7 News Belize

PM Catalogues All That Went Wrong With Nanes Schnitzer
posted (November 30, 2015)
While we were on the topic of diplomacy, the media took the opportunity to ask the Prime Minister about Mexican American Fugitive, David Nanes Schnitzer, who has apparently managed to escape from Belizean law enforcement. His case has caused Belize to offend Mexico, it's most friendly and cooperative neighbour to the north.

Overall, it's a major black eye for Belizean law enforcement because it took the cooperation of the US Marshals and the Belize police to capture Schnitzer. He was living on San Pedro under an assumed identity made possible by national identity documents he managed to get through fraud and falsified information.

But, this weekend, the Prime Minister revealed just how serious the multi-agency screw up was. He told us that a few months ago, the Mexican Government made an extradition request for Schnitzer. He explained that the Extradition Treaty Agreement between the two countries was faulty which meant that Schnitzer could not just be handed over by this avenue. From there, everything else went wrong:

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"I wasn't here. I knew before I went away that the Mexicans were anxious to get Nanes and we would have loved to simply send him across to Mexico. But we have due process. We have legal requirements that we must follow and in the course of trying to comply with due process requirements in this country, he was taken before the court and the court gave him bail. I have my own views about that determination of the court, but you know in this country we respect judges."

"In deed they have, as I am being informed sent a request for his extradition. It now turns out that while there is an extradition agreement between Belize and Mexico, it was never acted upon. It was never brought into force here in Belize and so that meant that we couldn't keep him on the basis of any extradition warrant. The Mexicans are very upset, understandably so, but we have to follow our rules and requirements. We have to follow due process as I've said. We have to comply with our laws."

Daniel Ortiz
"Sir, is it regrettable to you though that in principle, a fugitive has escaped from the confines of Belize or have pays to have escape from the confines from law enforcement in Belize?"

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"Of course it is regrettable. I said I would have wanted us to hand him over from the time he was first found in Belize. But there are court rulings. I am not sure whether it was our government or another administration did something like that and the courts said you can't do that. So we respect the law in this country. I very much regret that we were not able to simply ship him out to the Mexicans, but I do not regret the fact that we choose to follow the law. Even at the whisk of offending our best neighbor. We choose to be true to our culture or legal requirements, our democracy."

Daniel Ortiz
"Sir, there has been an issue raised that because this man is such an infamous figure, Belizean authorities ought to have been running some sort of surveillance on him the immediate moment he was bailed."

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"You have to ask the police about that. It was my understanding that that was supposed to have been done. You really need to find out from them how he was able to give them the slip. I am not yet briefed on that. You are perfectly correct. That was the instruction - shadow this man. Because you would have found some other charge or some other basis on the law to detain him again. But he obviously gave police the slip."

So, once again, the Barrow Government is confronted with evidence of corruption at one of the Departments. Schnitzer, who is wanted in Mexico for 42 million dollar in fraud, managed to get every single ID under the assumed name David Banes. While it is most likely that one document allowed the others to be procured through legal means, either his permanent residency or Nationality papers may have been gotten through a backdoor operation at the department.

Even Immigration Minister Godwin Hulse had to concede in the Gazetted revocation of his nationality that Schnitzer was registered, quote, "by means of fraud, false representation and the concealment of material circumstance and by mistake…" End quote.

The Prime Minister said that the revelation is worrying:

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"When there are things that make clear that there is obviously a level of collusion not to say corruption on the part of public servants. I don't mean just civil servants. I am talking about everybody in the public service including ministers. When anything happens that demonstrates that things can be done to circumvent the law in consequence of the collusion of persons in authority. That is very distressing, it is very upsetting. Of course we are never going to have a pure society, but it is still - it leaves me extremely distraught."

Reporter
"Will there be any investigation at the level of the Ministry of Immigration?"

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"There is already an investigation. Remember he had nationality and that was revoked."

Reporter
"Will there be any investigation going on as to how he got that nationality?"

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"We know how he got it. That's why the minister revoked it. Because the minister was able to determine that in fact it was improperly had that, documentation support put forward in support of the nationality application was fraudulent. I am sure that every effort will be made to bring before the public service's commission whoever might have been responsible for processing/approving presumably knowingly that false documentation."

Schnitzer jumped bail last week when he did not sign in with San Pedro Police last week Monday as part of the conditions of his release.

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