7 News Belize

Yakup Sut, A Friend Of Penner
posted (May 11, 2017)
Visas and Citizen Kim weren't the only thing that the Senate Select Committee wanted answers on. They also discussed the case of Yakup Sut, who got a Belizean passport under dubious circumstances. This application process had elements resembling the Citizen Kim operation, which caused the Auditor General to have serious concerns about whether he qualified to get that passport or not.

In her report on Passport, right after discussing Citizen Kim, the Auditor General carefully laid out the findings on Sut, who was identified in the application file as a Turkish national. Once again, Penner was involved, but this time, he signed Sut's Nationality certificate. On the application form for recommenders, Penner claimed to know him for 3 years, the same length of time he claimed to know Won Hong Kim.

The Audit Team was not impressed with the copy of Sut's Turkish passport which did not show the date issued, and the expiration date. Their examination of the photograph on the Turkish passport revealed that was the very same photograph submitted with his passport application, and also the same one on his nationality certificate. The audit team believes that the same photograph has been submitted for all official purposes pertaining to his application for a Belizean passport.

Once again, Erwin Robinson, who handled the Won Hong Kim application, also accepted Yakup Sut's passport application as the counter clerk. So, these circumstances have caused the Audit Team to doubt the validity of Yakup Sut's passport application, and yesterday, the Senate Committee challenged Penner on it. Here's that back and forth:

Hon. Aldo Salazar
"Do you know a person by the name of Yakup Sut?"

Elvin Penner
"Yes sir."

Hon. Aldo Salazar
"How do you know him?"

Elvin Penner
"Through business relations."

Hon. Aldo Salazar
"Where is he from?"

Elvin Penner
"He is from Turkey."

Hon. Aldo Salazar
"Okay, where did you meet him?"

Elvin Penner
"The first time I met him was in Germany and I also met him in Los Angeles, USA."

Hon. Aldo Salazar
"There is nationality certificate which according to the auditor general was fraudulently issued to Yakup Sut. This nationality certificate was signed by you. It appeared that Minister Penner has backdated Mr. Yakup Sut certificate. Do you first of all recalled this application for nationality?"

Elvin Penner
"I vaguely recalled it yes."

Hon. Aldo Salazar
"Did you backdate the certificate of nationality?"

Elvin Penner
"I did not backdate the certificate."

Hon. Aldo Salazar
"Can you explained why say if the serial is really a period in August, why under any legitimate circumstace it would have the series from June?"

Elvin Penner
"Well all I can say is that I did not backdate that nationality. The only explanation would be that perhaps the files were not used in sequenced."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay
"Do you understand clearly what the auditor general is saying about Yakup Sut's application for nationality?"

Elvin Penner
"In terms of it being backdated?"

Hon. Eamon Courtenay
"Did Mr. Sut qualify for Belizean nationality?"

Elvin Penner
"As far as I can recall he did. If you would locate the file itself you would see that all physical evidence indicating his qualifications for a nationality were in that file, minute by Mr. Wade, minute by Ms. Marin before I signed that nationality."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay
"You did the due diligence on his file?"

Elvin Penner
"Yes I did."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay
"Did you disclose to anyone that you knew Mr. Sut before you did the due diligence?"

Elvin Penner
"No I did not."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay
"What business relations you had with Mr. Sut?"

Elvin Penner
"Again, it's somebody who expressed in living in Belize and investing in Belize."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay
"How this occurred? Somebody out of the blue call you and say bwai Mr. Sut wants to live in Belize? How did this come about?"

Elvin Penner
"No, I actually met him through a friend of mine in Los Angeles who I only know as Mr. Levonne."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay
"How do you spell that?"

Elvin Penner
"I don't know how you spell that."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay
"So your friend in Los Angeles called you or you met in Los Angeles? What happened?"

Elvin Penner
"It was a coincidence when we were visiting Mr. Levonne in Los Angeles that at the same time he was there and we end up meeting."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay
"You were a minister at this time?"

Elvin Penner
"Yes I was."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay
"You were a minister and minister responsible for immigration?"

Elvin Penner
"That I dont recall exactly what responsibility I has at the time."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay
"The conversation the first time you met this man, he expressed a interest in living in Belize?"

Elvin Penner
"He expressed an interest in investing and coming to live to in Belize."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay
"What type of investment?"

Elvin Penner
"I don't remember that it was specified."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay
"But in any event he came to Belize?"

Elvin Penner
"I could have only assumed that he did, because the nationality file indicated so."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay
"Your business Mr. Sut came to Belize and didn't contact you?"

Elvin Penner
"We had many telephone conversations and email conversations. I don't know where he was when we had those conversations."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay
"Did he ever contact you in Belize? Did you met him in Belize?"

Elvin Penner
"No, I never met him in Belize."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay
"So back to the file, did he qualify?"

Elvin Penner
"According to what was in the file, he met all qualifications."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay
"You satisfied of that Mr. Penner?"

Elvin Penner
"Yes I am."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay
"Are you sure?"

Elvin Penner
"Yes sir."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay
"Would you like to review the file again, or are you sticking with that answer."

Elvin Penner
"I would love to see the file."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay
"You love to see the file. Can you tell us how it is that the certificate of nationality just simply does not have the correct date, the correct serial number matching the date?"

Elvin Penner
"Like I said the only explanation I could give is that they did not follow the sequence of serial numbers the way they should have."

Home | Archives | Downloads/Podcasts | Advertise | Contact Us

7 News Belize