Elvin Penner
On Thursday, Minister of State with Responsibility for Immigration, Elvin Penner, was fired for his alleged involvement in a scandal at that department. News Five has confirmed that the termination of Penner is related to the nationality certificate and a passport which was processed and issued to South Korean national. That person has been identified as Kim Wong Hong, who is under investigation by Interpol. Wong Hong was detained in early August and the passport was issued in early September while he was in detention in a Taiwanese lockdown. The Prime Minister was sufficiently convinced of Penner’s complicity to fire him immediately on Wednesday. Today, News Five travelled to San Ignacio in an attempt to find Penner. First, we checked his political office, but were told that he rarely goes there. When we checked at his home, his government ride was parked outside, a brand new Hummer was parked inside, but he was nowhere to be found. Thanks to our colleagues at Krem News today there is word from Minister of Immigration, Godwin Hulse. He states that the decision to terminate Penner was the Prime Minister’s alone, and credits the new systems at the Immigration Department for unraveling this latest scandal.
Via Phone: Godwin Hulse, Minister of Immigration
Godwin Hulse
“Clearly the appointment and/or acceptance of any resignation by any minister is a matter for the Prime Minister. Myself as substantive Minister responsible for the department is to ensure administratively that the department functions smoothly. I have taken the position that we will carry out within the department a thorough and detailed investigation of public officers involved in the issuance of this particular passport and what their role way, and that is where we are going. The systems that we have put in place to ensure the integrity of the passport are working and will continue to work. Wherever we find that there are any flaws we will upgrade those and we ask the public to bear with us even though it seems a little inconvenient at times how passports are issued. I as the Minister intend to maintain the integrity of the Belizean people and to ensure that nothing untoward happens to in any way degrade that…and to ensure that when you present a Belizean passport anywhere in the world you can be proud of the document you carry. We’ve put in processes to ensure that including a stepped up data capture process, an approval process, etc. right along the way. That stems from the fact that previously there were allegations of passports being issued to all and sundry with only the signature of a Justice of the Peace. It is those improved systems that enabled us to identify that maybe something may have gone awry with the issuance of that particular passport and that is how we are able to follow up clearly our sequence of events. As I said to you earlier the investigation is underway and I do not intend in any way to jeopardize that by prematurely releasing any information…just to say that we’re on top of this, and we’ll get to the bottom of it clearly…but to assure the public that our systems are intact and we’ll move forward.”
As we reported on Thursday, Penner told us by text that he has no comment at this time, but was appointed by the people of his constituency so will continue to serve them to the best of his ability. This morning, the People’s National Party weighed in on the firing of the Minister of State. While it commends the P.M. for taking swift action, the PNP says that if Penner has violated any law, then he must be held accountable like any other citizen would be. The PNP also calls on the government to undertake a comprehensive audit of the Ministry of Immigration and nationality that was obtained illegally must be revoked.
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