PM Says Any Guilty Party will be Fired from Cabinet

Dean Barrow

PM Barrow went around the Cabinet Room on Tuesday asking each member in attendance whether they accepted monies from Dermen during the period in question, transactions that go as far back as 2013.  With the exception of Deputy Prime Minister Patrick Faber and Tracy Panton who were absent from the meeting, everyone denied having accepted any form of monies from Dermen.  Saying there isn’t much that can be done until and unless the pending testimony inculpates those members of cabinet, PM Barrow says that once there is sufficient evidence to prove that the monies did reach the hands of ministers, they will be fired forthwith from Cabinet.

Prime Minister Dean Barrow

“The other question, did anyone in this room receive funds from Mr. Lev by way of an electronic transfer?  And the answer came back, “No.”  If it turns out that indeed there is evidence to show that a member or two members of my Cabinet received funds from Mr. Lev, there will be hell to pay.  I’m not even going to… I want there to be no misunderstanding, I’m not even going to get into the fact that well, even if somebody is shown to have received let’s say the twenty-five thousand dollars a month, but there is no allegation that the monies were given to the minister in return for, that it constituted in that Latin term now made famous by the one and only President Trump, in return for a quid pro quo.  That would not and could not let the minister off the hook.  It might be that the minister could make a hell of a case saying, “Where is the proof that this was other than a campaign contribution from someone that I knew who supported me?”  And that I know the laws in Belize, much to my chagrin, that regulate campaign finance contributions, but I wouldn’t need to get into that sort of an argument with the minister, would I?  Because even if that could be shown to be true, you lied to me and you lied to the Cabinet in saying that you did not receive any money.  QED.  That in itself is a basis for me to say sir, madam, you cannot stay in any cabinet that I lead.”