Union says SmartStream restrictions cut off the very access that exposed scandals

By Breaking Belize News Staff (HP): The Public Service Union is demanding the immediate reversal of a decision restricting Finance Officers’ access to the SmartStream financial management system.

According to the PSU, Finance Officers throughout the public service can now view transactions only within the ministry where they are posted. The ability to view payments and transactions in other ministries, and across Government as a whole, has been withdrawn.

SmartStream leaks generated a string of major stories earlier this year, providing the public with its first insight into the Mira Millions and later the Kukulkan matter.

Those disclosures led to the exposure of thousands of related party supply payments in the Ministry of Defence, 99% of them falling below the $10,000 threshold.

The revelations ultimately contributed to the suspension of two ministers from Cabinet and triggered an emergency audit from the Auditor General’s Office.

“Restricting Finance Officers to their own ministry therefore does not simply reduce transparency in the abstract, it removes the very line of sight that exposed the conduct now under investigation,” the union said.

“Finance Officers do not work for ministers. They work for the people of Belize, and the money they account for is not the Government’s money. Restore the access.”

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