Passport inquiry opens; may conflict with cops
The Commission of Inquiry appointed to investigate irregularities at the Immigration Department this morning began its balancing act. Chairman of the Commission, Paul Rodriguez, flanked by Bishop Sylvester Romero Palma and accountant Mark Hulse, called the meeting to order at approximately nine a.m. with testimony from its first and only witness of the day, Director of Public Prosecutions Kirk Anderson. Anderson told the commission that his primary concern was that the probe might interfere with the ongoing police investigation, and cited the examination of crucial documents like the one thousand, two hundred applications for Belizean citizenship submitted between January fifteenth and July thirty-first. At the moment, those documents are in the custody of chief investigator Mario Vernon and should the commissioners ask to review them, they must do so in the presence of Vernon because, according to Anderson, those forms would most likely be exhibits in several criminal prosecutions which may be forthcoming. Secondly, Anderson told the commissioners that their review of those forms must only be that: a review. The D.P.P. says it is the duty of the police to determine whether the information presented is true or false, and the commission would overstep its bounds if it sought to go beyond the procedural aspects of the applications. On that matter, commissioner Mark Hulse maintained that the committee would be sure to investigate the procedure of economic consultants submitting large quantities of applications. When Hulse asked what was the average time frame the police used to vet applicants, Anderson replied that, “for many, many years there was very little actual vetting done as the police considered it a formality and if they had done their job, the application would not have reached the stage that it did.” Anderson ended his testimony before the body by saying that if the commission called police officers involved in the investigation, they could only provide very limited testimony. Despite the bureaucracy involved, Hulse is optimistic that the commission’s investigation will not conflict with the work of the police.
Mark Hulse, Member, Commissioner of Inquiry
“We have no intentions of stepping over the line. I think we are all quite aware of what the terms of the reference is and when we reach that juncture stepping over the line of what is criminal from what we are supposed to be doing, which is looking at procedures and making recommendations for bettering those procedures for operations to let the system at the Immigration Department have more integrity.”
“We will be privy to pretty much everything…everything will be above board. We will be privy to everything. We will need everything to make recommendations. We are not only going to be looking at face value, perhaps maybe face value in public, but whenever it comes to the criminal aspect of it, we will be going en camera.”
Janelle Chanona
“So that will be for your information as to recommending changes in the procedure, but not as part of your report.”
Mark Hulse
“Not necessarily as part of the report, but it will be the background for making recommended changes, recommendations, in how we can plug up all these loopholes that might have occurred to substantiate all these allegations.”
Other persons the commission of inquiry has asked to testify this week include former C.E.O. of the Immigration Department, Alan Usher, Acting Director of the Immigration Department, Colonel Peter Parchue, and former Solicitor General and currently the legal advisor for the Ministry of Budget Management: Gian Ghandi. News 5 also understands that Senator Eamon Courtenay has asked to make a statement to the commission. Prime Minister Said Musa appointed the Commission of Inquiry on August thirtieth of this year with a mandate to determine if any persons had been granted Belizean citizenship between January fifteenth and July thirty-first under the Belize Economic Citizenship Program, and if so, the number of such persons. And thirdly, to determine if any procedural irregularities had been a factor in the issuance of such documents, but, not to assign criminal wrong-doing in their examinations. By the commissioners own admission they will be walking a very fine line between the demands of their investigation and the ongoing work of the police. So far the prospect that either endeavour will advance the cause of justice is far from assured.
