And finally tonight, we go back to Hulse's conversation with Courtenay about backdoor operations that may have been taking place at Immigration. Courtenay told him and viewers tuned in that an informant has come forward to describe a hustle where there was wholesale forgery of stamps and signatures to dupe the Immigration Officers into thinking that persons qualified for nationality, when they did not.
It's supposedly an election hustle for votes, and here's how that Hulse answered that one:
Eamon Courtenay - Senator for the Opposition
"A man came to my office and explained to me that he worked on behalf of UDP ministers to get nationality for people who did not qualify. And he explained to me that all he needed was the person's passport and he would decide that this person is going to be in Belize for 7 years. He knows who was the director at that time. He knows what kind of stamps were being used at that time and he takes the person's passport. So once he has that the easiest thing is to manufacture the wet stamp, stamp it and put it that you entered the country at a particular date. You know who the director was and if necessary you put in a signature that looks like the director's number and he said he did many of those. So when we looked at October 2011 - February 2012 when roughly 2,000 people got nationality. Many of whom did not qualify and we say let us investigate those files. It is quite likely, based on what this gentlemen told me that we are going to find copies of passports that will show stamps of people entering the country more than 5 years ago etc., in order to qualify."
Godwin Hulse - Minister of Immigration
"I have heard that story before. I don't know your informant is, but I have heard similar stories that all of this was done. Because we have to recognize what you said Senator Courtenay that at that time, obtaining nationality was under ordinarily resident which did not mean anything more than you had to be in this country, but that open that tremendous hole for people to do exactly what you said - stamp back etc., The introduction of PEARS that required now the eye, the finger detection at the airports and also MIDAS was also an attempt to try to stem that. I also heard as you rightly said, of people whose passports were just simply wet stamp back a couple of visits etc., to look like they have been here 4-5 years. No permanent residents, because it was not required. It was ordinarily residents. So yes, to answer your question those require some investigations."
Eamon Courtenay
"Senator I want to be clear. I understand you are committing the resources, but I am getting the impression that you believe that we should draw a line, grant absolution to all those who came before that and ensure that going forward no mistakes are made or as much as humanly possible. You would support a recommendation from this committee that a forensic audit be done on this period with respect to nationality and that anybody who does not qualify, the law should takes its course in terms cancellation/revocation of that nationality."
Godwin Hulse
"Yes."
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