Just how much taxpayer money was flowing through Kukulcan Company Limited? That’s the question gaining urgency tonight as a fresh batch of leaked invoices sheds new light on spending within the Ministry of Defense. The records reveal a striking pattern: payment after payment was issued for less than ten thousand dollars, an amount that critics say could have helped avoid stricter procurement scrutiny. The invoices reviewed so far add up to more than one-point-seven million dollars, most of it paid by the Ministry of Defense. But those documents may tell only part of the story. If this latest leak represents just a slice of the company’s billing history, the total amount of public funds involved could be significantly higher. Tonight, we take a closer look at the money trail, the company at the center of the controversy, and the growing calls for accountability. Paul Lopez reports.
Paul Lopez, Reporting
The Mira Millions may have dominated the headlines, but tonight a different company moves into the spotlight, Kukulcan Company Limited. Two hundred and forty leaked Smart Stream invoices tell the same troubling tale of invoices below ten thousand dollars, as well as payments through the Ministry of Defense. Of the invoices we reviewed, two hundred and five were visible, while thirty-five were too blurred to make out. And from that figure, one hundred and eighty-nine, or ninety-two-point two percent were for payments below ten thousand dollars from MOD. In total, all invoices amounted to one million, seven hundred thousand, five hundred and ninety-three dollars and twelve cents in payments. Most of that sum, one million four hundred fifty-three thousand, five hundred and ninety-three dollars and twelve cents, was paid out by the Ministry of Defense. The records reviewed span from May 2021 to April 2025, but the leaked documents provide only a snapshot of activity, covering just a handful of months in each year. However, the invoice numbers tell their own story.
The invoices follow a simple numerical order, with invoice number nine being the earliest one, and invoice number one thousand, one hundred and thirteen being the latest. So, is it that more than a thousand invoices exist in the system for Kukulcan Company Limited? Having only seen two hundred and forty invoices, it stands to reason that payments far exceed one point seven million dollars. And tonight there are growing questions about the company’s ties with the Minister of Defense, Florencio Marin Junior, who is now on administrative leave pending the outcome of an audit into the ministry’s finances. The Kukulcan leaked invoices reveal that the practice of payments below ten-thousand-dollars goes beyond the Mira millions and points to a corrupt practice employed within the Ministry of Defense itself to manipulate the Smart Stream system and circumvent established procurement and payment processes. So, who gave the order from within for vendors to input those invoices, and where does the buck stop? Does it lie squarely at the feet of the Financial Officer, Salvador Alas, or at the feet of the Chief Executive Officer, Dario Tapia? Or should Oscar Mira…
Oscar Mira
Oscar Mira, Area Representative, Belmopan
“People will realize it is political noise and I am prepared to see the process through.”
Florencio Marin Jr.
Florencio Marin Jr., Area Representative, Corozal Southeast (File: June 26th, 2026)
“I would be prepared to speak, but let’s have the audit finished first take the fall? The question also remains, how could they not have known, as they have stated publicly, when alleged nepotism and cronyism have shrouded the entire scandal?”
Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.
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