Government appeals order of CJ directing ComPol to investigate Elvin Penner

Kareem Musa

More than six months ago, former Minister of State Elvin Penner was implicated in the facilitation of fraudulent Belizean nationality and a fraudulent Belizean passport for a South Korean national who was in jail in Taiwan. Six months and multiple alleged investigations after, Belizeans know nothing more than they did in September…or at least nothing that they haven’t gotten from the media. Government has offered protection to Penner and officials have been cagey. It’s safe to say that without the sustained application of pressure, the immigration fiasco would have died an unnatural death. But the push for a criminal investigation and prosecution of Penner got new life after the Supreme Court, in a landmark ruling, directed the Commissioner of Police to investigate through a writ of mandamus. But late this afternoon, News Five confirmed that the government is appealing the order of the Chief Justice. Attorney Kareem Musa, one of the legal representatives in the original case, told us that the appeal was filed today.

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Kareem Musa, Attorney

“It is unbelievable, Mike; it is totally unbelievable. It is sad, a sad state of affairs that you have the executive arm which is the commissioner of police. He is represented by the solicitor general who also by the way represents your Prime Minister and represents all government officials. That office has decided to appeal. They are telling you outright, we are going to defy this order from the Supreme Court, we are defying it, we will not investigate this minister who has been found to be acting corruptly. We will not do that, they are telling you point blank, I don’t think we need to hear anything else form them, it is totally unbelievable.”