On Wednesday's newscast, we showed you the testimony which Cabinet Secretary Carlos Perdomo gave to the Senate Select Committee. They were questioning him about the decisions that he made back when he was the Minister in charge of Immigration.
He had to defend himself against the allegation that he directed immigration officers to give a passport to an applicant who did not qualify. But, while he was testifying in the Senate Hearing, Business Senator Mark Lizarraga wanted to discuss the case a Palestinian national to who he granted nationality in June 2011, through marriage.
So, the audit team interviewed Gordon Wade, who was the head of the Nationality Section, and the audit report says, quote, "Mr. Wade said that he knew for a fact that the husband was not eligible for nationality but it was decided on by the then Director Miss Ruth Meighan and the Minister at the time, Mr. Carlos Perdomo… Mr. Wade told us that (the man) did not deserve Belizean nationality because he never set foot in Belize before…" End quote.
But, while that's what Wade told the Audit team in 2014, back in 2011, when he was reviewing the file, it appears that he did recommend to Perdomo that this man qualified for Belizean Nationality.
So, that's the case that Senator Lizarraga asked him about, and earlier in his testimony on Wednesday, Perdomo insisted he was strict in the way he granted nationality. He said that that he never granted nationality to persons unless he got a recommendation from both former Immigration Director Ruth Meighan, and former Nationality Head Gordon Wade. Senator Lizarraga challenged him on that, and here's how that conversation went:
As we told told you, Wade told the Audit team in 2014 that the individual didn't qualify for nationality, but on the nationality file, he wrote in 2011 that he should be granted nationality. That would mean that Perdomo did get the recommendation to grant him nationality from both persons has he was insisting.
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