7 News Belize

Meighan Says Visa/Nationality Scam Was Perpetrated By Dept. Staff
posted (January 25, 2017)

And, that was only a snapshot of the wider fraud committed on the systems for approval of visa, nationality and passports at the Immigration Department. As we told you, the audit suggests that Former Immigration Director Ruth Meighan, or someone signing in her place, may have been approving visas for an applicant, and in a matter of days, weeks, or months, she was recommending these same persons to get permanent residency, long before they qualified for it.

Well, it's the same story with persons getting visas to travel to Belize, and then getting Belizean nationality shortly after.

Today, the Senate challenged Meighan on that. She insisted that she did not get to see any visa approval information, and based on what she had in front of her, she believed in the immigration officer who screened it before her, without contemplating the possibility that these documents could be forgeries. Here's the back and forth on that:

Hon. Eamon Courtenay - PUP Senator
"With respect to Nationality, it was not possible for a nationality certificate to be granted to an applicant without your involvement."

Ruth Meighan - Former Director of Immigration
"No, because I normally - I had to make recommendations to the Minister for Nationality."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay
"And what exactly is it that you considered in making a recommendation to grant, or not to grant?"

Ruth Meighan
"The recommendation would come to me from the officer in charge, indicating that the person met the requirements for nationality, from the officer in charge of the section."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay
"And what would you consider when you made a recommendation to the Minister to grant or not to grant?"

Ruth Meighan
"The information that is required, given to me by the officer in charge of the section."

Hon Eamon Courtenay
"Am I to understand that if - you said that if - you said that it was Mr. Wade?"

Ruth Meighan
"Yes."

Hon Eamon Courtenay
"If Mr. Wade sent you an application, from an applicant, that satisfies a picture, a reference, a medical - whatever was required -"

Ruth Meighan
"Yes"

Hon Eamon Courtenay
"And he says, all of those tick, tick, tick, tick, tick."

Ruth Meighan
"Yes."

Hon Eamon Courtenay
"You wrote to the Minister and say, I recommend granting nationality."

Ruth Meighan
"Yes."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay
"So, essentially, you are a rubber stamp? That's a question."

Ruth Meighan
"I don't know."

Hon Eamon Courtenay
"You don't know."

Ruth Meighan
"No."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay
"Miss Meighan, the Director of Immigration had a right to say, yes or no, at that point. Would that be correct?"

Ruth Meighan
"Yes."

Hon Eamon Courtenay
"Did you ever say no?"

Ruth Meighan
"Whenever a file would come to me without all the requirements, I would be returned for further vetting."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay
"And the converse is, as long as it had all the requirements, you said yes for all of them."

Ruth Meighan
"Yes."

Hon Eamon Courtenay
"Can you tell me whether, in relation to nationality, it's correct to say that you, as the director, would have to recommend that nationality be given, and the Minister decides, yes or no? Is that correct?"

Ruth Meighan
"Yes."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay
"Do you know of any case where you made a recommendation to a minister that nationality should be granted to a person, and the minister refused?"

Ruth Meighan
"No. I cannot recall any cases."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay
"As far as you can recall, the Minister approved every one that you made."

Ruth Meighan
"As far as I can recall, yes."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay
"Did you, when you made your recommendations to minister, were there any face to face meetings with any minister, seeking to verify what was on the file? Asking you why you recommended, what research, investigation did you conduct?"

Ruth Meighan
"No."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay
"So, you recommend, they approve."

Ruth Meighan
"Yes."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay
"All of them."

Ruth Meighan
"As far as I can recall, yes."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay
"Another rubber stamp? That's a question."

Ruth Meighan
"I don't know."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay
"You don't know... There appears to be a significant number of persons who came to Belize as visitors, by way of a visa, and shortly thereafter, got nationality and/or passports. You're aware of those instances."

Ruth Meighan
"Yes."

Hon Eamon Courtenay
"And in so far - certainly in so far as the visa is concerned, you are the director; you would have approved."

Ruth Meighan
"Yes."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay
"In so far as the nationality is concerned, if you are the director, you would have recommended to the Minister."

Ruth Meighan
"Yes."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay
"And my specific question to you is you are telling us that you did not - you were not aware that a few weeks, sometimes days, months before, you had approved a visa for X, and a few day, weeks, or months later, you're recommending to the Minister that this same person get nationality. You're not aware of that?"

Ruth Meighan
"No aware of it, sir. Because, like I said, the information on the visa was not presented to me at the time. A file comes to me saying that this person has met the requirement for nationality. And the nationality file shows that the person has been living in Belize for 5 years, based on the stamps that were in the passport, and those are the information that I have in front of me. And that's what I used to give the recommendations."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay
"You would understand why it would be difficult for certainly me to believe - and I suspect many other people?"

Ruth Meighan
"I imagine it would be, but, the volume of files coming to your desk at any given time, it's extremely difficult for you to. As a matter of fact, you're not even looking that false information would have been presented. That is it. The information that you have in front of you, you are of the firm believe that this information that's presented were accurate information."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay
"You occupied a very senior post."

Ruth Meighan
"Yes."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay
"A post of significant responsibility."

Ruth Meighan
"Yes."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay
"A post that affected the national security of this country. Is that correct?"

Ruth Meighan
"Yes."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay
"And - I'm trying to give you an opportunity, in that context, you are still saying to us that in discharge of your function, you took on faith, whatever was presented to you, all the boxes are tick, that's it, as far as you are concerned. You gave your stamp"

Ruth Meighan
"That is what I had to do, unless I was to go out and physically do the checks, I had to take the information that was presented to me, by my officers, as relevant and accurate information and based on that. I made my decisions."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay
"And you felt under no obligation to verify anything for yourself."

Ruth Meighan
"If I find there were need to get further clarifications, it was asked, but all the information that was presented to me, I took it to mean that those information were relevant and accurate. And based on that, I made my decision."

Hon. Ashley Rocke - Church Senator
"What I find it hard to believe, listening to some of the questions that were asked, that it sounds as if though you, the responsibility you held was very disconnected from your responsibility that you should have really been performing, which is, to make sure that people who come into our country, met the requirements of our country. You seem to have been aloof of that. Would you agree?"

Ruth Meighan
"No, I disagree with you because what I said to you is, my - I did not personally accept applications for visas. I did not personally vet the persons who are coming in. What I did was to give approvals based on the recommendations coming to my desk. And so, if an officer brings an application, and says that this person meets the requirements, and all the things are on file to indicate that this person meets the requirements, I give approval."

Hon. Ashley Rocke
"Within my mind, follow up would have been very crucial, seeing that, as was said by some other persons that there seemed to have been a system in that department, that was causing processes to be duly performed. So that, it would have been my responsibility, as the director, to make sure that as I am agreeing on these people who come to live in the country, that I am making sure that they fit the criteria required by the government, or the regulations."

Ruth Meighan
"Well, that is what do. I get the information from the officer indicating that the person meets the criteria for them to be given a visa."

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