Earlier in the newscast, we showed you our interview with Tourism Minister Manuel Heredia in which he joined the press on a tour of Norwegian Cruise Line's Harvest Caye island getaway. That gave us the opportunity to ask him about his name being brought up in yesterday's Senate Select Committee Hearing.
The Senate, as we told you, is going through the Auditor General's report on the Immigration Department with a fine tooth comb. Yesterday, the portion of her report addressing allegations against Heredia came up. You'll remember it as the section on the Visas where according to the Auditor General, Manuel Heredia signed for 52 visa foils.
You'll also remember that the Auditor General also noted in her report, 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." It also notes that in one case, quote, "Minister Heredia requested File for processing a year before applicant had qualified for Nationality based on his file."
What the Senate Committee wanted clarification from the Auditor General, however, is why she flagged Heredia for taking custody of those 52 visa foils. Here's that portion of yesterday's hearings:
As you heard, the Auditors did not follow up to find out whatever happened to those visa foils, so we asked Heredia about it. He said that he delivered them to the Immigration Officer in Charge in San Pedro, and he insists that he did nothing wrong. Here's how he put it:
The Senate hearings resume on January 4th.
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