Sedi Elrington says private prosecution of Penner is a waste of time

Belizeans are anxiously awaiting their first look at the comprehensive Auditor-General’s report, whenever it is tabled. We have been told by COLA that it is damning and implicates Elvin Penner and other persons directly in the immigration scandal. We have also been told that in that report the Auditor-General recommends that Penner and others be charged criminally. But if the government has its way, that is unlikely to happen. That much has been made clear by Prime Minister Dean Barrow, who has gone to inordinate lengths to point out the difference between factual guilt and legal guilt. That position was supported today by Attorney-General Wilfred Elrington, who went further. He told News Five that the effort to privately prosecute Elvin Penner is a waste of time, and claims that the D.P.P. has not brought charges because she knows she would lose.

Wilfred ‘Sedi’ Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs

Wilfred ‘Sedi’ Elrington

“I can tell you as a lawyer practicing for over thirty-five years that that whole charade with Mr. Musa and others wanting to take a private matter to the Magistrate Court is a waste of time and a delusion of the Belizean people because as we have said, getting proof to establish it in court is almost impossible because of the legal requirements that are needed to prove cases of that type. It is the responsibility of the D.P.P. to bring actions of that type. She hasn’t done so because she knows she will lose. And it is not because it is political. You know how many times they have taken actions in court, alleged murder, over and over and the accused murderer walks free because of some technicality or evidentiary problem. Well we all know that in the case of the Penner matter there are serious evidentiary problems. The P.U.P. lawyers know that too. So that it is really in my mind only a charade for them to be leading people to believe that they can carry through a successful court action. It can’t happen. The D.P.P. knew that and it is for that reason that she didn’t deal with it.”

We note that on March seventh, more than three months ago, D.P.P. Cheryl Lynn Vidal had stated on the record that from the evidence gathered at that point she was considering a charge against Elvin Penner under Section one seven eight of the Criminal Code. That hasn’t happened. Vidal also stated, on the record, that she issued directives to the Police to gather further evidence which would enable the consideration of, in her words, yet another indictable offence. That, to our knowledge, has not happened either. And on the matter of the passport issued to Kim, we were also told that it still has not been returned to Belize.