Superintendent Mark Flowers, he may be in jail tonight – but his name is ringing all over the country – and not because he's accused of molesting a 14 year old girl – but because of the allegations he's hurled at police minister John Saldivar.
Though he never mentioned Saldivar by name, Flowers sat down with us for just under 40 minutes and ranted and railed at his Minister, and his police superiors who he says are doing the Minister's bidding to railroad his career and smear his reputation.
To be able to draw the inference that it is Saldivar he is pointing fingers at, we'd have to take you back to the beginning of the episode, which he says started a few weeks ago. Here he is in the interview sharing his reasons for suspecting that his Minister meddled in Police business to get him removed as the head of GSU. We also have Saldivar responding and completely denying that allegation, calling Flowers just a desperate man trying to deflect blame from himself:
Mark Flowers, former GSU Commander
"About 5 weeks or a little more ago, I posted up a picture with the Hon. Deputy Prime Minister on my Facebook page and I understand that and this is a mutual friend of the minister, the host and myself who is saying that it was said to the minister 'he say how could Mark Flowers be so disrespectful and posting up a picture with the Deputy Prime Minister, who as you defeated in the bid for the office of deputy party leader a couple weeks ago, which is nothing to do with being professional, nothing to do with policing. It is my choice, somebody that I admire, I like and I certainly respect. So it my choice on my personal page to put up whomever picture I want to and I commented on the page of how caring the person was and how interested in what was happening in the streets. So he said that Mark Flowers have to get "work" for this."
Daniel Ortiz
"Okay and the next very serious accusation is that you are somehow involved, or you are the chief architect in his downward spiral out of the Gang Suppression Unit."
Hon. John Saldivar, Minister of National Security
"That has to again be ridiculous, I didn't even know that Mr. Flowers supported Mr. Faber, he wasn't even a delegate. I don't believe he was even a delegate in that convention and I had no idea he was supporting."
Mark Flowers, former GSU Commander
"By July 14th, there was a meeting inside the national security ministry with the commanders of Belize City where the minister had summoned this meeting. It was at that meeting that the minister decided that Mark Flowers have to go. But he did so in such a haste that it exposes the venom and the hatred that he have. It is childish to be so hateful."
Hon. John Saldivar, Minister of National Security
"Certainly as I said before, the change made at the GSU was discussed internally and they felt that there had to be a new focus, nothing personal against Mr. Flowers."
From there, Flowers goes a bit further, and this time, he is careful not to call the police minister by name. But, by the context of his comments, you can deduce that he is accusing the Minister of deploying an agent to induce the family of the 14 year-old girl who is accusing him of carnal knowledge. He claims the family was paid $8,000 to make this malicious criminal complaint against him. Again, Saldivar categorically denies doing any such thing:
Mark Flowers, former GSU Commander
"I am still at a loss of money to be so important. It is my understanding that they were paid $8,000. $8,000 is quite a substantial sum for these people."
Hon. John Saldivar, Minister of National Security
"That has to absolutely ridiculous. I certainly don't even know the victims nor the parent or mother. I've never met them, don't even know their names and so any assertions that I may have been involved with the family is a complete fabrication."
Mark Flowers, former GSU Commander
"But for one man, I don't blame in as much as I am hating what is happening, I don't have the children so much like I hate the person who is putting them up to it. It is disgraceful. I am willing to go through whatever hardship I have to go through right now, but I'll be out. I will be out."
"I'll get to the bottom of this man's.. it is."
Daniel Ortiz
"Did you know who paid her?"
Mark Flowers, former GSU Commander
"I know."
Hon. John Saldivar, Minister of National Security
"The charges that he is facing are serious charges that can cost him is career and can certainly land him in jail. I can understand how he is desperate to try to deflect some of the tension from him but certainly I have not been involved in any such thing, I don't even know the victims or the mother."
Mark Flowers, former GSU Commander
"And if one picture can cause you to be so vicious and hateful and vindictive then you deserve to be shared around in an equal manner. I will be hateful and vindictive when I'm out from there and I find and I could; I will get to the bottom."
Hon. John Saldivar, Minister of National Security
"I think that people will see it for what it is and that is a man who has been accused of a serious and reprehensible crime about minors and a man who has a lot to lose by these charges being brought against him and I can see that he is a desperate man and I'm certainly concerned he has felt the need to say and do what he is saying and doing but desperation causes people to do weird things."
Mark Flowers, former GSU Commander
"Dean Barrow, I love him. These minions, these little crooks and dishonest people who try to bring me hardship can't hurt me. There is nothing none of them could do to me."
And, he took the Minister on for a 3rd time during our interview, when we asked Flowers why he was so chummy with accused murder, conmnan, kidnapper and extortionist, William "Danny" Mason. Earlier this week, National Security Minister John Saldivar disclosed that Mason donated "in excess of 50 thousand dollars" to his Belmopan Bandits Football Club. Well, Flowers, who claims that he was undercover, trying to get close to Mason, claims that the business relationship between Saldivar and Mason is allegedly more involved, to the point where Mason was trying to buy into a co-partnership over the Bandits team. Here's that conversation with Flowers, and the Minister's complete denial, referring to Flowers' claims as malicious, desperate stories:
Mark Flowers, former GSU Commander
"Now I know what I know, but he didn't know what I knew then. So we were there and we were talking and I was asking him questions about his business and how he does his thing and that was then I got to know that he was buying half of Bandits and that he thinks that he was jilted out of his money and when he went back for his money he got words like 'when a ginal and ginal meet, only a ginal wins.'"
Rowland Parks - Amandala
"The minister spoke last night about getting about 50,000 dollars from Mason. To the best of your knowledge is that the truth?"
Mark Flowers, former GSU Commander
"Unless he was speaking in US dollars; US currency."
Hon. John Saldivar, Minister of National Security
"Absolutely no basis for that. I've already disclosed what my relationship was with Mr. Mason with respect to the Belmopan Bandits. There was no jilting of anyone. We had an arrangement for him to contribute to the Belmopan Bandits and like I said when I found out information about his background, I decided to disassociate myself from him and he has no longer made any contributions to the Bandits after that time."
Rowland Parks - Amandala
"Sir it's more than 50,000 dollars. You were saying earlier that Mason wanted to buy half of the Bandits, own half of the Bandits but it would be more than 50,000 dollars."
Mark Flowers, former GSU Commander
"That is what Mason said to me. He had to been that the minister was referring to US currency. It would have been obvious it was not Belize currency he was talking about you know."
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