The Ministry of Natural Resources, arguably the most powerful portfolio, is in the hands of an unelected newcomer to politics, Attorney-General Vanessa Retreage. That had to have made for an interesting dynamic this morning in Cabinet, simply because there are tried and true, battle-tested and elected U.D.P. ministers with much more seniority and creds than […]
The Prime Minister claimed that he made the decision to remove Saldivar largely because of the optics. He was the Minister of National Security in charge of the Police conducting the investigation into William Mason, a great friend of Saldivar and the Police. But by that token, what of the Police conducting the investigation, since […]
As to the actual investigation, PM Barrow says that whether he says it out loud or not, the mandate of Minister of Police Godwin Hulse, especially where the Mason investigation is concerned, is explicit. Prime Minister Dean Barrow “With respect to your point about suspicion of the police and their ability to carry out […]
Senator Minister Godwin Hulse seems to have become, in the PM’s words, Government’s firefighter – first in Immigration, then Natural Resources and now the Police. But has he really been outing those fires or just blowing smoke to cloud the corruption. Reporter “Sir if I could be completely frank without being disrespectful. You basically […]
This morning, News Five was able to confirm with multiple sources that NEMO C.E.O. Ruth Meighan was denied entry into the US and turned back to Belize. It allegedly happened on Friday and is significant even if only because Meighan is a very senior and respected C.E.O., at least in government circles. She didn’t answer […]
Just after six on Saturday morning, a senior public officer was hit in front of the Novelo’s Terminal, Belize City, by a vehicle driven by Victor Gibbs. Emily Guy and friend were in that neighborhood to purchase coconut water when the horrible accident happened. The area was buzzing with market activity when Gibbs crashed into […]
So no clear evidence means no repercussions for Saldivar, or any other cabinet minister, just yet. The PM admits that there is corruption in government and will always be corruption in government, but claims that as he has on some unspecified occasion or occasions in the past, he will deal with it. Mike Rudon […]
Prime Minister Dean Barrow returned to Belize today, and by this afternoon was seated in the hot seat facing a barrage of questions on a variety of very pressing issues. Chief among those is the saga of conman, extortionist, accused kidnapper and murderer William Mason, believed to be the mastermind behind the bizarre beheading of […]
It is believed that much of what Mason purports to have would involve Minister of National Security John Saldivar. Saldivar, by his own admission, was very close to Mason – so close that Mason contributed more than fifty-thousand dollars to Saldivar’s football team, the Belmopan Bandits. Saldivar also introduced other Ministers to the man now […]
The Prime Minister pointed out that realistically speaking, many people from every walk of life – including politicians, police officers, pastors, businesspersons and common folk – were taken in by Mason. Notwithstanding that, he admits that Saldivar is paying a huge political price for that relationship. Still, he maintains that based on what has come […]
The PM also maintains that if evidence surfaces which contradicts what Saldivar has said – that he cut ties with Mason in September 2015 – then all bets are off and the Minister of National Security will be fair game. Prime Minister Dean Barrow “The Minister has told us that immediately upon discovering that […]
Where the investigation into the murder of Pastor Llewellyn Lucas is concerned, there have been more questions than answers. Because the public is well aware of the accused murderer’s connections very high up in the Police Department, his connections to the Minister of National Security and his connections to other U.D.P. ministers, there is much […]
Superintendent Mark Flowers, former commander of the Gang Suppression Unit, is out on bail tonight after posting a bond of seven thousand, five hundred dollars, plus one surety of the same amount. The embattled senior police officer was remanded to the Belize Central Prison on Tuesday, after being arraigned on two counts of unlawful sexual […]
Attorneys for the Government of Belize and Dean Boyce, B.T.L. Employees Trust and Dunkeld International appeared before the Caribbean Court of Justice via teleconference this morning, for a case management hearing. Both parties are once again tangled in litigation, this time over the recently published compensation award handed down by the Permanent Court of Arbitration, […]
According to Senior Counsel Denys Barrow, the objective of the settlement agreement was to bring finality to the question of recompense. He says that while the Ashcroft Group may have anticipated a seventy-thirty split in its favor, which would have allowed them to collect fifty percent upfront that was not the outcome. Denys Barrow, […]
Government has indicated to the CCJ that irrespective of the outcome, it is unable to make the payment in U.S. dollars. The Central Bank of Belize, in a four-page letter written to Financial Secretary Joseph Waight, has informed government that it cannot meet its request to make available an additional seventy million U.S. dollars. Being […]
Government has put forward that it cannot meet a seventy million U.S. dollar payment should the CCJ rule in favor of the previous owners of B.T.L. While Central Bank has provided an initial twenty-nine million dollars, the Barrow Administration is basically on its own in finding the balance of the payment. Denys Barrow, Attorney […]
An official letter which was filed by the Government in the CCJ proceeding comes as close as we’ve ever seen to G.O.B. acknowledging that the sky is falling. It’s dated July twenty-second, and is addressed to Financial Secretary Joseph Waight, from Governor of the Central Bank Glenford Ysaguirre. Ysaguirre wasted no time on niceties, but […]
Accused kidnapper and murderer William ‘Danny’ Mason is preparing to spend his second full week as an involuntary guest at the Belize Central Prison, but the bizarre circumstances of his detention, and subsequent revelations continue to generate increasing interest. Perhaps the most attention has been focused on Minister of National Security John Saldivar who has […]
The man with many names remains an enigma to the general public. We know where he is right now – that one’s easy – but we don’t even know if his real name is William Mason, or Raj Ouellet, or Ramesh. But we are told that he was born in Guyana and left that country […]
William Danny Mason has been behind bars since July nineteenth, in a special facility at the Belize Central Prison reserved for high-risk prisoners. He is alone – or as alone as somebody in prison can be – having been separated from the four men arraigned along with him for the kidnapping and murder of Pastor […]
Superintendent Mark Flowers, former commander of the Gang Suppression Unit, spent his first night on remand at the Belize Central Prison on Tuesday. The pretrial detention succeeds an arraignment at the magistrate’s court during which he was indicted on two counts of unlawful sexual intercourse involving a minor. The teenager is believed to be several […]
Flowers maintains that the charges brought against him are all part of a plot to make him the fall guy, to shift attention away from the ongoing investigation involving alleged murderer William ‘Danny’ Mason. He asserts that the Minister of National Security is meddling in the affairs of the police department where it concerns their […]
The former GSU boss Mark Flowers has gone on record to say that he gained access to the posh home of William Mason in Belmopan as part of a covert operation to investigate the businessman. Up until then, there had been allegations made against Mason that he conned several prominent entrepreneurs out of large sums […]
Prior to handing himself in at the Queen Street Precinct on Tuesday, the embattled Mark Flowers had a few choice words for those whom he believes are behind the conspiracy to bring him down. While he did not mention any names, it is safe to surmise that he is referring to Minister of National Security […]
