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The Chairman brought the case up to Meighan yesterday, and here's how that conversation went on why the different sections should have been cross-referencing applications to weed out fraud and forgery:

Hon. Aldo Salazar, Chairman - Senate Select Committee
"The reports contains several instances of irregularities in relation to the issuance of nationality. But I want to look at one, in particular, just as an example. There is no reason why I picked this one, but this has to do with the application of Jinchen An, which involves your intervention. Paragraph 12, discusses this application. What is irregular about this is that application for visa was approved I think one month before the nationality was granted and annotation at paragraph 12.7 in the Auditor's General's report says that they observed the visa was approved by you based on a letter from Minister E. Contreras. This is an application where the person was touted as someone coming to Belize to invest along with another individual investor who was already in Belize. But it turns out that the record in his passport shows that he was here from 2007 as a cook and then in 2012 he was supposed to come and he had a letter which said that he was an investor. And then shortly thereafter on 30th November, 2012, he was given Belizean nationality. But a review of the file by the Auditor General displays that he had given one passport number for the visa and in relation to nationality, he had submitted a copy of different passport with a different number and by comparing it, it wasn't adding up at all and in fact the second passport which the Auditor General chooses to call bogus (I would use different language), but the second passport which may have been a fraudulent document, was also used the same picture, the same number was also used for another application."

"My concern is that if each section had been speaking to the other. If there was communication between nationality and visa, then you would have been able to pick up these things. Because, for one he had given which we believe is the correct passport, for the other one he has issued a fraudulent passport number and a picture which was used for another application."

"There is also the question whether the person was a male or female. Some was referred as female in one instance. Was there any synchronization between the two sections in order to determine this?"

Ruth Meighan - Former Director of Immigration
"Not that I am aware of."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay - PUP Senator
"The other point that the chairman raised with you is the fact that Minister Santiago Castillo. You know him?"

Ruth Meighan
"Yes."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay - PUP Senator
"Look at page 26: "Dear Miss Meighan." That's you. "This letter serves to introduce Jinchen, one of my supporters and a constituent. Jinchen applied for her nationality. I support her application.""

Ruth Meighan
"Yes."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay - PUP Senator
"That doesn't surprised you when Jinchen is a man?"

Ruth Meighan
"I don't get to see Jinchen sir. I am sorry."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay - PUP Senator
"There is no document on the file. This is now nationality, that would show you that the picture."

Ruth Meighan
"There is a photocopy of that picture that is given at the time the application file comes to my desk."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay - PUP Senator
"Yes. So you would know."

Ruth Meighan
"I don't know if I could say whether looking at the picture whether it's a male or female. And I probably wasn't looking to see if it is male or female person at the time I am dealing with the application."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay - PUP Senator
"So you are just granting this right so?"

Ruth Meighan
"No, not right so. Based on the information that's presented. But then on each application..."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay - PUP Senator
"It does not matter to you director that a minister is writing to you telling you that he knows this person and referring to it as a woman, when in fact it is a man."

Ruth Meighan
"Like I said, the letter is on the file with other information. I wouldn't be looking in details at the minister's letter to determine whether or not the person would get the application. What I would be looking at are the other information that's provided to say that the person has been here for the specified period according to the criteria that we have set out."

"So the male of the female part of it on the minister's letter - I wouldn't have paid any attention to that, honestly."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay - PUP Senator
"Right. But the minister is telling you that the person, it says: "One of my supporters and a constituent and I support her application." So it is not a question of a picture. This minister is telling you that he knows this woman and you are reviewing an application for a man. The point we are trying to find out from you, because we are concerned about the integrity of our nationality system and our passports and the question I am trying to get from you as the person who is approving. It matters not to you that on the very file you are looking at, the minister is saying I know this woman who is applying, I support this woman's application and you are approving an application for a man?"

Ruth Meighan
"I am saying to you sir that may have been a typographical error, but I am also saying to you that at the time the application came to me, the file itself would have indicated whether this person was a male or a female."

Hon. Aldo Salazar, Chairman - Senate Select Committee
"For me, I am pretty certain as to what was happening in this entire thing here. I don't know how much longer we have to continue. Because from what I am seeing, someone, some people were manipulating the system to get visas."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay - PUP Senator
"Do you accept that?"

Ruth Meighan
"Yes."

Hon. Aldo Salazar, Chairman - Senate Select Committee
"The report is showing us that visas were being - there were some loopholes and they were able to manipulate that - they got the visas and then shortly after that, based on what I am seeing here from Jinchen An, they were able to falsify passports, stamps, and various things which would show as of the person had been here from said 2007, 2003 - whatever it was and based on what was there, then the nationality was obtained and that seems to be the prevailing theme throughout this entire thing. I don't really feel that we need to go into specifics, because all of them are really the same. That's what was happening. And I feel that one of the major loopholes, what made the system lend itself to this abuse is because there was no correlation between the sections. Would you agree with that?"

Ruth Meighan
"Yes."

Hon. Aldo Salazar, Chairman - Senate Select Committee
"If there was only a basic comparison when somebody is applying for nationality with visa, when this person get the visa then this would not have occurred or should not occur. I think it would have been more difficult to occur. So I can say with confidence that I would want to include that in the recommendations."

We note that Jinchen An - who is a male - received glowing introductions from no less than two ministers. Erwin Contreras wrote on 20th September 2012, quote, "I wish to invite you and your group of Investors to visit our beautiful country of Belize….It is therefore my distinct pleasure to formally invite you and your group to visit Belize at the earliest convenience.

But in his file there's another letter dated 13th September 2012 purportedly from Santiago Santino Castillo, who describes Jin Chen An as a female who is, quote, "one of my supporters and a constituent. I support her application (for nationality).

Meighan's time in the hot seat is now over, and she is being expected to produce a written review of all the Auditor General's recommendations, indicating if she disagrees with any, or if she believes any could be improved. Senator Eamon Courtenay also advised her to read the reports thoroughly, and submit in writing anything she disagrees with, or she believes may be misrepresentations of her actions while as Director.