Francis Fonseca
The hour-long recording was leaked on Tuesday, but last Friday, the Prime Minister said that he was going to make it available. In it, Briceño claims that tens of millions of dollars were misappropriated during the previous P.U.P. administration by persons he referred to as the cancer in the party. He also claimed that government had lost millions of dollars in deals gone wrong. While not new, those allegations are not going to go away in a hurry, and certainly not before general elections which can be called at the whim of Prime Minister Dean Barrow.
Francis Fonseca, P.U.P. Leader
“Well, you know, the bottom line is that it’s an internal matter for the People’s United Party.”
Reporter
“It’s actually a public matter, sir.”
Francis Fonseca
“No, it’s not a public matter. It’s an internal matter. We are dealing with that and you have heard from the leaders of the party today that we are dealing with it and we are committed to working together moving forward. We will address that issue within our party and we are confident that we will be able to move forward as united as possible.”
Reporter
“Will Mr. Briceño be sanctioned?”
Francis Fonseca
“We discussed that today and as I said it’s an internal matter.”
Reporter
“But it’s a people’s party. It’s a public party.”
Francis Fonseca
“It’s a public party but there are many other issues. We are committed to working together. That is the message from today’s meeting.”
Reporter
“Do you think it’s hypocrisy from the government in the way they addressed this particular tape versus the Mark King tape. Do you think pressure should have also been put for the release of the Mark King tape?”
Said Musa
Said Musa, Former Prime Minister
“I find it amazing that the media has been preoccupied with this tape of John Briceño when in fact there is also a tape making serious allegations of murder against the Deputy Prime Minister of this country, and not a question has been asked by the media of the Prime Minister about that.”
Reporter
“Well it has actually.”
Said Musa
“Well I haven’t heard it.”
Reporter
“How do you feel about what Mr. Briceño said about you?”
Said Musa
“Well I feel that all he said was false. And I know it was false. What his state of mind was I don’t know. But I can tell you that we discussed it fully today and I am satisfied that we have a way to move forward now.”
News Five understands that the call for Briceño’s head was made by Deputy Leader, Julius Espat, who is named most specifically by Briceño in the recording. Briceño claims that while acting as National Campaign Manager in the 2012 general elections, Espat used money slated for national use to pump into his own area, Cayo South and that while the margin of victory for Espat was huge, two constituencies in Cayo lost by very small margins.
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