Tonight News Five takes to the visa trail again as we continue to assemble the pieces in a massive visa scheme. Our investigation so far has revealed the involvement of various senior U.D.P. ministers who facilitated the procurement of Belizean visas for Chinese nationals on a weekly basis. This scandal broke in September with the revelation that a former U.D.P. Minister of State, Elvin Penner, played a very central role in obtaining Belizean nationality and a Belizean passport for South Korean Wonhong Kim, imprisoned at the time in Taiwan. That revelation, followed by allegations of visa corruption levied at another U.D.P. Minister of State, Edmond Castro, have resulted in the opening of a humongous can of very big, senior political worms. Mike Rudon took a look at some of those worms and has the story.
Mike Rudon, Reporting
Edmond Castro, Elvin Penner, Ismael ‘Miley’ Garcia, Frank ‘Pawpa’ Mena, Rene Montero, Erwin Contreras, Candelaria Saldivar, Pablo Marin, Charles Gibson…these are just some of the names which have come up in an investigation into the issuance of visas based on written recommendations by highly placed political officials. What you see here is for the period May 2013 to July 2013 – more than one hundred and fifty visas approved on a weekly basis for UDP Ministers and even UDP caretakers like Ismael Garcia and Frank Mena. We attempted to bring it to the Prime Minister’s attention last week, but he seems to be a believer in doing away with the proverbial messenger.
Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
Dean Barrow
“I don’t watch the news but I know what you are saying though…no worry. And I know that you are…bwoy and I tell you as I indicated earlier in terms of the sugar industry dispute we have to talk man because if we simply followed our instincts, we’re not allowed to because if we were I would have banned all like Channel 5…”
But banning the messenger does not change the message, as unpalatable as it may be. And tonight it may be especially so, since we’ve gotten documents which show that Minister of Police John Saldivar did intervene on behalf of Chinese nationals. In this memo dated April thirtieth from the office of John Saldivar’s sister Candelaria Saldivar to Director of Immigration Maria Marin – Marin is asked to consider five applications submitted on behalf of John Saldivar.
In June Minister of Police John Saldivar recommended five more Chinese nationals, and in July an additional five.
John Saldivar
John Saldivar, Minister of National Security (File: Oct 31, 2013)
“In terms of persons wanting intervention…I think that has been explained over and over in the press that area representatives are called upon by their constituents to give recommendations for various government services and we do that in the normal course of things and I will repeat since you may not have gotten that memo…I am not in any way involved in any, any visa scam.”
Reporter
“But a legitimate visa in the normal course wouldn’t need a recommendation per se…a covering letter from a minister – even a generic covering letter…”
John Saldivar
“I have never issued any letter. I have simply called at times to try and see the process through but that’s about it. I have never written any letter. That has never occurred with me.”
It certainly occurred to us after we saw the memo submitting visa applications on Minister Saldivar’s behalf. Anyway, according to Prime Minister Dean Barrow, ministers can’t influence visa approvals so it makes no sense for them to be paid for those recommendations. Of course, we know that there are Chinese power-brokers in Belize willing to pay big bucks for visa facilitations.
Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
“How would anybody pay you for letters of recommendation when you cannot guarantee that they will get visas – you should check how many of the people for whom letters were written actually received visas. Go to the director and find out…”
In the documents we received, receipt numbers after approval are clearly listed, along with the names of ministers and political officials for whom the visas were facilitated. We’ll keep following the trail to see where it leads us.