3 weeks ago
21
A decision on who would oversee the Ministry of National Defence and Border Security has taken a quick and interesting turn this afternoon. At around 1:45, Prime Minister Briceño reported that he expects to name an interim minister tomorrow. By three o’clock, however, the Office of the Prime Minister issued a press release confirming that Briceño himself will take over the ministry on an interim basis. Marin’s leave takes effect immediately and will last for ninety days. It is a curious move as just earlier in the day, Briceño indicated that there was no shortage of ministers available to fill the post. He said he also had the option of elevating a backbencher if necessary.
John Briceño, Prime Minister of Belize: “I think I’ll know by tomorrow who’s going to be the replacement. It’s quite unfortunate what has happened but we are going to do a thorough investigation. We’re going to get to the bottom of it and whosoever if there is anything wrong doing, the people will have to answer. We’re looking from all angles as to who we can get to replace. We are fortunate enough that there are 26 of us so we have a backbench that’s deep enough that we’ll be able to get. I know that, you know, that what they’re saying about it’s a crisis, it’s not a crisis within government, but yes, I think one commentator said it well, that it’s a crisis of confidence and so we have to be able to find a way of how we can regain back that confidence of the Belizean people. We made a promise that we’re going to be different. And as Prime Minister I think it was I think it was my responsibility to act quickly. I did not try to hide anything. I did not try to try to push it aside. Once that came to my attention I had to act and both former ministers are people that I know for over years. But we have a compact with the Belizean people that we will be different and we are going to do things differently. And so we are going to do that. The Auditor General is starting to compile all the information. The CEO has assured me, CEO Usher, that they are cooperating to the full extent and the Auditor General will do a full investigation and if there was any wrongdoing, be it public officers or politicians, they will have to answer. We’re not going to cover this up because this cannot continue within any government. We have been taking a number of steps to address this. I was unaware of what was happening.”
The need for an interim minister came as former Minister Marin stepped into the spotlight with his former Minister of State, Oscar Mira, and was placed on a 90-day leave of absence. The public explanation is that it would allow the auditors to move freely within the ministry as they do their assessment. Our newsroom, however, has received reports that the leave of absence was ordered by Prime Minister John Briceno after revelations from the ongoing audit indicate that there were several other transactions that bypassed the proper procurement protocols. These other transactions were reportedly paid out to a company closely linked to Marin, using the same under ten-thousand-dollar invoice system, and amounting to millions. Love News understands that the Prime Minister was furious and upon receiving the report and had acted swiftly. The most recent report involves a company, Kukulcan Company Limited, which was a top supplier to the Ministry of Defence in 2021-2025, with unconfirmed reports that the owners are closely linked to Marin. Our newsroom has received records of 230 payments made which are only a portion of the 1,303 invoices that appear in the Smart Stream system. The visible records show a strong pattern of repeated payments clustered just below ten thousand dollars. Several batches were processed on the same day, including large clusters in 2021, 2022, 2023 and April 2025. The records reviewed show at least $1.2 million in payments to Kukulcan Company Limited. Aside for Kukulcan Limited, Love News understands that there are other companies under scrutiny. We are following this situation as it develops further.
English (US) ·