John Saldivar Claims Old Bandits Company with William Mason is Dead

When the William “Danny” Mason affair exploded in July, the man most affected was then-Minister of National Security John Saldivar. It didn’t take twenty-four hours after his arrest for Saldivar to disassociate himself from the shady Canadian/Guyanese with many names and many doings. But News Five has obtained documents showing that Mason was a shareholder in the Bandits Sporting Club Limited, the holding company for the Belmopan Bandits Football Club. Saldivar and Mason were seventy-thirty partners in the company, registered on August eighteenth, 2015, at least a month before Saldivar learned of Mason’s past. He says he began disassociating himself from Mason at that time. However, Saldivar filed registration for another company, Bandits Sports, almost a year later on August fifteenth, 2016, after Mason had been arrested and jailed on allegations of kidnapping and murder. Which company owns the Bandits, and how deeply involved was Mason? We repeat for context what Saldivar said in the immediate aftermath of the Mason explosion and what Prime Minister Dean Barrow said today about what he knows of the disclosure, which isn’t much.

John Saldivar, Minister of National Security [File: July 26^th, 2016]

“I have not had any contact with Mr. Mason since last year, that’s what I’ve said and I stand by that.”

John Saldivar

Reporter

“Of course he might have caught feelings, so to say, when you severed your relationship with him. Was there any such thing?”

John Saldivar

“I don’t know, I haven’t spoken to him so I don’t know what his feelings were, I don’t know anything about that and I won’t make any assumptions about it.”

Reporter

“He was a contributor to your football club. Did he ever make any contact to you to say, “What’s going on? I contributed to you and you’re not talking to me anymore?”

John Saldivar

“I basically disassociated myself from him and I think that speaks for itself. I disassociated myself.”

Reporter

“Sir while you’ve admitted that yes there were contributions, can you give us an amount?”

John Saldivar

“Well it was over a period of time but I would say in excess of fifty thousand for sure. Semi-pro football is not a cheap venture as you know and he hasn’t contributed for the last two seasons. He is not a part of my organization anymore.”

Reporter

“Were there any conditions to that contribution?”

John Saldivar

“Conditions like what? No, no conditions. He represented himself as somebody who loves sports. He had been contributing to other semi-pro football teams in the country at the time and he decided he wanted to help my team.”

Reporter

“When he contributed to your football club, how was this done? Check? Cash? What?”

Dean Barrow

John Saldivar

“Cash.”

Reporter

“Didn’t that raised any flags?”

John Saldivar

“What kind of flags would it raise Marisol? In the general course of things, we solicit sponsorships for various activates that we do, not just football but even community activities. Many of these are given by cash, that didn’t raised any red flags at all and like I said, it was one payment of fifty thousand dollars, it was over a period of time.”

Prime Minister Dean Barrow

“I’ve heard something; I have not been briefed on that. It is as with the Lands matter when you asked me on Thursday I had not been briefed; I have now been briefed and that is what the press conference is about this afternoon. Similarly in terms of what you are saying in respect of Minister Saldivar, as soon as I have been properly briefed, I will come to you and deal with that in the same way as I am going to deal with the lands matter this afternoon.”

This evening, the Minister issued a statement claiming that the “supposedly sensational document” isn’t sensational at all. He contends that he had never denied entering into an agreement with Mason as a partner in sponsoring the Belmopan Bandits Football Club, nor that he received monies from Mason for same. Having acted in, “an above board transaction with no hidden agendas,” he began to disassociate himself from Mason upon finding out about his possible fraudulent activities, and stopped the process of registering the new company name with FIFA. Saldivar states that he continued using the original club name Belmopan Bandits Football and Sporting Club (and not Belmopan Bandits Sporting Club Ltd) until December, when it was renamed Bandits Sports. However, the company under its new name was not officially registered until August twenty-second, 2016 to meet FIFA’s registration date. The old company registered with Danny Mason, says Saldivar, never officially functioned and the allotment of the remaining nine thousand nine hundred and ninety shares was never done because of Saldivar’s change of heart. Saldivar closes by affirming that his sole involvement with Mason was concerning football.