More damning information in the Auditor General Report on immigration scandal

The interim report of the Auditor-General Dorothy Bradley was leaked to COLA two weeks ago and handed over to the media this week. It has now made its way before the court, forming part of the disclosure in today’s hearing. The document, or at least the portion we received, is twenty-seven pages long and is the report of an investigation into the Immigration Department for the period April 2011 to September 2013. It is chock full of irregularities, breaches of procedure and what the audit team calls prosecutable offences. It outlines the role of former Minister of State Elvin Penner and other persons in the facilitation of nationality certificates for persons who did not qualify. And it very specifically gives credibility to COLA’s assertion that there is indeed a cover-up. Mike Rudon has been looking through the report and has a first look at a very telling and troubling report.

Mike Rudon, Reporting

The Auditor-General’s interim report, dated March nineteenth, 2014, was handed over to the Ministry of Immigration and to the Office of the Prime Minister. The Auditor-General, even before getting into the meat of the report, makes pointed mention that her team was pushed around when trying to get record. On Page one, she states that, “Mrs. Maria Marin has demonstrated blatant disrespect for my office.” On Page two, she writes that, “The Director, Mrs. Marin has consistently found ways to evade requests made for the accessing of records.” Director Marin is accused of not handing over vital documents when, “It was established from the onset that she had the requested records.”

To continue in that theme of dodge the ball and hide the candy…we turn to Minister of Immigration Godwin Hulse, prominently named in the report. In investigating the nationality certificates signed by Penner, the team requested the Permanent Residence application register and the file containing letters sent to Penner for his signature. The team reports on Page fifteen that, “We were told by the O.I.C., Mr. Gordon Wade and his assistant, Miss Ady Pacheco, that these records were with the Director, Mrs. Maria Marin. It was later revealed by them after checking with her that Minister Hulse had them and that she would request the records from him. To date, we have not received those vital records that would have assisted us in our investigation.” The team was also unable to get access to the oath of allegiance and swearing register, since they were told that Minister Hulse had it.

The report focuses on five persons whose documents were facilitated by Elvin Penner – Peter Pang, Mark Ching, Simon Truong, Yakup Sut and our old friend Won Hong Kim. It details massive irregularities in the process used to facilitate these documents, from nationality application to passport deliveries. None of these persons even remotely qualified for nationality. The same two recommenders, Martin Cal and Fausto Augustine from Belmopan signed for four of them. Three of them came in on the same United Airlines flight in 2013. Elvin Penner signed nationality certificates for all of them. All their files are conveniently missing.

On Page eight of the twenty-seven page report, the Auditor-General states, “Minister Elvin Penner, the Director of Immigration and Nationality Ms. Maria Marin as well as Peter Pang may have violated section twenty two of the Belizean Nationality Act.”  That assertion is made in all five instances. On Page ten, the Auditor-General writes, “We have to again point out that Minister Elvin Penner, the director of Immigration and Nationality Ms. Maria Marin as well as Marc Chin may have violated section twenty-two of the Belize Nationality Act.”

On page nine, the Auditor-General states that recommenders Martin Cal and Fausto Augustine may have committed a prosecutable offence when they signed for the persons under scrutiny. Later her tone gets stronger, as she states on Page fourteen that Martin Cal and Fausto Augustine committed a prosecutable offence when they signed forms for Simon Truong. On page seventeen she again states that both Cal and Augustine committed prosecutable offences when they recommended persons they could not have known for the time stated.

And on Page nineteen, the Auditor-General turns to the infamous Won Hong Kim documents. Elvin Penner signed as recommender, along with Alfonso Cruz Jr. and the Auditor-General states that both may have committed prosecutable offences.

We end today’s section by pointing out that the Auditor-General is recommending charges for Elvin Penner, Director of Immigration Maria Marin, former U.D.P. Mayor Alfonso Cruz Jr. and recommenders Martin Cal and Fausto Augustine. She clearly outlines the sections of the law that were breached, and provides the evidence to prove that they broke the law. None of those persons have been charged.

On Friday, we’ll take another look at the extensive report, which claims that even after the Won Hong Kim scandal, and even now, U.D.P. Ministers continue to go into the nationality section to facilitate documents for individuals. Tune in on Friday. Mike Rudon for News Five.

Of note is that the passport issued to Won Hong Kim has still not been returned to Belize and for that matter, it is not known if it was ever cancelled.