Elvin Penner says he was tricked by an imposter. As we've been reporting, Penner says he used his offices to expedite a passport for Won Hong Kim, a man known to him, either before he entered politics, or - as he attested to on the application, for the past three years. Penner says the man he knows is the balding 53 year old Wonhong Kim - but the man who got the passport is the 46 year old Hong Kim, who has quite a full head of hair. In his email, Penner says "The person I know as Mr. Kim is the same person that presented his nationality document and his Korean passport."
Now, this raises all kinds of questions, but doesn't answer one of the central ones; that is, how is it that Won Hong Kim became a citizen without a swearing in? Penner told Prime Minister Dean Barrow that he signed the Nationality certificate on September 9th , but it is dated April 22nd, 2013. Penner says he did not write that, or any date into the document, and he doesn't know who did. PM Barrow says he has to accept that story because there's no way that it can be proven whether Penner did or didn't write the April date.
But, as we have pointed out, that date may have been written in to coincide with the last mass swearing in. However, there's a wrinkle because 7news has learned that not everyone has to attend a mass swearing in. It can be done privately, with just the presence of the Minister of Immigration, a justice of the peace to administer the Oath and the new citizen. Again, there's no indication if that was done in the case of Citizen Kim.
Now, the other thing that jumps out is that Penner signed the application for the passport on September third - but then told the Prime Minister he signed the nationality certificate on September 9th. The rather glaring inconsistency there is that you can't apply for a passport unless you are a citizen.
Indeed, there are a number of such inconsistencies in the entire story - not least of which is that the nationality file - which Penner says he gave back to the immigration department after signing the nationality certificate. That has gone missing...disappeared, just like that.
It's all a bit much - and while there's an administrative investigation, morning show host Evan Mose Hyde wants there to also be a criminal investigation. This morning, he launched a public effort to initiate a police investigation into what he believes is criminal wrongdoing in the immigration department.
Now, police investigations can only begin with a statement of complaint and after a few calls to various police formations live on air, Hyde was directed to Sergeant Solomon Westby who's at CIB at precinct two. He went to make a statement this morning and he told us in his statement he referred to what he described at "significant irregularities" at the Immigration Department. He says the complaint is based on irregularities coming out of the email which Penner sent to 7news. Hyde says his statement focuses on his belief that a passport was issued without a swearing ceremony and that the passport was issued for a person who was in jail in Taiwan at the time of issuance. He asked for a criminal investigation of the whole process including Penner's actions.
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