The testimony today of ex-Minister Penner was broadcast on this station and our social media page. The feed got reaction from Belizeans at home and those in the diaspora. But Belizeans have become wary and cynical of the process. Questions are being raised whether persons named in the Auditor General’s Report—and who have since appeared […]
Back to the Senate Inquiry, which concluded just before four p.m. today…The issue of ministerial recommendations for visas in particular, especially to Asian nationals, has been a major thorn in the side of the Barrow administration. News Five has seen and obtained documents showing hundreds of such recommendations by multiple Ministers. Former Minister of State […]
Penner also contends that some visas which he recommended for approval were not approved. But why was it necessary to go through it, especially if it was not intended to positively influence the approval of the application? The former Minister of State admits he does not remember correcting anyone who asked for his assistance by […]
The panel turned to other questionable grants of nationality mentioned in the Audit Report. In the case of Yakup Sut, a Turk whom Penner met in Germany, it was clear that he had not met the requirements for Belizean nationality despite vetting by Penner himself. He still contends that he was personally satisfied that Sut […]
Another infamous case is that of Peter Pang, whose nationality certificate was backdated; his file was missing despite being requested by the Auditors, and there was no evidence that Pang had paid for his certificate. More importantly, Pang was not here long enough to qualify for nationality, having entered in April of 2013, though his […]
While Senator Eamon Courtenay was grilling Elvin Penner on the issue of the reason for his writing recommendations, he was suddenly distracted by chairman of the United Democratic Party Alberto August who was seated in the gallery. From our vantage point it appeared that August was pointing around and otherwise enjoying himself but the fun […]
Last Thursday, nineteen-year-old Michael Bonilla was cut down in a hail of bullets as he rode his bicycle along Elston Kerr Street. The incident transpired behind Gwen Lizarraga High School in an area that is known to be gang infested. Despite the location of the deadly shooting, Belize City police are on record refuting claims […]
Eighteen-year-old Ludwin Lalin, a Guatemalan national, was shot and killed in a senseless act of gun violence on Monday night. The fatal attack on the teenager happened on Curl Thompson Street in the Port Loyola neighborhood, a stone‘s throw away from his residence. A motive for his murder is yet to be determined. While Lalin […]
Deputy Prime Minister Patrick Faber was today inaugurating the extension to Grace Primary School within the Collet Division. The new facility will host upper division students and will improve significantly the environment in which they learn. News Five’s Duane Moody attended the launch and files this report. Duane Moody, Reporting Grace Primary School has […]
A recent report by IntraFish reported that the prestigious Aquaculture Stewardship Council, A.S.C., has suspended certification of four Belizean shrimp farms in April. The farms named are Paradise Shrimp Farm, Tex Mar Farm, Bel-Euro Aquaculture and Tropical Aquaculture Investment Farm. But a release by the Belize Shrimp Farm Association has clarified the Intrafish report. It […]
The Gang Suppression Unit, despite a standing agreement among various Belize City groups to hold the peace, remains on a sustained campaign to crack down on these elements. Those sting operations have raised the ire of many in their respective communities, including activist Diane Finnegan, who has been quite outspoken on the issue of police […]
There has been a spate of fires since the beginning of the year. Though there have been no fatalities, there has been concern that the fire department has not been able to respond effectively. The City Emergency Management Organization held the first of a two-day conference on fire management at the Biltmore Plaza in Belize […]
An eighteen-year-old Belize City resident was shot and killed on Monday evening, shattering a period a relative calm in urban gun violence. It is not known whether the murder of Ludwin Lalin is gang-related, but we can say that his life had been under threat by persons he knew. Lalin left his home on Jane […]
Magistrate Norman Rodriguez, accused by a twenty-seven-year-old woman of rape, is expected to be charged and arraigned in the lower courts on Wednesday. Despite the crime having allegedly been committed in Dangriga on April eleventh, the magistrate will face charges in the Belize City jurisdiction. The woman, an ex-girlfriend of the accused magistrate, did not […]
In describing her ex-boyfriend, the alleged victim says that Rodriguez has managed to turn her family against her, reportedly through unfulfilled promises. During their brief relationship, the woman alleges that she was forced into having intercourse on a number of occasions against her will. Voice of: Alleged Rape Victim “We mi deh together like […]
From a legal perspective, Magistrate Rodriguez has retained the services of attorney Herbert Panton who will represent the accused when he is brought before the Chief Magistrate on Wednesday. According to Senior Counsel Richard ‘Dickie’ Bradley, while Rodriguez enjoys protection from legal challenges in his capacity as a sitting magistrate, he is not insulated from […]
The murders of fifty-two-year-old Francesca Matus and Drew Thomas DeVoursney remain under investigation by Corozal Police, with the assistance of the F.B.I. A suspect has been in custody for one week, but has still not been charged for the murders. Police have still not ascertained what when wrong two weeks ago after the Canadian-American couple […]
Maskall Village on the old northern highway is without running water and the Water Board says it is because most of the residents have not paid their monthly water bill. The electricity bill that accompanies the rudimentary water system has not been paid because the accounts are empty and even those residents who have paid […]
Airbnb, an online marketplace which allows travelers to lease or rent short-term accommodations, is budding in Belize. The hospitality service includes vacation rentals, apartments, homestays and hotel rooms. While it does not own any of those properties, it serves as a commercial agent, receiving percentage services fees from both guests and hosts. There are presently […]
Director of Tourism at the B.T.B., Karen Bevans, says that the collaborative consumption and sharing that Airbnb enable are the future of the travel industry. It is, however, being met with mixed reception from local stakeholders in the hotel sector. Karen Bevans, Director of Tourism, B.T.B. “This is the way the industry is going. […]
Two of the four men alleged to be involved in the kidnapping and robbery of three young men in Corozal last week were arraigned on Monday in the Corozal Magistrate’s Court. They are twenty-three year-old Jason Espinoza and forty-two-year-old Elio Lopez for three counts of kidnapping and three counts of robbery. On May third in […]
Police have made an arrest in a shooting in the city of Telswin Lara on Sunday on Arlington Drive. This morning, eighteen-year-old Dane Khalil Gillett, a resident of Pinks Alley, Belize City was taken to the Belize City Magistrate’s Court where he appeared before Magistrate Carlon Mendoza and was read two criminal and indictable offenses […]
A Turkish national employed with the Princess Hotel and Casino was today arraigned on a single charge of using threatening words against his common-law wife, a Guyanese cosmetologist. She reported to police that her husband threatened to shoot her over the weekend. Ozcan Aydogdu appeared before Magistrate Carlon Mendoza for threatening his wife, Sady Aydogdu […]
On Wednesday, former Minister of State for Immigration and Nationality, Elvin Penner, is to be questioned by the six members of the Senate Special Select Committee. It makes for high stakes and high drama especially as many of the witnesses that have gone before him have implicated him by name as the moving hand behind […]
Belize City Mayor Darrell Bradley enjoyed significant majorities in his two elections to the post in 2012 and 2015, continuing a dominant run by the United Democratic Party at City Hall. But his personal ambitions for national office have not fared as well – he lost to Kareem Musa in general elections in the Caribbean […]
