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After months of waiting, Belizeans finally got to tune in and see the first day of the Senate hearings on the Immigration and Nationality Department. That happened today, and it was carried live on all the television stations. In today’s episode, the Senate Select Committee summoned Dorothy Bradley, the Auditor General herself, and she had to give preliminary testimony on her findings of mass irregular practices within the Ministry of Immigration.  

Her report had been the subject of great interest of those within the public, and great discomfort for the Barrow Government, since a number of Cabinet Ministers were named in the report. So, the stakes were high, and it obliged Dorothy Bradley to give a public accounting of her work for the first time since it became part of the public record.

We’ll show you what the Committee wanted her to answer, plus an interview she granted after the hearing. But, first the big news of the day was that the Auditor General took the opportunity to address the Senate, and she corrected the mistake she made in wrongfully naming House Speaker Michael Peyrefitte in her report. Now as you, she has an unresolved lawsuit pending, which Peyrefitte brought against her to do exactly this. Only, last week when the case went to court, there were talks of an out-of-court settlement, and the would have to do exactly what she did today. Here’s that moment from today, when she ran the gauntlet and acknowledged the mistake:

Dorothy Bradley - Auditor General
"At page 163 of my report of the special audited dated 31st May 2016 I included a list of table ZK of individuals who signed form 3B as recommenders although they were not lawfully authorised to do so. Among the list of individuals named in table ZK was Mr. Michael Peyrefitte as speaker of the house who signed the application of William Alden Lindo on May 30th 2013 as a 3B category recommender. It has been brought to my attention that section 56 2 of the constitution provides that if any person who is not a member of the house of representative is elected to be speaker of the house he shall by virtue of holding the office of speaker be a member of the house in addition to the 31 members of before said. It is clear that Mr. Peyrefitte’s name should not have been included in the list at table ZK and was done so in error. Any inconvenience caused to Mr. Peyrefitte is regretted. Save and except for that error I stand by my report."

As you saw in our story, House Speaker Michael Peyrefitte was sitting right there in the National Assembly closely monitoring when the Auditor General was reading her prepared statement, and as soon, as she had uttered the words he was waiting for, he left the hearing. We did get a chance to catch up with him just outside the door, and we asked him if this is the end of his dispute with Dorothy Bradley. Here’s what he had to say:

Hon. Michael Peyrefitte - Speaker of House of Representative
"It is indeed what I've been asking for from the very beginning and to hear her say it here today and to have it form a part of the record as the chairman said it exonerates me from what’s in the report and all I ever wanted was for my name to be cleared because I didn't do anything I was not supposed to do."

Daniel Ortiz
"Sir I know it's regrettable to you that it took so long for her to acknowledge what should have been something she should have done weeks ago."

Hon. Michael Peyrefitte - Speaker of House of Representative
"What she should have done many moons ago was that the minute it came up that I was not authorized to sign she could have called me or she would have written to me and I would have cleared it up right there and then. Of course as well when I wrote to her formally saying I have a complaint about the report in that aspect she could have simply written exactly what she read today and that would have been satisfactory. All I ever wanted was for the record to be cleared."

Reporter
"However she did need to seek legal advice."

Hon. Michael Peyrefitte - Speaker of House of Representative
"Well I don't know how much she needed to do to say. I think the constitution is very clear, a simple reading of it tells you exactly what you need to know and like I said when she first got the information it was incumbent upon her to check before you write that so I think we could have avoided all of this and I think this didn't have to be a topic of the inquiry but what has to be done has to be done."

About an hour later, after she had given her testimony inside, we caught Bradley on the steps of the National Assembly, and she granted a press encounter, taking a few questions before leaving. When we asked her about her correction of the error, she made it plain that she had gone as far as she was comfortable with early that morning. Here’s that short exchange.

Dorothy Bradley - Auditor General
"I made a statement saying that I found a part of the regulation that speaks directly to his signing and so I made a statement concerning that."

Daniel Ortiz
"What if there are those in public who feel that such a correction should have been something done a few weeks ago?"

Dorothy Bradley - Auditor General
"It isn't something I would argue, I simply made a statement."

Last week, when we spoke with Peyrefitte on the topic, he made it plain that if the error was publicly acknowledged, he would end his lawsuit. So, since that has happened, it’s most likely only a matter of time before he does so.