Lions Club Member in Embezzlement Scandal

It is one of the hardest working organizations and most prestigious in the county with its members raising funds for the good and betterment of the community and individuals in need. But this week the Lions Club of Belize finds itself amidst a major scandal in which one of its members has been charged for embezzling over $10,000 from the Belize Lions Zone 59.

A press release dated April 26, 2010, from the Zone Chairman, Mr. Baldemar Graniel announced that Ms. Kainie Manuel is no longer associated with the Lionism movement in Belize as her dismissal follows an unfortunate embarrassment to the efforts of Lionism in Belize.

According to the press release, sometime in March 2010, the members of Lions Zone 59 Cabinet were informed that monies raised for a past Lions member receiving medical attention in New York, USA were not delivered by the Zone Secretary. In addition, the Cabinet members were also informed that a check from the Belize Lions Zone 59, written to the Belize City Lions Club, was returned because of insufficient funds.

A complete audit and investigation into the Zone’s funds was carried out and Ms. Manuel was questioned. She confessed of embezzling and exhausting the Zone’s funds and after agreeing that she had misappropriated the Zone’s funds, Ms. Manuel signed a promissory note in which she outlined how she would repay the Lions of its funds.

After Ms. Manuel refused to comply with the promissory note she signed and continuously refusing to hand over financial documents belonging to the Belize Lions Zone 59, the Chairman of the Belize Lion Zone 59, on behalf of the Lions Organization in Belize, proceeded to file criminal charges against Ms. Manuel.

“We regret that the Lions Organization in Belize has had to go through such embarrassment by one of its members, but at the same time promise to make every effort to investigate the matter to the fullest and press charges accordingly,” stated the press release. “We want to reassure the Belizean people that despite the unfortunate incident, we remain committed to serving the nation of Belize with pride and dignity.”

Ms. Manuel was nominated and elected to serve as the Belize Lion Zone 59 Cabinet.

Secretary/Treasurer for the year 2009-2010 and as such was given the responsibility to oversee the funds pertinent to the Zone. Belize Lions Zone 59 Clubs include San Pedro Town, San Estevan, Burrell Boom, Belize City and Belmopan City.

A press release from the San Pedro Lions Club stated that its club members have also voted to expel Ms. Kainie Manuel from the local club and as a sign of solidarity the club gives full support to the ongoing criminal investigation that the Belize Lions Zone 59 has filed.

“The Lions Club, a service organization, believes in honesty, integrity and transparency and under the auspices of its 2009-2010 Board will not tolerate criminal behaviors from any of its members,” stated the press release.

According to the San Pedro Police Department, chairman of the Belize Lions Zone 59 reported that between the months of November 2009 and March 2010 a substantial amount of money went missing from the Lions’ bank account. Police investigation revealed that Ms. Manuel, treasurer for the Belize Lions Zone 59 was withdrawing monies without the Chairman’s approval. Ms. Manuel has been detained, arrested and charged for 15 counts of Theft. She appeared at the San Pedro’s Magistrates Court on Tuesday, April 27, where she pleaded not guilty and was given bail of $10,000 which she met.

Amongst all of this, another surprising press release has surfaced from Ms. Manuel’s now former employer, The San Pedro Sun. According the newspaper’s owners, Ron and Tamara Sniffin, on June, 2008, Ms. Kainie Manuel confessed to embezzling over $50,000 from the business over a period of three years.

She was given the opportunity to redeem herself and repay the amount embezzled and the San Pedro Sun gave Ms. Manuel the option to enter a binding, legal agreement in lieu of pressing criminal charges. Two months later, in August, 2008 the contract, drafted by Barrow and Williams Attorneys-at-Law, was signed by all parties and filed with the Supreme Court.

The press release goes on to say that in July, 2009, based on non-compliance with her contract and within the binding agreement, The San Pedro Sun began to retain her salary in full to expedite the repayment process. But with only a portion of the debt paid, the Sun reports that Ms. Manuel has since then been in violation of the contract on several occasions and has admitted to embezzling at least an additional $7,000 from the company and misrepresenting the company on her behalf.

“In light of Ms. Manuel’s indiscretions with the Belize LIONS Zone 59, as well as an ongoing investigation of additional criminal acts, The San Pedro Sun has the legal right to terminate the contract and press criminal charges accordingly, which they are in the process of doing so,” concluded the press release.

Photo by Channel 5

Kainie Manuel Faces Criminal Charges

    News first broke of the situation on Monday, April 26th when Kainie Manuel, a reporter for The San Pedro Sun since Jan. 2004 was featured in an interview on Channel 5. In the interview Ms. Manuel admitted to embezzling over $45,000 from The San Pedro Sun and complained that her employer forced her into signing a binding re-payment agreement in lieu of pressing criminal charges against her. Manuel claimed that her earnings were withheld for close to two years and in an act of desperation she found herself “indebted” to the Lions Zone 59 for an undisclosed amount of money. In a press release issued the same day by Valdemar Graniel, Chairman for Lions Zone 59, (which represents all four Lions Clubs country wide), it was stated that Ms. Manuel was elected to serve as the Belize Lion Zone 59 Cabinet Secretary/Treasurer for the year 2009-2010 and given the responsibility to oversee the funds pertinent to the Zone. Sometime in March 2010, the members of Lions Zone 59 Cabinet were informed that monies raised for a past Lions member receiving medical attention in New York, USA were not delivered by the Zone Secretary. In addition, the Cabinet members were also informed that a check from the Belize Lions Zone 59, written to the Belize City Lions Club, was returned because of insufficient funds.

    As a result, the Cabinet voted that the Belize Lions Zone 59 carry out a complete audit and investigation into the Zone’s funds. As part of the audit and investigation, Ms. Manuel was questioned and she confessed in embezzling and exhausting the Zone’s funds. After agreeing she had misappropriated the Zone’s funds, Ms. Manuel signed a promissory note in which she outlined how she would repay the Zone of its funds. Ms. Manuel refused to comply with the promissory note she signed and continuously refused to hand over financial documents belonging to the Belize Lions Zone 59. As such the Chairman of the Belize Lion Zone 59, on behalf of the Lions Organization in Belize, proceeded to file criminal charges against Ms. Manuel. This was confirmed in a report issued by the San Pedro Police on April 27th, where it stated that based on Mr. Graniel’s report, a police investigation revealed that Ms. Manuel was withdrawing monies without the chairman’s approval. Ms. Manuel was detained, arrested and charged for 15 counts of Theft.

    On Tuesday, April 27th Ms. Manuel appeared in San Pedro Magistrate’s Court where she was charged with 15 counts of theft from the Lions Zone 59. Manuel pleaded not guilty and was given bail of $10,000, along with a $10,000 surety, which she met. She is scheduled to return to court on May 26th and it is reported that she embezzled over $10,000 from the Lions Zone.

    Consequently, The San Pedro Sun also issued a press release on April 26th stating that in June, 2008 Ms. Manuel had confessed to embezzling over $50,000 from the business over a period of three years. In an attempt to give Ms. Manuel the opportunity to redeem herself, as well as repay the amount embezzled, The San Pedro Sun owners, Ron and Tamara Sniffin gave Ms. Manuel the option to enter a binding, legal agreement in lieu of pressing criminal charges. Two months later, in August, 2008 the contract, drafted by Barrow and Williams Attorneys-at-Law, was signed by all parties and filed with the Supreme Court.

    Manuel remained to be paid her full salary of $452/week until March 2009 when her wages were garnished by $200/week. In July, 2009 based on non-compliance with her contract, and within the binding agreement The San Pedro Sun began to retain her salary in full to expedite the repayment process. Although a portion of her debt has been paid, there remains a balance of over $45,000.

    Since then Ms. Manuel has been in violation of the contract on several occasions and has admitted to embezzling at least an additional $7,000 from the company and misrepresenting the company on her behalf. In light of Ms. Manuel’s indiscretions with the Belize Lions Zone 59, as well as an on-going investigation of additional criminal acts, The San Pedro Sun had the legal right to terminate the contract and press criminal charges accordingly.

    A third press release was issued the same day by the San Pedro Lions Club. The release stated that during its regular membership meeting on April 22nd 2010, the Club members voted to expel Ms. Manuel as a member of its Club. The motion came after Ms. Manuel was released as the Lion Zone 59 Secretary after she was found embezzling funds from the Zone’s Bank Account. As a sign of solidarity, the San Pedro Lions Club moved to give full support to the ongoing criminal investigation that the Lion Zone 59 has filed. The Lions Club, a service organization, believes in honesty, integrity and transparency and under the auspices of its 2009-2010 Board will not tolerate criminal behaviors from any of its members and remain committed in serving the community with pride and integrity. San Pedro Lions Club President Melanie Paz also wishes to clarify that the monies embezzled by Ms. Manuel were from the Belize Zone 59 account and not the San Pedro Lions Club.

    In closing SPSUN Editor/Owner Tamara Sniffin states, “We gave Ms. Manuel every opportunity to right her wrongs, and it is ridiculous that she now claims to be a “victim” of her own wrong doings. Time and time again Ms. Manuel violated the conditions of the contract she agreed to sign (which she had two months to review) and we gave her that option instead of going to jail. She continued to misappropriate funds AFTER the fact and operated in a deceptive manner. There were many options she could have taken to resolve her situation when we began to retain her salary in full, she could have lived at home and not pay rent, and she could have taken a second job to help with her expenses, she choose not to do either. Resorting to stealing money from the Lions Zone 59 (or anyone for that matter) is never, ever a justifiable excuse. Ms. Manuel and her family have been close family friends of ours for decades and it is heartbreaking that we have had to take these measures. We made a mistake in giving her more chances than she deserved and now we are paying for it dearly.”

    The San Pedro Sun filed a full report to the San Pedro Police department on Wednesday morning and once the report has been fully reviewed charges will be made against Ms. Manuel accordingly.

San Pedro Sun

FORMER LION CLUB MEMBER PLEADS GUILTY TO EMBEZZLING

Kainie Manuel, expelled Lion member accused of embezzling zone 59’s bank account, has pleaded guilty to charges in the San Pedro Magistrate Court. Jorge Aldana reports.

Jorge Aldana Reporting...

The court case between expelled Lion Member, Kainie Manuel of San Pedro Town and the Zone 59 Lions Organization of Belize came to an end on Friday October 8th at the San Pedro Magistrate Court. Manuel pleaded guilty to the charge of forgery after she was accused of exhausting the Zone’s bank account earlier this year. After failing to appear in court on Thursday October 7th, Magistrate Patricia Arana issued a bench warrant for Manuel’s arrest. Ms. Manuel was subsequently detained that same evening and escorted to court by the police on Friday morning where she pleaded guilty. Zone 59 Chairman Baldemar Graniel gave Manuel three options of repayments. The first option was that the money be paid in full, the second option was for the total to be divided into five months which is equivalent to the length of time that she took the money and the third option was for it to be divided into the months left for the Zone Chairman to complete his term in office. Manuel told Magistrate Arana that she is not working but offered to pay the sum of $500.00 on the 5th of every month until the full amount of $10,000.00 is repaid back to the Zone’s Atlantic Bank Account. Graniel agreed to terms of repayment on the advice of the Magistrate. The forgery case was a civil suit but there is still a pending criminal charge of robbery for the same offence. In regards to the case of robbery, Graniel explained to Arana that he would not withdraw the charges but instead put it on hold until the Zone collects all the money embezzled by Manuel via the civil suit. He said that in the event that Manuel fails to honor the court’s decisions, he would then proceed with the robbery case against her. The magistrate informed Manuel that because the criminal case was not drop and it was a separate hearing from the civil suit, she (Manuel) will still have to present herself in court at every occasion that the case is called for court date and on every adjournment thereafter. Hence Manuel is to reappear in court to continue with her robbery charges on November 6th.

Reporting for Love News from San Pedro Town, I am Jorge Aldana.

Former Lion Club Member Pleads Guilty to Embezzling