Chief Forest Officer Post to Be Advertised

Another matter now before the Ministry of the Public Service involves John Pinelo and the vacant post of Chief Forest Officer.  Pinelo had been serving as Acting Chief Forest Officer before going on leave in June, after businessman Cesar Godinez accused him of soliciting bribes and attempting to extort money from him.  Pinelo denied the allegations and, in turn, accused Godinez of offering him a bribe to facilitate documents connected to his forestry operations. Both men have rejected the accusations made against them.  Godinez later submitted a formal complaint to the Ministry of Sustainable Development. He claimed that supporting material included electronic transfers, screenshots and company documents. The ministry conducted an internal review, but Minister Orlando Habet later said there was not enough evidence to make a finding against Pinelo.  Pinelo has since returned to the Forest Department in his substantive position as Deputy Chief Forest Officer. He has not returned to the acting chief position.  Minister of the Public Service Henry Charles Usher says the post of Chief Forest Officer will soon be advertised. He also explained how Pinelo’s application and the allegations surrounding him would be handled under the established public-service process.

Henry Charles Usher, Minister of Public Service: “The Ministry of the Public Service can’t act unless we receive something from whatever ministry there is an issue. So we have not had the opportunity to see anything yet in reference to this particular set of events. And so the Public Service Commission as well has not been able to act. It has been an investigation that was done internally at the Ministry of Sustainable Development and we hope that we can get full disclosure as to what that investigation actually revealed. So the post had been advertised before. There was an acting chief forest officer. I think when the former chief forest officer retired there was some time in between when he had some leave and so he didn’t actually leave office until a few months later. So that vacancy was pulled back to say, “Okay, we’ll wait until the substantive post is actually vacant until we publicize that post again.” So that will happen very soon.”

Love News understands that Pinelo will be eligible to apply when the vacancy is advertised.