For the past two months, it seems like the Barrow Administration has been lurching from scandal to scandal. And somewhere in there is the Edmund Castro incident â€" which, depending on who you talk to, either did or didn’t happen when he visited Taiwan in mid-September. The report we got was that the Taiwanese had complained directly to the Prime Minister that Castro had made unwelcome sexual advances on a female protocol officer who was his escort in Taiwan. But no formal diplomatic complaint has been made, and while all kinds of stories have been buzzing on certain media outlets, we haven’t heard from the man himself. We got the opportunity to do that today when we met him at the Sandhill Community center. Here’s what he said:..
Jules Vasquez
"What happened in Taiwan?"
Hon. Edmund Castro
"My brother, that’s pure foolishness. I heard about this foolishness when I got back home and I don’t believe in slandering anybody, so whoever is slandering me I don’t pay any mind to slander them back because that is not my style. I know my heart is clean. I know I didn’t do anything out of the ordinary - I didn’t do anything wrong. So, wherever that foolishness came from I can’t respond to something I don’t know about."
Jules Vasquez
"Were you aware that a female protocol officer had made a complaint of sexual harassment against you? No one brought that to your attention?"
Hon. Edmund Castro
"None at all. We would dealt with that then because Taiwan is a nation of cameras and they could run all kind of cameras. As a foreign minister or diplomat we are well guided with cameras."
Jules Vasquez
"Did you make any unwelcome advances to this protocol officer?"
Hon. Edmund Castro
"No sir, I don’t know where that came from and if I may have said something that they took out of context - I told the PM that I am a big man - I could apologize to anybody if I say something and they took it out of context. I know my heart is clean."
Jules Vasquez
"Was there any perhaps consensual relationship?"
Hon. Edmund Castro
"No such thing."
Jules Vasquez
"So nothing went on with you?"
Hon. Edmund Castro
"None at all."
We’ll have more from Castro later as we ask him about the Boost Programme in his community.
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