Erwin Robinson Says He Took Won Hong Kim’s Picture for Passport
Former data entry clerk at the Immigration Department, Erwin Robinson, spent six years in the Public Service, five of those in Immigration, until he was suspended over the Won Hong Kim case. The jailed South Korean businessman was the recipient of Belizean nationality and a passport half-way across the world in Taiwan until a scheme was exposed that brought down Minister of State Elvin Penner. In his testimony, Robinson claims to remember taking a photograph of a Chinese man who supposedly passed himself off as Won Hong Kim. He also recalls that Penner was seen around the office putting his scheme into motion.
Erwin Robinson
Erwin Robinson, Former Data Entry Clerk, Immigration Department
“I went [through] the normal process; you enter the information, you take the picture.”
Aldo Salazar, Chair, Senate Special Select Committee
“So you took a picture; whose picture did you take?”
Erwin Robinson
“I just know that I took a picture of a man – that is all I can say, I wasn’t thinking about it that day to look at details as it was going through; but I don’t know if they set me up on another level that they put somebody there for that reason. Mr. [Godwin] Hulse failed to put in the interview that they gave me that the same day they called the people.”
Aldo Salazar
“Who is they?”
Erwin Robinson
“[Minister] Hulse and Miss [Maria] Marin.”
Aldo Salazar
“He and Miss Marin interviewed you after this whole thing came to light?”
Erwin Robinson
“Yes, sir and during the interview they had certain steps that they took; and they called the people that were at the Immigration Department; other people that were applying for a passport as well and they were asking, did you see Mr. Penner here today and people said yes; did you see him with a Chinese man and people said yes. And so like I said – the front desk; when you are applying at the front desk, you have to be there with your application; somebody can’t give [in] your application, you have to be there with your application, so the man was there with the application. When it came to me I did my job – I guess, maybe, I never probably took it into consideration, because when we do special favours for Minister and the like, they get a little more advance to get taken care of quicker.”
Aldo Salazar
“So you were doing this for Minister Penner?”
Erwin Robinson
“Not specifically for him; he was the Minister that came in that day.”
Aldo Salazar
“But you were aware of this – that Minister Penner wanted this to be done?”
Erwin Robinson
“Yes, sir. I was aware. I was aware.”
We’ll have more on Robinson’s testimony later in the newscast.
