And from the news of that former minister's name mentioned in US Appeals Court, to news of another politician who was in the Belize City magistrate's court today.
Mayor Zenida Moya shed tears in the courtroom this morning when the Chief Magistrate ruled that she was discharged of the 22 counts of uttering upon a forged document.
That means those charges have been thrown out. It is a huge development because that's 22 of the 24 charges she had been originally charged with - and those are the important 22 - what are called indictable offences, meaning they would have been heard at the Supreme Court. If she had been found guilty, she would have been sentenced to 2 years in prison for each of the 22 counts.
Now she cannot be found guilty; those charges are gone, and that's probably why the Mayor was shedding tears in the courtroom today.
The only two charges remaining are summary offences for administrative matters which carry a fine of 100 dollars.
Her attorney told us why the uttering case fell apart - he refers to a 7news clip the entire prosecution was based upon.
Michael Peyrefitte, Attorney
"What happened in court Jules is that the Chief Magistrate determined that you are not a good witness. The Chief Magistrate pointed out clearly that indeed the crux of the case rested on the supposed contents of a DVD submitted by yourself and the crown and I believe this is the reason why she said this: The crown merely submitted the DVD and never discussed the contents of it, but I don't think that the crown wanted to discuss the contents of it because when you look at the DVD it disclosed no evidence. That and in the overall view of the magistrate that the evidence did not reach a certain level to justify it going to the Supreme Court. The magistrate as a filter as the law requires her to do decide that there was not enough evidence for the case against Zenaida Moya Flowers to go to the Supreme Court based on the indictable charges that she faced, which is the 22 counts of uttering a false document."
"I think from their behavior the vibes and everything, you could tell that they knew they did not have a case or they were given basket to carry water. They just did not have a case; there was just not the evidence to support the charges that were brought against Mrs. Moya."
Jules Vasquez
"Which charges remain?"
Michael Peyrefitte, Attorney
"The charges remain is that she somehow authorized the spending of more than $50.00. In essence they are charging her with violating certain financial codes of the city council whereby the money has to go through a certain process before its spent, kind of like the whole under-depositing situation. But it is my view that the evidence in that case is also very weak. I believe that even for the matters that remain I am confident that we will do well and I am confident she will be exonerated of those charges."
Today the mayor declined an on camera interview but told us that she feels vindicated - and that she holds no hard feelings, no grudge, no malice against anyone and wants to continue with the work of the people.
A determination on the 2 summary offences will be made tomorrow.
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