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 […]
In the sensational interview prior to his arrest for Unlawful Sexual Intercourse, Flowers alleged that he had been set up by the Minister of National Security. Whether he was set up or not, it’s a significant fall from grace for the man who has claimed love for the Prime Minister and has been seen at […]
The Prime Minister has stated that he will absolutely not meet with accused murderer William Mason, who says he has evidence to provide. Mark Flowers has basically made the same claim, and has also stated that he will request a meet with the PM to provide that information. So will that desired session come to […]
Following incessant and expensive litigation over B.T.L. since 2009, the PM declared the half a billion plus final payment for the utility company a vindication and a victory for the government and people of Belize. If there was any very tiny silver lining in that dark cloud, it was that litigation was ended. But it’s […]
That seventy U.S. million dollars in litigation has caused Central Bank to issue a dire warning to the Government of Belize, claiming that such a payout would destroy what is already a very fragile economy. Prime Minister Dean Barrow “What I understand the Central Bank to be saying is this. We have a decent […]
The letter from the Central Bank seemed a dire forecast, even with the Ashcroft-request payment aside. There is talk of the economy contracting two percent in the first quarter of this year, a significant drop in revenue from the Free Zones, marginal foreign currency inflows from tourism and falling exports. As we told you on […]
There’s one more minister who today admitted that he had trekked up Intelco Hill to visit with William Mason. In Orange Walk Town today, we drilled the former Deputy Prime Minister, Gaspar Vega about reports that he too was chummy with Mason. While Vega confirmed he had been to Mason’s house, he denied introducing Mennonite […]
The former DPM could not say when exactly he met Mason, but was emphatic that he did not receive any monies from the accused murderer for campaign financing or other political activities. Reporter “Was it in the sense of political campaigning, trying to get financing from him?” Gaspar Vega, Former DPM “No, never. […]
But is it fair game to remove John Saldivar from cabinet because of his connections and business dealings with Mason? Saldivar’s integrity is being called into question and by extension that of the entire U.D.P. government. This is what Vega has to say. Gaspar Vega, Former DPM “I don’t know what dealings he had; […]
There is a report tonight about a blackmail attempt in the Cayo District. Police received a report on Monday, that a Benque resident who works as a manager of three farms received a blackmail letter. Such letter was delivered to him by an employee who received the letter from a man who arrived in a […]
Earlier this year, a small group of caneros protested against ASR/B.S.I.; today in a second demonstration, the numbers had swollen somewhat. The bone of contention is that the miller is passing on to the farmers, part of the financial losses incurred from the Maillard Reaction which has been found in molasses in one tank at […]
The Belize City Council and the Christian Workers Union have entered into a Collective Bargaining Agreement on behalf of employees at City Hall. The contract of employment, negotiated between management and the union, was first discussed during the tenure of former Mayor Steve Latchman in 1993. Twenty-three years later, the CBA has finally materialized and […]
Mayor Darrell Bradley, who signed on behalf of the Belize City Council, acknowledges the need for City Hall to adapt similar standards as that of the public service, where employees are protected against political victimization. Darrell Bradley, Belize City Mayor “I think that it’s very, very important for municipal governments to establish a public […]
Come next week, three young Belizean musicians will partake in a regional orchestra workshop in Trinidad and perform in two sold out concerts along with musical professionals in classic, pop and technical displays in that CARICOM state. It is a venture undertaken by the Belize Bank to develop a local orchestra in the next five […]
By any account, one of the biggest summer camp is held in Orange Walk. One thousand seven hundred students to be precise attended the event in the Orange Walk North constituency. It concluded today with a celebratory mood for the young participants. News Five’s Duane Moody reports. Duane Moody, Reporting For over a decade, […]
And in Belize City, another summer camp held its certificate ceremonies for the more than four hundred and fifty participants. The camp is the brainchild of Growing the Future Projects and this is its thirteenth year of operation. As we found out this morning, the word camp may be somewhat of a misnomer since it’s […]
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 […]
