Dean Barrow on SC’s Decision, “Politically it was sensible.”

John Saldivar

Former Prime Minister and U.D.P. Party Leader Dean Barrow also weighed in on the decision taken against Saldivar today.  While the esteemed attorney conceded that the proceedings were not done in a court of law, he did agree that decision was based on the appropriate course of action that could have been taken given the circumstance.

Dean Barrow

Dean Barrow, Former Party Leader, U.D.P.

“Mr. Saldivar wasn’t before a tribunal constituted under the laws of this country. He was before a party body and so, those who will say that legally such a decision is insupportable may have a point.  But at the end of the day, it’s not whether it’s legally justifiable, it is whether, politically it was the sensible, practical, correct thing to do.  And so, in my respectful view, the party is well able to justify on political grounds what was essentially a political proceeding.”

Isani Cayetano

“Does this, perhaps, spell a new direction for the United Democratic Party or do you perhaps foresee that it will go through another round with the NPC and him appealing and challenging the decision of the special committee?”

Dean Barrow

“Well, I think the latter.  And again, I started off by saying that if this was a purely legal proceeding being determined by a court of law or by a tribunal appointed under the laws of this country to conduct some sort of a public interest inquiry, I think Mr. Saldivar would never, could never have been found liable, to use that term, or guilty, in quotation marks, because it is true, the evidence, if there is evidence, is with the United States Department of State and they are not going to fool with Belize and provide certainly a political party with evidence that they may well say we got from a confidential informant and you can’t see this.”