Passport case will go to Supreme Court

It may not be dead but a case that appeared to be on life support made a major reappearance today, over two and a half years after the crimes took place. Walking in to Magistrate’s Court were Gabby Affif and Hassan El Sayed, two men accused of being at the centre of an illegal scheme to sell Belizean nationality and passports to unqualified customers around the world. In today’s proceedings the defendants were ordered to stand trial in the Supreme Court on a number of charges relating to immigration fraud. That trial is scheduled to begin on June twenty-first. At the same time, Director of Public Prosecution Kirk Anderson had the court revive a practise that had fallen into disuse, that of having witnesses bound over to appear at the trial. This means that those witnesses who have already given written statements to police have been informed that they will be called to testify and were given the approximate dates of the trial. This not only allows them to plan ahead but also puts them on notice that their presence is important and to think twice before not showing up or developing a sudden case of amnesia. News 5 understands that the number of witnesses expected to be called stands at forty-three and climbing. Most are present or former employees of the Immigration Department but others include police officers and some civilians. The immigration scandal broke in July of 2002 and while it potentially raises huge issues of national security and involves millions in lost government revenue, no government employee has ever been criminally charged or administratively disciplined. Former Director of Immigration Paulino Castellanos was retired with full benefits and former Minister responsible for Immigration Max Samuels received a lesser cabinet portfolio and eventually iced from Cabinet following the 2003 elections.