Tonight Belize City Mayor Darrell Bradley is in Jamaica attending a CARILED Conference, and BQ Pitts Jr is the acting mayor. That's because Deputy Mayor Eric Chang remains in Taiwan. But while there's been lots of rumors that Chang is detained in Taiwan - to the best of our knowledge - and we have checked with multiple sources - he is not. In fact, 7news has confirmed that from when Chang left in early September, he told the Council he would be back on October the third. But what we do know is that Chang is in hot water, because according to multiple, highly placed and reliable sources, he brokered the deal for Won Hong Kim to get a Belizean passport. We have also heard reliably that Chang has suggested that he could face some threat because the passport has now been revoked. We note, however, that other friends tell us he remains calm and relaxed with his family in Taiwan and plans to return to the country as scheduled next week.
And while Chang has been indirectly implicated in the passport scandal for "Citizen Kim", unlike Elvin Penner, his name isn't on any signed document. As we showed you last night, on September 2nd, 2013, Penner signed the application for Won Hong Kim and he vouched that he had known him for three years as a friend. And another of Penner's friends, former UDP San Ignacio Mayor Alfonso "Ponchis" Cruz co-signed the application as Justice of the Peace, while Penner's employee, his driver picked up the passport.
And right down to the nationality certificate, it is a Penner production. He also signed that document for the 52 year old South Korean national, stating that his permanent address is the Piccini Area of Belmopan, no street number given. That nationality certificate is dated April 22nd, 2013, and is also signed by Penner. Now it is doubtful that Citizen Kim visited Belize at all, but the document may have been dated like that is because that's the last time there was a nationality swearing in ceremony.
However or whenever it was prepared, the nationality certificate reached the passport section of the Immigration Department on September ninth when the passport was issued. And while three persons from that department face suspension, so far, no one from the nationality section which prepared the file for Citizen Kim has been named. That's where the nationality certificate was generated and where, presumably, the phantom file went missing.
Many questions, and today when we reached Director of Immigration, Maria Marin by cell phone, she flatly refused to comment, referring all our questions to the ministry. We'll keep following the story.
As a side-note, it can't be overlooked that Penner, who has been forced to resign from Cabinet and Chang, who faces an uncertain future as an elected city councilor, were, respectively, the first Mennonite and the first Chinese Belizeans to gain elected office in Belize.
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