A growing corruption scandal tied to Belize’s Ministry of Defense has expanded with new revelations of more than $1.1 million in improper payments to a private import firm, all routed through a pattern of small, under-the-threshold invoices designed to evade oversight. The latest findings, pulled from 163 leaked internal Smart Stream financial documents reviewed by News Five, show that between 2022 and 2025, J&J Imports collected the seven-figure sum from defense department coffers, with nearly all payments individually capped below the $10,000 reporting threshold that triggers stricter approval protocols.
This exposure follows earlier disclosures of multi-million dollar questionable payouts to connected firms, including more than $9 million directed to businesses linked to the Mira family and $1.7 million earned by Kukulcan Company Limited, which has alleged ties to Belize’s Minister of National Defense Florencio Marin. Of that total, $1.4 million came directly from the defense ministry via the same small-invoice practice, leading investigators and journalists to suspect a coordinated scheme to avoid public scrutiny.
Additional documents name Enrique Javier Requena, the publicly confirmed owner of J&J Imports, as having received more than $275,000 in separate payments between 2021 and 2022, again through repeated sub-$10,000 invoices. On a single day in July 2022 alone, for example, the Ministry of Defense disbursed a combined total of more than $109,000: $16,287.27 to J&J Imports across three small invoices, and $93,061.59 to Requena across 13 separate small invoices. Records also show a $10,000 payment from the Office of the Prime Minister to Requena in December 2021.
Public scrutiny has now turned to potential political connections: Requena is a second cousin to Ramon “Monchie” Cervantes, the People’s United Party (PUP) Area Representative for Orange Walk North. When contacted by reporters this week, Cervantes confirmed his family relationship to Requena but denied any involvement in securing the defense ministry contracts or payments. “No, not at all, I had nothing to do with it,” Cervantes told reporters, distancing himself from the expanding controversy.
As questions mount over who authorized these repeated small payments and what role political connections played in awarding the contracts, Prime Minister John Briceño has pledged full accountability. Briceño noted that his administration campaigned on a promise of cleaner governance, and has already ordered a full independent audit of defense ministry finances led by the Auditor General. “We made a promise that we are going to be different and as Prime Minister I think it was my responsibility to act quickly. I did not try to hide anything or push it aside,” Briceño said. “Once that came to my attention, I had to act and both former ministers are people I know over years, but we have a compact with the Belizean people that we will be different.”
The audit is scheduled to take 90 days to complete, with Briceño confirming that any individual found to have engaged in misconduct — whether public servant or elected politician — will face consequences. “The Auditor General is starting to compile all information. The CEO, CEO Usher has assured me that they are complying to the full extent and the auditor general will do a full investigation and if there was any wrong doing, be it public officers or politicians, they will have to answer,” the prime minister added.