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This is the first time that a private prosecution has been used against a member of the House of Representatives - and the first time that a sitting member of the House has been charged for an act of public dishonesty when his party is in government. And so, a day of history, and 7News was front and center when Penner turned up to court. Daniel Ortiz reports:

Daniel Ortiz reporting
Elvin Penner wasn't alone when he appeared at Belmopan Magistrate's Court. Flanked by an entourage of political muscle, presumably some of his supporters from Cayo Northeast, he made his way into the court room.

It looked like a political rally, but really, all that muscle couldn't protect Penner today, because he had to face the court and answer criminal charges by himself. For the first time since the Citizen Kim scandal first broke, Penner was brought before a Magistrate, where he sat in the dock reserved for accused persons, and he had to declare his innocence in open court for all to consider.

His arraignment was pretty swift, and in a carefully planned exit strategy, his political entourage tried their absolute best to bully the media from pointing the public lens on Penner.

It was in that triumphant scrum, as though he had won some election, that Penner made his way with his family to his vehicle, leqaving as wordlessly as he had come:

But COLA would have him answer to judiciary, the one body where he can't dodge or remain mute:

Geovanni Brackett - President, COLA
"The worse criminal will have supporters. It doesn't intimidate us to have a few people come out to support Penner - that doesn't intimidate us. You have seen COLA, we brought out couple hundreds to support Peck, I mean quite contrary to what people thought we could have done. Today is a very historical moment for the fact that a grass roots organization had to be the one that step in the gap to charge Elvin Penner. It doesn't get any bigger than that. That is historical. It's not that we want it to stop there but coming here today a lot of people thought that this case would have been thrown out. In fact a lot of people thought that COLA would have not gone anywhere with this matter. It was a very risky one when we applied for the two charges to be laid on him. But the writ of mandamus was issued it strengthen our stand and having the DPP to discuss coming on board, that allows us to give us some legitimacy to this matter. We are happy today that a step towards justice has been taken."

Kareem Musa - Attorney for COLA
"I want to commend Mr. Brackett and his COLA team. They have fought against intimidation. They have stepped up at a time when nobody else wanted to step up and I want to commend them. They have brought a former minister to be criminally charge before our courts this morning, criminally charge, you know, this is not a civil suit. He has been criminally charge and he was offered bail like a normal Belizean. There are many other ministers right now who think they are abnormal - they need to face the courts as well. So I want to commend Mr. Brackett on a job well done for bringing him to court today and this what Belizeans have been clamoring for and it's the first step in the right direction."

A first great step, but can it be followed through on?

Rowland Parks, reporter
"The file for Won Hong Kim has been raised by the minister as being missing. How important is that file for you to secure conviction in this matter."

Kareem Musa - Attorney for COLA
"It is absolutely important Rowland and I think that these ministers of government, they feel that they are doing something good by covering up Mr. Penner's deeds. But let me tell you something I think there is a paper trail of who took that file from the Immigration Department and let me tell you something, when they are covering up those smaller offences, what they are doing is creating bigger offences. They are committing bigger offences because that is theft of public documents from a department. So I think if the minister were serious he needs to investigate and I am talking about minister Godwin Hulse, he needs to see where that paper trail leads, who took it out of immigration and he needs to sign a statement that someone stole that file from the department and like I said from the information that I am getting they very well know who it is that took it. It is very important and I have to say this, that's the prosecution depends a lot on the commissioner of police, so over the next two months we will be demanding of the commissioner that he turn over the files - whatever investigation, whatever evidence he has gather he needs to turn over to COLA."

Nedal McLaren - Executive Member, COLA
"They have dug up a lot of stuff, but there is a big massive cover up. It's disgraceful, shameful, and tasteless - it's just a sad day. For me it's not a glorious day."

Brackett and McLaren were represented in court by attorney Kareem Musa, who will be acting as prosecutor in this matter. DPP Cheryl-Lynn Vidal attended the hearing, and observed the entire proceedings, while attorney Ellis Arnold represented Elvin Penner.

He goes back to court on May 29, where Musa has committed to provide Penner with disclosure documents. Now, that is an important aspect of the case, because on that date, Penner should be able to see exactly what evidence that they have which shows that he has acted criminally. If they are unable to produce solid evidence, Arnold can then start to press the court to throw out the case.

In order for Magistrate Ford to consider not doing that, COLA and Musa will have to provide solid reasons to why more time should be granted.

In a parallel development, the police criminal investigation is ongoing and they are seeking to question the other person who recommended the Citizen Kim passport, senior JP Alfonso Ponchis Cruz. He was questioned before, but police have been seeking him for questioning again. On Tuesday at the budget debate they almost detained him, but he escaped into the Ministry of Human Development, where he is employed. We have confirmed that led to a slight exchange of words between minister Anthony Boots Martinez and police who were waiting on the Ministry's doorstep when he was leaving.