When a newly formed company linked to a sitting Cabinet member lands in the middle of a Ministry of Defense procurement controversy, questions over conflict of interest are hard to ignore. That is the latest development in News Five’s investigation into questionable contracts and millions of dollars in payments that appear to have avoided proper scrutiny. Now, a senior government minister is acknowledging that Belize’s procurement system needs serious reform. But as the scandal widens, the bigger issue may be whether this spending is delivering real improvements for the soldiers and officers it was meant to support. News Five’s Paul Lopez reports.
Paul Lopez, Reporting
The Government of Belize’s procurement system is broken, says Cabinet Minister, Francis Fonseca.
Francis Fonseca
Francis Fonseca, Cabinet Minister
“And that has been the case for many years. Successive governments under both administrations may have been comfortable with that broken system.”
His comments come as pressure builds over the Ministry of Defense procurement scandal. For the past four weeks, News Five has been examining hundreds of payments made by the ministry to several businesses, many of them incorporated within the last five years. Leaked invoices show millions of dollars in transactions, many kept just below the ten-thousand-dollar threshold, raising serious questions about whether those payments were structured to avoid oversight.
Francis Fonseca
“What I can tell you is that our government for many years, even before these revelations, because we have discussed it extensively in Cabinet, we recognize that the system is broken and we have been working.”
Fonseca conceded that the Briceno administration was aware of the flaws in the government procurement process ahead of the recent revelations, while noting that efforts have been made towards a solution. The latest company identified in the ongoing scandal is RSL Group Limited. Cabinet Stuart Leslie is the company’s director.
Tracy Panton
Tracy Panton, Leader of the Opposition
“When you offer yourself for public office, when you are a politically exposed person, either because you placed your name on a ballot or because you hold a very high public office, you have to follow the rules of engagement.”
Opposition Leader Tracy Panton referred to the latest revelation as a direct conflict of interest.
Tracy Panton
“And I think in the case of RSL, they were just incorporated in 2025. And so, it begs the question, why they were formed and how come these companies have been able to secure these very lucrative contracts. And when you look at the players. They are politically connected, personally connected and people in high office that we need to hold to a certain standard.”
Despite growing criticism of the PUP administration, Minister Fonseca says Prime Minister John Briceño is handling the allegations effectively.
Francis Fonseca
“He has said listen, lets do a comprehensive audit of this particular ministry and let us find out. We have to find out exactly what happened, how far back this practice goes, what has been happening and the whole idea is that coming out of this exercise we will be able to make fundamental changes to the system.”
The controversy has also turned attention to the welfare of the soldiers and Coast Guard officers who fall under the Ministry of Defense. With millions of dollars in expenditure on vegetables, meats, and seasonings over the years, are members of the armed forces better off?
Prime Minister John Briceño
Prime Minister John Briceño (File: July 15th, 2026)
“If you want to be objective, every soldier will tell you that they are eating better today than they did before we came into government.”
Retired Major Lloyd Jones does not agree with Prime Minister Briceño. Jones left the force after serving almost two decades but contends that PM Briceño is misinformed.
Lloyd Jones
Major Lloyd Jones (Ret’d), Former BDF Officer
“In terms of the honorable prime minister, I think that he has been misinformed, quite honestly. The prime minister has a great deal on his plate. He cant be looking in the trenches seeing what is happening. So, he asks and people will say. But if you talk to the soldiers, the ones living the experience, they will tell you that this is not so. I can tell you that the moral across the force is very low. And It is almost unfair to them to pretend otherwise. IF the soldiers are saying I am not motivated or don’t have the right equipment to do the job and you say publicly that is not true. In other words you are saying that the soldiers are lying.”
The administration says an audit will bring answers, but the damage to public confidence runs deeper. Restoring trust will require meaningful changes to a procurement system that government officials themselves now acknowledge is not working as it should. Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.
Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.
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