s appear, Fuller will appear with them. Because the two matters are now joined, the Magistrate also took the decision that bail wasn’t required since it is being treated as an additional charge in an ongoing case.

Overall, it’s a huge development as the most sensational money laundering case to ever go before the courts has now taken on a significant added dimension. We say that because the suspicion of the Financial Intelligence Unit – which is leading the investigation – now spreads past the Coye’s who ran the Moneygram agency – to Fuller who was the master agent. In June, he told us that as master-agent he had nothing to do with the operations of his sub-agency and was unaware of any suspicious activity or any inordinate volume of transactions. But the FIU’s decision to charge him suggests that they take a different view. At Omni which owned the Moneygram master agency, shareholders included Fuller and his wife, CEO in the Ministry of Tourism Mike Singh, Fred Shyu , Ruth Esquivel and others – all those we listed were also directors.   

The Moneygram case erupted On December 31st of 2008, when police and the FIU swept into the Coye residence and discovered over a million dollars in cash. Since then, subsequent revelations have shown that the Coye agency processed thousands of transactions presumably for online gambling using the names and personal particulars pilfered from the Traffic Department’s database.