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Hon. Elrington Says Visa Racket Has Touched Ministry of Foreign Affairs
posted (October 17, 2013)
And while that is the political dimension of the story - there is still the scandal side of it. There are no dramatic new revelations tonight, but we did have a quite frank discussion with the Foreign Minister about the alleged involvement of employees of his ministry in circulating Belize visas to dubious recipients in Cuba. As we reported in mid-June, Belizean Carlos Murga was intercepted at the Cuban Airport with 7 foreign passports bearing valid, new Belize visas. The Ministry of Immigration said the visas were properly paid for and documented.

They concluded that Murga was just a courier, carrying passports across borders to Cuba. But, information around the case suggested that employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were involved in the carriage and conveyance of these visas - and that really, it was a little ring running from Cuba to Cancun to Belmopan - where passports would be delivered on that end, and new applications brought back. The lynchpin in that whole scenario is that Carlos Murga's sister worked as a secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Short on proof, but long on suggestion, it's quote a little story and today Jules Vasquez asked the Foreign Minister what he knows about it:

Jules Vasquez
"What do you as Minister of Foreign Affairs know about any visa quota system and we have heard reliable reports that in fact functionaries of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have been involve in the movement of visas up to Cancun where an intermediary would take them to Cuba. We know that a relative of an employee at Ministry of Foreign Affairs was caught in Cuba reportedly with 7 passports with visas in them."

Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"It is so much unfortunate in relation to the relative of an employee because the relative of an employee is caught but the employee is not caught. The suggestion as spunned by the media and the rest is that this poor relative supposed to be responsible or in somewhere involved when there is really no factual basis for it. But nonetheless and very regretfully as soon as that information came to light we terminated the services of that poor employee."

"I did not get any credible information about it, none was furnished to me and I was also told that there was a driver who has been with the ministry from timely memorial it seems that he also appears supposedly to have been involved. I know that we have gotten instructions to get rid of that driver as well because there is a zero tolerance. The Prime Minister make no bounds of it, he wants to have zero tolerance for this kind of thing and so pressure is brought to bear on us and when we get that instructions we passed it on to the officer and it has to be dealt with. I think they are in the process of dealing with that."

"The truth is being an attorney since 1977, I can tell you that not a scintilla of evidence - not even the smallest piece of evidence has been furnish to me evidencing that anybody in my ministry has in fact been involve with this business. I am not saying that they have not been involve, I am simply saying that nobody has furnish me with any evidence."

Jules Vasquez
"We know that Mr. Murga (we can say his name because it’s been in the media and it is a matter of fact) was intercepted in Cuba with these reportedly 7 Chinese passports. I imagine the embassy as a Belizean must have had to intervene use its good offices to try and spring him free."

Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"I have no knowledge of that and I don’t know Mr. Murga. If he were to come before me right now I wouldn’t be able to tell you who he is. I personally don’t know what involvement if any our ministry had in the Murga affair."

Jules Vasquez
"We know that the Prime Minister lamented at great length as he said 'for God sakes stop it,' so obviously somebody is running a visa racket. Have you been involve in the solicitation procurement acquisition of visas for person who may come to you seeking your intervention?"

Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"I will tell you exactly what I know; immediately after we were elected into office and I became the foreign minister I had a number of people visiting me who were interested apparently in passports and visas - immediately after, like a day or two, within a week. I can honestly say to you that after that week I have had no visits."

Jules Vasquez
"How did you respond to those visitors?"

Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"I have absolutely no interest in having anything to do with passport or visas or any such thing."

We checked with the CEO in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Alexis Rosado who told us that Carlos Murga's sister was transferred not terminated. As for the driver or drivers that Elrington also indicated was or would be terminated, they are still driving for the Ministry. Rosado would not discuss details of what's happening with them, but he told us he is doing all he can - including using administrative means - to steer his ministry away from any suggestion of involvement in any kind of dubious activity.

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