And over the 41 sessions of the Senate Hearings, the debate over the potentially corrupting influence of UDP politicians in the Department has been repeating over and over, sort of like a scratched CD.
Well today, it came up again, when Marin revealed that there was a special visa express line for applicants being recommended by UDP ministers and caretakers.
Marin suggested that it was put in place after everyone observed that she was being strict in the enforcement all application procedures. She first mentioned it in her prepared presentation, and so the Senate asked her about it:
Hon. Elena Smith, Senator
"You state that the application - you said and you quote 'all applications supported by ministers. Caretakers would come to the ministry for initial vetting and the ministry will then hand over to the director of immigration under confidential cover.' Could you expound on that please?"
Maria Marin, Former Acting Director of Immigration
"That is a quote taken from a document that was provided to me by the substantive minister, where he outlined the indications step by step and enumerated and if you allow me I will read from the document. It says 'discussion was held among the above mentioned persons with a view to determining a straight forward way of processing visa applications. After much discussion the following was decided. All applications supported by ministers-caretakers would come to the ministry for initial vetting. The ministry will then hand over to the director of immigration under confidential cover. 3) Ministers or caretakers shall not act as agents or sponsors, but simply as support for the applicant or sponsor.' And like that there are 14 enumerations."
Hon. Elena Smith, Senator
"And was that the normal process that these applications go to the ministry?"
Maria Marin
"No, that was not the normal process."
Hon. Elena Smith, Senator
"So when you refer here as "confidential cover" what exactly do you mean?"
Maria Marin
"They would come under cover memo and addressed directly from the CEO to the acting director. Copies of these memorandum was attached to the specific applications, because as far as I was concerned these form part of that application and so the memorandums were added on to the applications and the other supporting documents that came with it."
Hon. Elena Smith, Senator
"So then obviously it means that at the highest level - are you saying that at the highest level they were disregarding the process?"
Maria Marin
"That's the instructions that this document is giving."
Hon. Elena Smith, Senator
"Right. So you are agreeing that? They disregarded the process for these specific ones?"
Maria Marin
"Yes, because the application should have come to the department."
Hon. Mark Lizarraga, Senator
"But these people got to the head of the line, so to speak?"
Maria Marin
"Basically that was the consideration, because the ministry had asked that we expedite and so we conceding to the expediting within the 5 days as a consideration to the ministers."
Hon. Mark Lizarraga, Senator
"But you are saying under your time at no time did that 5 working day limitation stop you from doing full vetting?"
Maria Marin
"Right."
Hon. Mark Lizarraga, Senator
"You did not shortcut that process?"
Maria Marin
"At no time."
Hon. Mark Lizarraga, Senator
"And if the 5 days were not enough, what would happen?"
Maria Marin
"We would just have to wait."
Hon. Mark Lizarraga, Senator
"But you ensured that the full process was completed during your period?"
Maria Marin
"Yes."
So, now that Marin has finished testifying once again, the only remaining witness is Auditor General Dorothy Bradley.
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