Criminal charges imminent for missing monies and reversed receipts at immigration

Criminal charges now appear imminent against at least one Immigration Department clerk at the center of the ongoing investigation into reversed receipts and missing public funds within the Belize City Immigration Office.  The investigation, which first came to light earlier this month, centers around allegations that more than eight hundred receipts may have been reversed within the department’s electronic system without any refunds actually being issued to customers. Authorities believe the scheme may have resulted in the disappearance of hundreds of thousands of dollars in government revenue.  Minister of Immigration, Kareem Musa, had previously indicated that investigators had already identified one individual believed to have played a central role in the operation. Officials suspect the employee may have gained access to multiple authorization passwords required to process receipt reversals and may have also engaged in the forgery of supervisory signatures.  Today, Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of Immigration, Tanya Santos, confirmed that the matter continues to be actively investigated and revealed that a full formal audit has now been launched as authorities work to determine the true scope of the suspected embezzlement scheme.

Tanya Santos Neal ,CEO, Ministry of Immigration: “We have filed the police report already. On that situation we used you know what evidence we have encountered from the preliminary investigation and we have since filed a police report and expect that they will conduct a criminal investigation. We have also requested of the audit department for a full audit. They have committed to supporting us with that and we’re just working on a the timing for that. We encountered as far back as early 2025. The audit will be able to determine if it goes beyond that. Several factors. One is, you know, somebody just wanting to act criminally. First of all, you have to have that mentality. But we also have to look at the supervision that’s taking place there and how strong that supervision has been. And also training we need to constantly be training officers on what they need to watch for, what they need to monitor, what they need to check regularly, how to work with difficult situations when it comes to financing and being on the top of your toes with that, monitoring everything. For now, our preliminary investigation has identified for sure one person. But the audit and the criminal investigation will definitely take a deeper dive and spread further and find out if anybody else was involved.”

Government officials say the audit will not only examine transactions carried out at the Belize City office but may also extend to other immigration offices across the country as investigators attempt to determine whether the scheme was isolated or part of a broader pattern of abuse within the department.  Minister Musa has already stated publicly that he is convinced at least one individual should face criminal prosecution, though investigators are still examining whether others may have been involved.