Passport agents say most applications legitimate
With hefty commissions on this type of money circulating how particular are the agents about their clients? While the agent who handled the Singh case Manolo Romero of Belize Passport Consultants told news five today that he cannot reveal the particulars of that application, consultants Rosy Shyu, Santiago Gomez and Gaby Afif told News Five the majority of their clients willingly produce police records from their home country. In exceptional cases they advise the clients not to proceed with an application if there is anything in their background which might get the application refused. They are concerned about this latest case, and believe that if it is proven that Singh falsified information on his application, his passport should be revoked. All agents News Five spoke to said they intend to be even more vigilant in their processing of applications, but as Julian Castillo of Deloitte and Touche told us in most cases they rely on the honesty of the applicant. Their role is basically to make sure that all documents are presented to the scrutinizing committee which makes the final decision.
Julian Castillo, Deloitte & Touche
?Basically the agents role is to give information, and to guide the applicants in the whole process, to make sure that he has the proper documentation in place, before he submits the applications, so that there are no delays, and that they don’t waste anybody’s time. Well it’s really difficult to go beyond, we try to look at the document, and of course we insist on original documentation and we try to do our own background checks occasionally, through our Deloitte and Touche network, if necessary, we can ask the people, our people in other countries, to do a background check, but so far we haven?t really had any problems with the clients we have processed.?
In the case of Iqbal Singh, immigration sources tell news five the document accompanying his passport when he entered Belize said only that he had been deported from Canada for illegal entry. Other approved immigration consultants include Monica Musa of Belize Trust Company, David Cruz of ICSL Trust Corporation, Bernadette Leslie, Stanley Ermeav of KPMG Peat Marwick, and Oscar Sabido.
