In a major blow to the Government of Belize, it has been revealed that millions in revenue have been lost to a series of high-profile real estate scams. The government’s coffers are taking a hit as fraudulent schemes and shady property deals continue to wreak havoc on the economy.
Insiders report that these scams involve a network of unscrupulous real estate agents and developers who have been swindling both buyers and the government. From fake land titles to phantom developments, these scams have left a trail of financial devastation.
Authorities are scrambling to address the situation, but with the sheer scale of the fraud, the path to recovery looks challenging. As investigations ramp up, expect more details on how these scams unfolded and the steps being taken to recover lost funds and prevent future losses. Stay tuned for ongoing coverage of this unfolding financial crisis.
Cordel Hyde, Minister of Natural Resources
“It’s scary when you consider that persons have died and quite possibly linked to these things. You‘re dealing with a different level of opportunism and different level of criminality and a different level of wickedness altogether and I don‘t know that you necessarily can liquidate that, can destroy that in the shortest possible time. I think it‘s about us trying to get our structures in place where we get it right about trying to have some regulations that will regulate these real estate cats because the truth of the matter is that they‘ve been having a free run at it for the longest time and these guys are so-called land agents and they also pretend to be attorneys and financial experts and all kinds of stuff and they are very clever, very smooth and savvy because they are able to convince very wealthy people to get off their money. I can tell you that in these cases, we‘ve had to collaborate, cooperate with the police and try to assist as best as we can with these investigations. We‘ve done our own internal investigation of lots of these accounts. In the Borja case, we‘ve reviewed over three hundred transaction instruments that Borja and his consulting company, I think it‘s J.C. Consulting or something, that they actually presented to the Lands Department. Eighty percent, damn near eighty percent of those were incomplete. They triggered some interaction, got an instrument number but they never followed through because they came, they triggered an interaction with the Lands Registry and through that process they are able to get what would be the relevant fees, the relevant duties that have to be paid but they don’t come back.”
https://edition.channel5belize.com/g-o-b-loses-millions-in-revenue-to-real-estate-scams/