City Council Employees Terminated Over Innovabel Land Transactions

As we mentioned, the Belmopan City Council terminated two of its employees who received titles to parcels of lands in Innovabel Estate under former Mayor Sharon Palacio. The city administrator wrote to all its employees that received a title at a discounted price. In this specific case, this individual paid two thousand dollars for the property and received his title. A notice of disciplinary action was written to him in which he was accused of facilitating the transfers as a trade license assistant. He refutes such claims. The letter further alleges that he knowingly signed a transfer document that had the property valued at close to twenty thousand dollars when he only paid two thousand dollars.  A request was made for him to pay the remainder. When he did not respond, he was terminated for alleged gross misconduct. The same was done with a second employee. They contend that they were wrongfully terminated and have sought the service of an attorney.

 

Voice of: Former City Council Employee

“I am doing it with a clear consciousness. It is not as if I sat down and said you know what, sell me the land for two thousand and I will give you a little thing under the table. It was not anything like that for them to be accusing me of committing fraudulent activity. According to the letter I received from them it states that I should not be working at the city council if I have been accused or have been found guilty of committing some sort of crime against the council, which let me be clear, I have not done. Is it your intention to heed to their request and pay an additional seventeen thousand plus? No, it is not my intention to do so because again, I had no discussion with the current city administrator or mayor. It was the last administration. But it doesn’t matter who comes in or goes out, the deal was done with the city council itself and they agreed t the payment. It was a done deal, a transaction. So, I do not see the need for them to come back and pay the remaining balance.”

 

Paul Lopez

“Your case is that you were wrongfully terminated, what is your next step from here?”

 

Voice of: Former City Council Employee

“I have already consulted with my lawyer and we have already forwarded everything to the city administrator and the council itself and we will see how it goes. But my law is ready to defend my constitutional rights to the full extent of the law.”

 

Pablo Cawich, Mayor, Belmopan

“Those two individuals, we parted ways based on the grounds that they failed to explain why we should trust you. Obviously, if you aren’t even willing to discuss the matter, you cannot have the council’s best interest at heart.”