PUP councilor in Cayo says UDP tried to bribe him
The rough and tumble world of politics returned to its best Belizean form today as the opposition made dramatic accusations against some of this country’s highest elected officials. News Five’s Stewart Krohn heard the evidence and tries to separate the smoke from the fire.
The People’s United Party went back on the offensive this morning, and if the tale they are telling is anything close to true then it makes the U.D.P.?s allegations against Said Musa look insignificant by comparison. At a press conference at the Radisson, Marconi Matus, former P.U.P. Mayor of San Ignacio, alleged that he was offered a large bribe to declare himself a U.D.P. and thus give that party a 4-3 majority on the Town Board. Matus had recently announced his resignation from the P.U.P. and declared himself independent of both parties. It appears, however, that at some point Matus decided to improve his bargaining position through the use of a secret tape recorder. More on that later but for now here’s what Matus had to say.
Marconi Matus, San Ignacio Town Board
“On Sunday 25 January 1998 Minister Fernandez approached me and told me that the U.D.P. wanted me to come over to the U.D.P. and said they would give me $40,000 and a house. I told him I was not for sale.”
“At 7:15 the following morning Martin Galvez called me at my residence saying he and Salva wanted a meeting with me. I told him I would get back to him. I immediately called my associates who suggested that I arrange the meeting at my office that office that day. I saw Martin on the street at about 10:00am and told him the meeting could be at 2:00pm that day at my office.”
“I reported this to my associates who arranged to tape the session. Salva and Martin arrived at 2:00pm sharp and we had a conversation, in the course of which he offered me $40,000 and a house in Belmopan if I were to join the U.D.P. and that the U.D.P. needed the Town Board, and that they would have to spend more money than they were offering me for a bi-election. He told me that the Prime Minister knows about this meeting in my office and has agreed to the offer he was making for me to come over. I suggested that I wanted more money and something else. He then offered to get me land between Belize City and Belmopan on the Western Highway as well as two lots in San Ignacio.”
The ante was raised when, according to Matus, some other government officials got involved.
Marconi Matus
“Salva said he would arrange for the Prime Minister to meet with me. A meeting with Mr. Esquivel was arranged for 28th January in Santa Elena, but when I arrived at the meeting place the Prime Minister was not there. Mr. John Saldivar, National Organizer of the U.D.P. and Executive General Manager of RECONDEV was there and he said he was representing the Prime Minister, who was unable to be present, and that the P.M. had agreed to raise the cash payment to $75,000. He also confirmed the offer of the house in Belmopan which he said was valued at $120,000, as well as the parcel of land, which he told me would be about 75 acres, and the two lots in San Ignacio. I told him I was going abroad for a vacation and that on return I would give them a definite answer.”
But before that answer would be given Matus said that his “hard to get” tactic paid off with the arrangement of a face to face meeting with Prime Minister Manuel Esquivel.
Marconi Matus
“When I arrived at the meeting place I was thoroughly searched by two security officers in plain clothes, and then I was allowed to proceed with Martin to see the Prime Minister, who was standing on the he grounds of the Aguada Restaurant. The P.M. was very businesslike and kept the meeting brief and focused. He said first of all that he endorsed everything Salva had offered, but that the cash payment would be $75,000. However, he said that the titles for the parcel of land and for the house in Belmopan would not be delivered in two weeks as Salva had promised, but that it would take them a month, but that I could be sure of it. He also said that he knew the P.U.P. were treating me badly, but that I would be well treated by the U.D.P. He then gave me his home number in Belize City and said I could call him on Monday night.”
But based on reports that the U.D.P. might be getting wise to his game Matus decided to make the phone call early.
Marconi Matus
“At about 8pm on Sunday 8 February I dialed the number in Belize City, which the Prime Minister had given me, and he answered the telephone. When I identified myself he sounded very guarded, and when I broached the subject of the offer and said I wanted to confirm a couple of things he said he didn’t want to talk about that over the phone, and that what had been agreed with Salva was OK. I said that he had told me to call, but he said he had told me to call on Monday, not on Sunday. After a while I noted he was being very cagey, and he said that “something is wrong” and repeated that a couple of times. We terminated the call.”
And the relationship apparently terminated as well. After arranging for a meeting with the P.M. in his Belmopan office for Tuesday morning, Matus said a U.D.P. friend told him he was being set up and Matus never did show up for the meeting. Now if all the P.U.P. had was the testimony of an admittedly frustrated politician there’d hardly be much credibility to the story.
But Matus and the P.U.P. say they have tapes to prove their allegations, tapes deliberately made beginning on January 26th. Those tapes, however, hardly proved worth listening to at the this morning’s session. The one clip played for the press was virtually unintelligible, although Matus’s attorney and P.U.P. Secretary General Godfrey Smith, claimed the voice of Salvador Fernandez was unmistakable. Smith also declined to make copies of the tape available to the press although he did say they would have transcripts ready as soon as possible. The actual tapes, he said, would be turned over to the D.P.P. as evidence of the crime of attempting to corrupt a public official. And citing the importance of such a prosecution Smith also declined to let his client answer any probing questions or providing any more juicy details, like the home telephone number of the Prime Minister.
Stewart Krohn for News Five.
News Five was not particularly successful in getting reaction from those officials named but Martin Galvez, the Cayo man who allegedly instigated the initial bribery offer, told us that Matus’ allegations are the opposite of truthful. “It was Marconi Matus who approached us,” said Galvez, “He complained of corruption in the P.U.P. Town Board and asked us for a hundred thousand dollars to finance his business in Melchor. We told him we don’t have that kind of money.” Galvez also said that there was never any meeting in Matus’ office and the only discussion he and Salvador Fernandez ever had with Matus was on the street in Cayo.
