This is a list of noted political scandals that have actually or allegedly involved individuals or entities active in the politics of Belize since the 2000s. This list does exclude political controversies.
2020s
Date Parties Description Outcome Nb Dorothy Bradley, Maria Rodriguez Opposition and unaligned senators accused government of deliberately not preparing for the upcoming retirement of the Auditor General (Bradley) in order to undermine the Office. They blocked the temporary appointment of the Deputy Auditor General (Rodriguez) on 11 November. – Andre Perez Police discovered 1.045 pounds of suspected cocaine in a docked boat belonging to an MP (Perez) on 27 September. Authorities cleared the MP of suspicion 'as the boat had been docked for repairs at a boatyard for over 6 months.' – Omar Figueroa, Michel Chebat UDP standard bearer for Cayo North (Figueroa) challenged the registration of over 100 electors transferred by their PUP counterpart (Chebat). The court struck 23 voters off the Cayo North roll, though stricken voters were appealing the decision by year's end. – UB, Health Min News broke on 8 August that government had changed the site of a planned $90 million hospital for the public university (University of Belize) from their campus to a private property bought for $6.9 million from two Asian nationals allegedly connected to both majority parties. – Moses Barrow, Michael Peyrefitte, Tracy Panton A UDP faction (Alliance for Democracy) petitioned twice to recall the party leader (Barrow) in late July. After the party chair (Peyrefitte) refused to call a national convention, the faction held their own convention and 'recalled' the leader and 'elected' an interim leader (Panton). The faction then forcibly gained control of the party headquarters on 28 October. A civil suit and countersuit were pending as of year's end. – Kevin Herrera During a Senate session debating the extension of a crime-related state of emergency, a senator (Herrera) 'questioned whether we should consider more draconian measures like prolonged SOEs.' – Central Prison Reports emerged of a 13 year old, detained under a crime-related state of emergency, being held with adult inmates at Central Prison. He was transferred to a juvenile detention centre after public outcry, as was a 15 year old in similar circumstances. A court case was pending by year's end. – Orson Elrington Two Belize City women accused a prominent lawyer and UDP official (Elrington) of rape on 12 January. Elrington, who claimed the intercourse had been consensual, resigned from his party posts and was criminally charged in March 2024. The Legal Council found Elrington guilty of grave professional misconduct on 19 April. Elrington resigned, charged in Mar 2024 Natl Teachers' Union The Benque Viejo, Cayo branch of the National Teachers' Union faced backlash for opposing the holding of the annual Children's Rally on the same day as Guatemalan independence. The Rally was held as scheduled, though some schools and teachers did not participate. – Kevin Cadle A senior civil servant in the Youth Department (Cadle) resigned following allegations of academic fraud. Cadle resigned in 2023 vars demonstrators Opposition denied a demonstration permit in San Pedro, Belize. Demonstration held but interrupted by police. Denial and interruption criticised as breaches of constitutional right to assembly. – PM, Moses Barrow The Speaker disqualified a motion of no confidence against the PM by the Opposition Leader (Barrow), whereupon Government revived a previous amendment to the Constitution Act 1981 regarding 'additional grounds' for the disqualification of MPs, seen by some as targeting Barrow. Amendment not moved in 2023 Hugo Patt, Kerry Belisle, Wilbert Vallejos, Roosevelt Blades Government sued the former Lands Minister (Patt), his chief executive (Belisle), Lands Commissioner (Vallejos), and three private companies (linked to Blades), alleging that just prior to the November 2020 elections, the companies paid $59,000 for lands which government had acquired for $6.5 million. – Andre Perez The Economy Minister (Perez) was suspended from Cabinet after being accused of sexual harassment by a female lawyer. Perez accused the lawyer of extortion, claiming the relationship had been consensual. An investigation by the Attorney General's Ministry was pending by year's end. Perez suspended, under investigation in 2023 Ricardo Borja, Resources Min Upon the murder of a Belize City businessman (Borja), it was revealed he had recently given testimony regarding a land scam in Placencia, Stann Creek, allegedly involving multiple civil servants in the Natural Resources Ministry. The Ministry stated the matter was under review in 2023. – Elections Commn, vars media Elections & Boundaries Commission gagged media from disclosing contents of a recent redistricting report (until laid before Parliament). Opposition criticised the gag order for muffling the free press. – Erwin Contreras, Portico Enterprises Ltd A Senate special select committee (chair Janelle Chanona) appointed on 10 July to investigate a contract for a cruise ship port in Belize City previously awarded to Portico Enterprises Ltd (principal David Gegg) by former Economic Minister (Contreras). Contract (including major concessions to the company) allegedly signed without Cabinet approval. – Transport Bd, Serrano's, Cn Transit The Transport Board revoked Serrano's permit to run a bus line in favour of newcomer, Central Transit, which was accused of being connected with someone in government. A lawsuit was pending by year's end. – Anthony Martinez, Gilroy Usher The former UDP MP for Port Loyola (Martinez) announced his intent to petition to recall the current PUP MP (Usher). – Chester Williams, Moses Barrow, 7 News, News 5 Commissioner of Police (Williams) sued 7 News and News 5 for publishing a statement by Opposition Leader (Barrow) claiming he had issued a gun licence without proper due diligence. Both news stations complied with a demand to publicly apologise to Williams. – Chester Williams Reports surfaced of people buying gun licences from the Police Commissioner (Williams), and in one case deliberately misrepresenting background information. Parliament amended gun licensing legislation to entrust licences to a three-member board in 2023, though it had not been constituted by year's end. Licensing reformed in 2023 Home Min, DPP Home Minister appointed a special prosecutor to a murder case from which DPP had recused herself and her office. Appointment criticised by some members of Bar Association and Opposition as unconstitutional. – Rodwell Ferguson, Marconi Leal, Adele Catzim-Sanchez A new chief executive (Catzim-Sanchez) was named for the Transport Ministry after an apparent falling out between the Minister (Ferguson) and the former chief executive (Leal). – Bar Assn A bill regarding NGOs was tabled and read in Parliament, despite significant concern from NGOs and the Bar Association. Government stated the bill was required to comply with international obligations. Parliament passed the Non-Profit Organisations Act 2023. Act passed in 2023 St Luke Sch, Mario Bustillos Thirty-one students (mostly from St Luke Methodist Primary) and seven adults in Belize City were rushed to Karl Heusner after unknowingly consuming snacks and gummies laced with cannabis on 25 April. It was later revealed that the snacks and gummies had been posted from overseas to a suspended police officer, and disposed of by a Police Department exhibit keeper (Bustillos), who was later charged with harm by negligence. Bustillos charged in 2023 Ruth Shoman, Jorge Mejia President of the National Teachers' Union (Shoman), elected 13 April, resigned on 1 September after 'a sustained challenge by some union members about her past.' Jorge Mejia assumed the office ad interim. Shoman resigned in Sep 2023 Virgilio Murillo, JP Assn Central Prison governor (Murillo) reported that visiting justices had not resumed their prison visits since September 2022, and that the Association of Justices of the Peace had not yet designated visiting JPs. – Eamon Courtenay When Senate approved ratification of the Escazu Agreement on 10 February, the Foreign Minister (Courtenay) stated ratification would be delayed until Costa Rica made their position clear. The delay was condemned by various NGOs, leading to ratification on 27 February. Agreement ratified Foreign Min The Foreign Ministry announced on 2 February that they had agreed to resettle a Guantanamo prisoner, 42 year old Majid Khan of Pakistan. – Michael Espat A minister of state (Espat) made controversial remarks regarding Maya residents of Toledo, deeming their land rights movement 'bad for the country' and calling for a 'sledgehammer' to break it down. The 'use of any racist language and fearmongering' condemned by government. – John Saldivar, Moses Barrow The Opposition Leader (Barrow) called for charges to be brought against former MP and current UDP standard bearer for Belmopan (Saldivar) for alleged private use of a Coast Guard vessel. No charges had been filed by year's end. – Ramon Cervantes A Foreign Affairs minister of state (Cervantes) was reassigned to the Ministry of Sustainable Development, though the PM denied allegations that the shuffle was due to questionable behaviour. – – Parliament passed the Defamation Act 2022 without consultation with media, who opposed it, noting it would 'directly affect the way they gather, compile, and present news.' – Dean Barrow Finance Ministry documents were leaked that detailed payments (totalling $5 mil) made to law firms connected to former PM (Barrow) and his family in 2011–2020. Barrow conceded there were instances of 'extreme exigent circumstances' when government turned to his law firm. – vars campaigners There was widespread use of government resources, such as vehicles and personnel, for campaign purposes during village council elections. – vars Toledoans Residents of the Maya-majority Indian Creek, Toledo protested the use of their football field for the landing of a helicopter during a royal visit. They complained they had not been consulted and were threatened with arrest if they disrupted the visit. Itinerary changed vars Toledoans, Fauna & Flora Intl Residents of the Maya-majority Indian Creek, Toledo protested the sale of 12,871 acres of land they deemed communal to Fauna & Flora Intl (a conservation NGO). Also, those of the Garifuna-majority Barranco, Toledo protested logging permits issued to outsiders without their consultation nor consent, and in preference to villagers themselves. – Henry Usher Cabinet assigned a religious affairs portfolio to a minister (Usher), who stated he wished to 'merge the public service with the Christian fundamentals and principles upon which the country is based.' Various NGOs raised concerns. – Marco Vidal, four policemen Four subordinates of the Asst Commissioner of Police (Vidal) were involved in drug airplane landings. Vidal resigned in May 2022 Rene Montero BPD issued wanted notice on 6 September for former Works Minister (Montero), under investigation for misuse of human resources and government property to develop private property in which Montero had a personal financial interest. Montero surrendered in Jul 2022 Ramiro de la Rosa Rosa was not afforded adequate time and facilities to prepare a defence prior to sentencing for possession of unlicensed firearm. When he pled guilty to the offence (allegedly to spare his wife), he was immediately sentenced to prison, contrary to standard practice (granting bail). – PM, Lionel Arzu PM refused to renew the outgoing Ombudsman's (Arzu's) term, and refused to appoint a new one, leading to a 22-month vacancy in the Office. New Ombudsman appointed in Feb 2023 Narda Garcia, Alex Sanker Permanent secretary of the PM's Office (Garcia) threatened a well-known painter (Sanker) with a civil suit for a painting depicting her at the SSB during a period w