Email

Print

And while the explanation offered in the mail sets things in a different light - that it was a case of identity fraud - not a fraudulent passport - there are still other issues. Most prominent among them is the backdated nationality document - which is dated April 22, 2013, for a passport issue don September 9th, 2013. Today, at the House of Representatives, the Prime Minister told the public what Penner said about this. But first, the leader of the opposition spoke, basically telling the PM that he had put a rat to mind the cheese:...

Hon. Francis Fonseca
"But ultimately Mr. Speaker, we and the Belizean people have to hold the Prime Minister responsible because he is the one who appointed the member for Cayo North East to this position of Minister of State with responsibility for Immigration knowing fully well - he knew that he was creating a very dangerous situation by doing that."

"He knew. It was well documented before the elections, during the elections and after the elections. He knew, it was well documented that this particular member for Cayo North East had abused the rules and regulations governing that department. It's almost as if the Prime Minister was saying "unu mi di complain bout Penner" - I will put him in charge of the very thing you all were complaining about. That is very concerning."

Prime Minister Dean Barrow
"It's a matter of great regret to me that Mrs. Neal should have been suspended. I am assured by the Minister that Mrs. Neal's suspension comes not in consequence of any suspicion, not even the slightest suspicion that she was involved in anything remotely corrupt. It was just a matter of Mrs. Neal as the supervisor not having dotted an i or crossed a t and it seems the feeling was that she will have to say why there were those administrative omissions."

"It is most unfortunate, this is a woman who is close to retiring and whose entire tenure in the Immigration Ministry has not been solid by even the slightest blemish. It goes very hard against her in deed that she should now be suspended because a finger print didn't appear."

"Whatever Hon. Penner's involvement was and I will come to that, ultimately the people in the passport section had the duty to ensure that everything was in order. To ensure that the applicant for that passport appeared in front of them and had his picture taken. No minister had any authority to override those requirements."

"With respect to the Nationality Section of the department the situation is completely different. It is the Minister who signs the nationality certificate. He doesn't issue the passport but he signs the nationality certificate. In this case the nationality certificate that was involved in the whole chain of events that saw this South Korean national obtains the Belize passport. That nationality certificate was signed by Hon. Penner. Therefore, how are you going to look at the officers in the Nationality Section. They didn't do anything except to provide the file in the normal course when the Minister calls for the file. They didn't have to sign the nationality certificate. That is the reason why there is no focus on the Nationality Section in a way that can see the suspension of any of the officers there. In other words, who has had to fall on their sword with respect to nationality is the Minister of State and this administration will not in fact preside over a process where public officers are made to take the fall for the actions of politicians."

"The distinction as I said with respect to the Passport Section is that absent anything that the Minister had to do. There were requirements that they needed to follow and it appears from the investigation so far that those requirement weren't completely followed."

"Hon. Penner signed this nationality certificate on the 9th of September. That certificate was dated 22nd od April. Hon. Penner said that he signed the certificate without dating it - something that I often do and so the question of who backed dated that certificate remains very much in issue."

"There can be no question in my mind of charging the Minister or the ex-Minister in any criminal way because on the face of it all appeared to be in order with respect to the nationality certificate, absent this issue of the date. Whether you believe him or not that he didn't put in the date of April 22nd you will never be able to establish that in fact he didn't."

"The thing is that what you can't prove is very much in issue. What was eminently provable and what was obvious was enough for me to do what the duties of my office and what my commitment to the people of this country required me to do which is to get rid of Hon. Penner. I did so with a heavy heart. He is a colleague and there is no doubt that his actions have brought shame to this administration and he is paying the price."

"What we would not do is try to cover over the actions of any minister."

"Mr. Speaker, I will again apologize to the people of this country because one of my ministers has let down his colleagues, has let down the Cabinet and has let down the country."

And while the Prime Minister apologized, today the Public Service Union sent a release saying the quote, "await the intervention of the Director of Public Prosecution, and we expect charges to be laid against the Minister of State." End quote.

For its part, the PUP - took an entire week to send out a statement from the Western Caucus. That came out yesterday and it too calls for a criminal investigation and for Minister responsible for immigration, Godwin Hulse to be stripped of his ministerial status. It adds, obliquely, that quote, "the PUP Western Caucus stand(s) ready to pursue the possibility of engaging the Recall Mechanism."