Former Minister of State Elvin Penner has been stealing the spotlight on corruption in the Immigration Department. But tonight there is compelling evidence of deep-rooted corruption in respect of the visa hustle within the U.D.P. administration, and it involves another minister. For some time, we have been following the trail of the massive visa hustle. […]
The individual claims that over two hundred visas were ‘assisted’ by Minister Edmund Castro for two thousand dollars each. If you do the math, that’s four hundred thousand dollars to Castro, in a scheme which lasted six months, from October 2012 to March 2013, but may involve a much longer period with other facilitators. According […]
While the lucrative visa hustle you have just heard about, involves Chinese nationals, there are other nationals who also use Belize as a springboard to the United States. On Tuesday afternoon, two Cuban nationals and their Mexican handlers were nabbed in San Ignacio. The Cubans travelled all the way to Ecuador to make their way […]
There is much more to come in the alleged Castro visa hustle, but the Elvin Penner debacle is still simmering. It hasn’t boiled over yet because there is absolutely no word from the Ministry of Immigration on what is being found. The best the public has been offered is that there are multiple investigations underway, […]
Still on the issue of the passport scandal, Belize City Councilor Eric Chang’s arrival is eagerly anticipated. Chang has been M.I.A. since September third, and last week, he was stripped of his Deputy Mayor title. Mayor Darrell Bradley today told News Five that there has been no further communication with Chang, but his extended absence […]
On Wednesday SATIIM, Mayan communities, US Capital Energy and the Government met in court to argue for a ruling on rights – Mayan rights to communal lands versus the government’s rights to allow drilling on that land. The first day was spent with attorney Eamon Courtenay making his submission on behalf of SATIIM and the […]
In late July of 2012, two members of the Coye Family along with two of their employees were convicted of money laundering under the Money Laundering and Terrorism Act. Melanie Coye and her father, sixty-six year old Michael Coye were sentenced to three years behind bars. They are appealing the conviction, and today appeared in […]
On September nineteenth, Elvin Penner was relieved of his appointment as minister of state after credible information landed at the Ministry that he had signed off on a nationality certificate and recommended the issuance of a passport to Wonhong Kim. Kim was in jail in Taiwan and was wanted for embezzlement of millions of dollars […]
The passport scandal has dominated the media for weeks, night after night, and tonight there is still more to report. Elvin Penner is back in the country, and is awaiting meetings with his executive committee and the Prime Minister before he makes a decision on whether he will accept the invitation by his leader to […]
Gary Seawell was in Magistrate’s Court today to hear a decision on a request for extradition to the U.S. Gary is the brother of Mark Seawell, and both men have been fighting extradition in the courts. Uncle Sam says that the brothers masterminded a drug trafficking ring between Belize and the U.S. between 1994 and […]
SATIIM, the Mayan communities in the Sarstoon-Temash buffer zone, U.S. Capital Energy and the Government of Belize had their day in court today – or at least the first day, since arguments are complicated and protracted. The claimants in the case are SATIIM and four Mayan Communities – Crique Sarco, Conejo, Graham Creek and Midway. […]
And tonight’s question is: If the government has millions of dollars in its coffers, should it be spent on: Teachers and public officers or Cayo Northeast? Send your comments and responses using your SMART phones to 8686 or post your vote on our e-poll at channel5belize.com. You can also send an email with your comments […]
Patrick Menzies is a community activist who has aligned himself with the Hispanic evangelical churches in Belize. And using that platform, he has now launched a move for a national shutdown, lobbying parents to pull their children out of classrooms. For Menzies, it’s all about the national gender policy and now the proposed amendments to […]
The National Trade Union Congress of Belize says the government is nonchalant where the safety of employees is concerned. That is the basis for a fiery release sent out over the weekend. The matter on the table is the Occupational Health and Safety Bill, which addresses working conditions, equipment and safety requirements for employees. The […]
Prime Minister Dean Barrow is in Los Angeles for fund-raising activities and meetings with Belizeans living in that area. While he is out, his deputy, Minister of Natural Resources Gaspar Vega is acting Prime Minister. But while many miles separate them, Vega is out of sight, but not out of mind. The Ministry of Immigration […]
Former Minister of State and the man on the immigration hot seat Elvin Penner is back in Belize. He returned from Guatemala on Sunday, after receiving medical attention for hypertension and headaches. But the passport scandal boiling over in Belize probably won’t help his high blood pressure any. And his headaches will not be going […]
While Elvin Penner has not made up his mind if he is resigning, the People’s United Party says it now has enough signatures to start the process of a recall in Cayo Northeast. According to deputy leader, Julius Espat, the P.U.P. has now made it to the one thousand seven hundred plus signatures it requires […]
According to the Prime Minister Dean Barrow, government coffers are overflowing and there are millions upon millions of dollars to hand out. That’s what the U.D.P. leader told constituents of Cayo Northeast during a tour a week ago. According to Barrow, there will be unprecedented spending in Cayo Northeast. In fact, in the PM’s own […]
Shots rang out in City on Friday night in the area of Hyde’s Lane and New Road. A twenty-eight year old father of four within close proximity of his house was gunned and died within minutes. Two family members, his sister and common law wife, heard the shots but could not fathom the idea that […]
Last Friday, we reported on American fugitive, forty-seven year old Kenneth Hibbs, who was caught by San Ignacio Police on Burns Avenue. Hibbs was wanted by U.S. Marshalls for parole violation and theft of Motor Vehicle. Hibbs carried no identification but he is currently in detention awaiting extradition to the U.S. sometime this week. But […]
A sting operation over the weekend conducted by the GSU has yielded a whopping one hundred pounds of cannabis. The unit arrested Anibal Garcia of Arenal Village, Cayo District along with Sergio Vega, a taxi-driver of New Area, Benque Viejo. Both were preparing to supply the weed to a purported buyer on Sunday when the […]
Former Minister of State Elvin Penner re-enters the country on Sunday from Guatemala where he says he has been getting medical attention and accompanied his mother who is recovering from surgery. Penner confirmed that again via phone today. But while he turned down a recorded interview, the former minister of state told News Five that […]
Carlos Murga was intercepted by Cuban authorities in June, flying into Jose Marti Airport with seven Chinese passports in his possession. The matter raised a brief stink, but that breeze blew over quickly. But the ill wind tends to return, and the passport scandal has brought all sorts of public scrutiny with it. One persistent […]
Day thirty-one, and there is still no information coming out of the Ministry of Immigration on the extent of irregularities within the nationality and passport department. On Tuesday, Elvin Penner was publicly flogged by his political boss and asked to resign. According to the PM, over the long weekend a team of investigators turned up […]
An American fugitive has been caught in Belize. Forty-seven year old Kenneth Hibbs is wanted by U.S. Marshalls in his home country for violation of his parole and for the theft of a motor vehicle. Hibbs was apprehended by San Ignacio Police on Thursday following reports that he was causing disturbance on Burns Avenue in […]
