Prime Minister Says Leaked WhatsApp Allegations Led to Dead End

Prime Minister John Briceño has addressed the matter surrounding a WhatsApp message mistakenly posted to the status of Cabinet Secretary Stuart Leslie, instead of being sent to its intended recipient.  The message, which was briefly visible before being removed, was picked up by members of the media and circulated widely. It referenced allegations involving a public officer within the Ministry of Rural Transformation, suggesting that commissions were being collected from a named hardware company and shared with a senior ministry official and a government minister. Speaking to reporters, Prime Minister Briceño explained that the message was originally sent to him from a foreign phone number. He said he subsequently forwarded the information to Cabinet Secretary Leslie to make inquiries and seek clarification.  The Prime Minister said that his own follow-up efforts led to what he described as a dead end, as the company named in the message reportedly informed his office that it has not conducted business with the Ministry of Rural Transformation.

John Briceño, Prime Minister of Belize: “That was sent to me from a number out in Mexico. So obviously when you see those kinds of things you know that something is wrong. I sent it to the Cabinet Secretary so that he could forward it to both the CEO and to the minister and I guess he was in a hurry and he put it out in the status and then he brought it down quickly when he was told that it was on his status. But the truth of it and I’m sure that the Ministry will talk about it and making allegations to doing business with Bennys and I had somebody check with Benny’s and they’re saying that they have done no business with the Ministry of Rural Transformation. So obviously it’s somebody just trying to create some kind of mischief. I don’t know if it’s a scam or whatever. I think somebody just got a Mexican number and sent the message. Actually the irony is that most of the monies that is being spent through Rural Transformation is I think from the EU and they have a very very rigorous process in how you go about doing that. So again it’s somebody trying to create mischief not really knowing how you go about doing these procurement. There’s nothing to investigate. If the people at Benny’s are saying we do no business with Rural Transformation what else is there to investigate ? I’ve not personally confirmed but I had somebody check and from what I am told that the people at Benny’s they feel upset because they’re not doing business with them and so Charles Galvez is not going to Benny’s in trying to do anything illegal. He probably goes to Benny’s to buy for his personal, I don’t know but on behalf of the Rural Transformation no.”

The Prime Minister emphasized that no evidence has so far been substantiated and cautioned against drawing conclusions based solely on an unverified message.