By Belize Live News Staff: The Opposition is turning up the pressure on the Government over how the investigation into Minister Oscar Mira will be conducted, demanding that the full terms of reference and instructions given to the Auditor General be made public.
In a letter to Prime Minister John Briceño, Leader of the Opposition Tracy Taegar-Panton said the United Democratic Party wants assurance that the probe will be genuinely independent, broad in scope, and transparent, rather than what she described as a narrow administrative review.
The letter took particular aim at the Prime Minister’s public comments about giving instructions to the Auditor General. The Opposition reminded the PM that the Auditor General’s office is meant to be constitutionally independent and free from Executive influence, and argued that it should not need instructions from anyone to carry out its work. On that basis, the party is demanding that the Government release any written directives, instructions, and terms of reference connected to the investigation, so that the public can see exactly what is being examined.
The Opposition laid out a detailed list of what it believes the investigation should cover. This includes the legal authority behind the probe, who is leading it, whether Mira influenced the award of contracts to businesses linked to his family, and a full review of the procurement process for every relevant contract, including questions of compliance, conflicts of interest, and whether any officials breached their duties. The party also stressed the need for the investigation to gather evidence that would actually hold up in any future proceedings, noting that leaked material on its own may not be admissible.
Beyond the Mira matter, the letter widened the lens to the Reconstruction and Development Corporation, known as RECONDEV. The Opposition raised a series of questions about the legal authority behind the Prime Minister’s announced plan to appoint a new RECONDEV board, including who is empowered to appoint or remove board members and what has become of the existing board. It also urged that the investigation examine RECONDEV’s governance and the allocation of national lands, along with any transactions involving ministers, board members, their relatives, or politically connected persons.
Panton ended the letter by stressing that public confidence in the country’s institutions depends on a rigorous and impartial investigation that follows the evidence wherever it leads, and requested copies of the relevant documents defining the scope of the probe.
For its part, the Government has said it asked the Auditor General to conduct the audit, a process expected to last around three months, and has called for patience until the findings are in. Mira has consistently denied any wrongdoing, and no conclusions have yet been reached.
