PSU calls for passport investigation to include nationality certificate

Marvin Blades

There has been very loud silence from the Ministry of Immigration in the wake of the recent passport scandal. The only slight murmur came when a press release offered that three staffers were to be suspended. Two of those staffers are very junior staff in the passport section. Other than that, official information is non-existent. But News Five has received very credible information that the nationality documents of South Korean Kim Won-Hong have suddenly disappeared from the Immigration Department but is in circulation otherwise. As far as we have ascertained, the nationality certificate was issued on April twenty-second, which is critical to the investigation because the passport could not have been issued if there was no nationality documents and furthermore, the certificate number is required for the issuance of the passport. Kim Won-Hong remains in Taiwanese lockdown and has never set foot in Belize. But he still passed the vetting process and his nationality was approved – that is without him ever setting foot in Belize. So while the focus is on three passport staffers, the new pressing questions seem to be…. who signed off on Kim Won-Hong’s nationality process and the approval, and where is the nationality document that would answer that question? Today, President of the Public Service Union Marvin Blades made the important connection after meeting with the three immigration staffers facing suspension. Here’s a portion of his comment from a call made by Blades on Krem Radio this morning.

Marvin Blades, President, Public Service Union

“We believe and clearly we have been on top of this matter in regards to immigration. Just yesterday, the three officers received those intent or recommendations for suspensions and so now today, the union will be meeting with those three members to see what will be a course; to chart what will be the response. What is of concern to the union is that if you would know the process of passport, you would have to go through—because you are a foreign national—have to go through the nationality unit and there is nobody recommended for suspension in nationality and so we are concerned about that. How is it that it’s the second section—that it goes from nationality down to the passport section—and it is only the passport section workers that are being suspended or recommended for suspension? The first section for a foreign national is to go to nationality. You have to get that certificate and that is the certificate that you will present to the passport section and then the passport section would then process the passport. So in essence, the person at nationality will be more the monitor, the check and balance, to ensure that this person has the green light to go to the next section.”