Whistleblower Says Minister Castro is Malpago…

Edmund Castro

Minister of State Edmund ‘Clear the Land’ Castro is hard pay.  That’s what whistleblower Alvarene Burgess seems to think.  After all, it has been almost a month since the junior minister abruptly withdrew a defamation suit against Burgess and Great Belize Productions/Channel Five in the Supreme Court.  Castro took Burgess and this station to court after Burgess went on national television exposing a visa hustle in which the Belize Rural North Area Representative facilitated the unlawful sale of Belizean visas to foreign nationals whom he had never met. After he withdrew the case on July third, Castro was ordered by the court to foot legal expenses on both sides of the claim.  The bill on Burgess’ end came up to thirty thousand dollars; a sum, she says, is yet to be defrayed.  This afternoon, we caught up with the livid whistleblower at the Supreme Court where she was seeking advice on how to proceed with further action against Castro for delinquency.

Alvarene Burgess

Alvarene Burgess, Whistleblower

“What happened is that after Minister Castro had dragged me to court, he was the one who decided that he was going to withdraw the case and by withdrawing the case he has to pay all the court costs, mine and his.  Mine came up to a total of thirty thousand dollars because what happened is that withdrawing the case was a sensible move for him because he knew that the judge was going to hand down a decision that day that was not in his favor because I told the truth in court.  And up to today, tomorrow is going to be four weeks to be exact that he was to pay this money and he hasn’t paid a single cent as yet.  And why I am annoyed Isani is because last night, I have proof, one of his family [members] called him and mentioned about making a payment to Mrs. Burgess through the court and he mentioned to his family that Mrs. Alvarene don’t need, “What does Mrs. Burgess need any money for?”  That’s not Mr. Castro’s business what I need any money for, he owes me money after he took me to court and he has to pay and now he’s being very, very delinquent.  I came here today because I am seeking advice on what next step I can do, maybe probably take out a civil suit or an enforcement order or something for him to pay this money because when Arthur Saldivar and Mr. Vernon went to court they had only two weeks to pay sixty thousand dollars and this is only thirty thousand dollars that Mr. Castro has to pay.  What is the hold up?  And when he was charging me for those visas on a weekly basis I had to pay him ten thousand or twelve thousand dollars.  So you want to tell me that he cannot come up with this thirty thousand Isani?”