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Hon. Heredia Rejects Auditor General’s Findings
posted (September 8, 2016)

Turning now to the Auditor General’s report – that’s still a hot button issue – and Tourism Minister Manuel Juniour Herredia is in the hot seat tonight.  Two weeks ago he breezily volunteered to us that he won’t lose any sleep over what’s in the Auditor General’s reports because there’s nothing in there to implicate him in wrongdoing. Â  Well since then a whole lot has surfaced, especially in the nationality report, where the man called Junior almost got a whole chapter dedicated to him – and if that chapter had a name, it would be “A Whole Lotta Harmouche’sâ€￾.  That’s because the Rural South Area Rep seems to have enjoyed a special relationship with this particular Lebanese family in San Pedro.  The Auditor General concludes, quote, “We observed that there appeared to be a special connection between the Honorary Consul of Belize in Lebanon, Khodr H. Harmouch and Hon. Manuel Heredia in order to have…three members of the Harmouch/ Harmouche family acquire Belizean nationality.â€￾  It also notes that in one case, quote, â€œMinister Heredia requested File for processing a year before applicant had qualified for Nationality based on his file.â€￾

Jules Vasquez
"We have now seen deeper into the report where you have multiple recommendations and a very irregular one to Mr. Ammar Harmouch with the back dated nationality so that he could get his passport. What say you now?"

Hon. Maniel Heredia Jr. - Minister of Tourism
"Well Jules first of all let me say I must apologise for not listening carefully to the question. I thought you were referring to the visas and the visas indeed they can look over there one, no more than two but I said I apologise because I didn't listen carefully to the questions. Because when it comes to nationalities our jobs as representatives is to recommend our people to make sure that we take care of our people. It is not to say that this minister or I don't know about the other colleague but I did not have anything over there to say grant this person his nationality regardless of what; I just recommended. There are two persons that recommend in every nationality, in this case it was myself, I don't know if the mentioned the other person but they are two recommenders. If they didn't mention the other person then something is wrong. But again there is nothing illegal in what I did in recommending everybody, I do that on a day to day person with different type of things; a job, with visas to the US embassy sometimes, it's just the character of the person that I am recommending."

Jules Vasquez
"Mr. Ammar Harmouch this was a very irregular process because he got his nationality post-dated so that he could legitimise his passport which had already been issued. Do you remember this person? Do you know Ammar Harmouche?"

Hon. Maniel Heredia Jr. - Minister of Tourism
"I practically know all the Harmouch it's a family of about 100 that live on the island."

Jules Vasquez
"I hear you visit them regularly."

Hon. Maniel Heredia Jr. - Minister of Tourism
"Not so because I don't have time to be visiting and they are no special friends with me Jules, I can guarantee you that. Special friends have approached me but I'm very careful with whom I associate myself. I will try to help every single person in this country regardless of party, religion or creed and in particularly for this. If there is anything what ever happened with Mr. Ammar Harmouch then that is not my fault. I am not the one that scrutinises these applications, I am only recommending. If something is wrong and many times it has happened; ministers look at the application that was submitted by this person that you recommended. Lacks this, he hasn't made his interview then they will call this person to do what is left but there is nothing that you or anybody can say or pin point in that report that says Minister Heredia instructed or directed anyone to do otherwise."

"My personal belief,  I think that audit report is totally out of order. One Jules if there was something wrong or illegal that I did the job of the Auditor General was to call up on me and say Minister what do you have to say about this irregularity that are there? And I would have willingly testify and tell her what is it that happened; I was only a recommender. I personally believe that I will clear my name; I am looking with my legal person to make sure that what I can do to clear my name because you know it, this whole country know it that Manuel Heredia Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation has been an honest person, has nothing to hide. What I have done during my career is to help people; it's about helping and making sure that our people have a better way of living in this country."

Jules Vasquez
"But sir apparently the Auditor General doesn't know it. She writes that Minister Heredia received 52 visa stickers bearing serial numbers, those are listed dated 7 September 2012. These visas were for the OIC of immigration San Pedro, no authorisation come from Minister Heredia to have signed and receive those 52 visas on behalf of the officer in charge San Pedro."

Hon. Manuel Heredia Jr. - Minister of Tourism
"Again she is way out, totally out of order on that."

Jules Vasquez
"Did you receive those?"

Hon. Manuel Heredia Jr. - Minister of Tourism
"Jules this is what I do I regularly do services for my constituency. Not from now but from the opposition days they have given me packages from the office of the immigration in Belmopan to deliver to the San Pedro immigration office, to the police or whatever. Likewise from San Pedro they have given me sealed packages to deliver; I will never go about looking for what is inside that package. It is a job for making sure that the services and the efficiency of the constituency is served and that is exactly what... I cannot tell you if they were visas, if they were immigration applications, if they were passports or so. I will never interfere in trying to open anything that has been given to me to be delivered to a certain person or a certain department."

Jules Vasquez
"So then you say you only conveyed these visas? Because the Auditor General's report says it like you have the visas that the OIC mi fi get but you got it."

Hon. Manuel Heredia Jr. - Minister of Tourism
"That again I will see what my attorney has to say. If that is what she is saying, I can guarantee that was not so. All that I do and all I have ever done is to deliver sealed packages from Belmopan or from Belize City to the offices in San Pedro."

Today we asked Herredia about his involvement in those irregularities. First off, he explained that his casual dismissal of the reports two weeks ago was the result of a misunderstanding:…

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