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ONE YEAR OF HELL… Continued from page 1 in which Vega transferred crown land to a company for $6540.30. That land was flipped, costing taxpayers $1,000,000. And there is another in which Vega’s son Andre Vega received $400,000 from the Ministry in compensation, when he had paid only $15,000 for a parcel of land. There are reports that during Gaspar Vega’s terms as Minister of Natural Resources, GOB paid out approximately $70M in compensation and owes $100M more which has not yet been paid. This massive land scandal, in a place that the Prime Minister himself referred to as a hotbed of corruption, is what will take the United Democratic Party into its first anniversary of “The Best is Yet to Come.” For Belizeans, it has been a year of hell, in which all of the Prime Minister’s fat corruption chickens have come home to roost. The land scandal comes on the very heels of unprecedented Immigration corruption revealed in a three volume Special Report compiled by the team of the Auditor-general Dorothy Bradley. Thirteen Ministers were named and shamed, accused of wrongdoing in the facilitation and movement of Visas, nationality documents and passports. The scope of the involvement of Ministers suggests that the Immigration hustle was a well-oiled corruption machine, and against his will and every machination he could devise, the Prime Minister was forced to accede to demands for a Senate investigation. Besides all we lost to the tune of tens of millions, we also lost something infinitely precious as a result of the UDP’s mishandling of the Belize/ Guatemala territorial dispute. As a proud country we were once proud to sing of the Old Sarstoon in our national anthem. Now we can say the words, but to go into the Sarstoon we need the permission of Guatemala. Then it was the William Mason scandal that shocked the nation, brought to light by the gruesome beheading of Pastor Llewellyn Lucas. It was revealed that members of the Prime Minister’s Cabinet and highranking members of the Belize Police Department were much too cozy with the con-artist turned accused kidnapper and murderer William Danny Mason, including senior Ministers like John Saldivar, then Minister of National Security and even Deputy Prime
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THE BELIZE TIMES
DOUGIE DODGED A BULLET
Minister Patrick Faber. Belizeans are still waiting for an investigation to reveal to what extent Mason infiltrated the highest levels of Government. Even as the government reeled from scandal after scandal, the nation was rocked by a recession caused by the mismanagement of the people’s resources. The unfettered spending of hundreds of millions in Petrocaribe money was enough to guarantee a third term, but at what cost to Belizeans. It is expected that latest stats will see the economy contract for a third consecutive quarter. Every industry with the exception of tourism has declined. Exports have continued to fall every quarter while imports grow. Poverty has increased, and a direct hit by Category 1 Hurricane Earl only exacerbated the effects of Category 5 Hurricane Dean. Belizeans were also saddled with a debt that can be called accurately the price of the PM’s arrogance. At a time when we could least afford it, the Prime Minister gave Lord Ashcroft a check with no amount written in, signed by taxpayers. That amounted to $557M for a defunct company, BTL, run into the ground by the Prime Minister’s ‘tech-savvy’ son. Mr. Barrow said that this new debt of more than half-a-billion dollars was a victory for the people of Belize. Crime is no exception in the catastrophic chaos waged in Belize during the past year. Even now, Police are reporting that the murder rate for this year has surpassed that for the same period in 2015 and we are on track to break the record. Morale is at an all-time low, matching the conviction rate. There is no visible light at the end of this tunnel, only continued gloomy analyses by the IMF who say that our debt levels are unsustainable and we MUST pay more taxes. Perhaps if there is any bright spot, it is the action of the BNTU and teachers who used industrial action to bring the arrogant Prime Minister to his proverbial knees. There is word that GOB will sign onto and ratify the UNCAC, but with this administration it is best to see that actually done before we consider it done. That is what we as Belizean can anticipate in this second year of UDP rule and ruin. For Belizeans it has been one hell of a year, one year of HELL.
Paul Ferguson Wednesday, 02 November 2016 Via text this afternoon, in response to a query, Assistant Commissioner of Police and Eastern Division North Commander Dezerie Phillips explained that “Paul Ferguson visited CIB office Queen Street at 5:13 on Tuesday, November 1, 2016 and gave a further statement requesting no Court action into the report he made against Douglas Grant on October 30, 2016.” At least up to the time of that report Grant, an employee of the Ministry of Defence and political confidante and best friend of Minister of Defence John Saldivar, was ALLEGEDLY being sought by Police in relation to an incident outside a Belize City nightclub in the early hours of Sunday morning. Video from a surveillance camera clearly shows an argument between Grant and chicken vendor Paul Ferguson. Grant walked away, clearly intoxicated, and the footage then shows him pulling his gun, racking the slide and then pointing it into the air. From the video, which is without audio, it appears that the weapon was actually discharged, and then Grant kissed it for some unknown reason, all the while still shouting at Ferguson, who was at least 15 feet away from him during the entire exchange. Following the appearance of the weapon, the video shows Ferguson approaching Grant again for a verbal exchange, and the Police from the Eastern Division Strike Force showed up and parted the two. Grant was allowed to go free while Ferguson, irate that there was no arrest, was detained for four hours ‘to calm down.’ That is when he allegedly made his formal report to Police. But it appeared that it was only when the very clear video showing the series of events was released and went viral that the Police made very quiet noises about looking for Grant. It seems that they could not find the well-known Belmopan resident on Sunday or Monday or Tuesday, and the new statement by Ferguson makes that point moot, at least where the Eastern Division North is concerned.
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The Belize Times has obtained information which suggests that officers of the Strike Team mishandled the situation at the scene. Grant, according to procedure, should have been arrested for pulling a firearm while under the influence of alcohol even if there is some debate about whether he discharged it, and a blood or urine sample should have been taken from him. Based on the statement by Ferguson, then, Grant would have been charged by Police and Ferguson, if he so chose, would have had to withdraw the charge in Court. There is also the fact that there is an amendment to the Criminal Code in which the state should have opted to pursue the case on the basis of the first statement by Ferguson, his press conference in which he related exactly what occurred and the video evidence offered by the surveillance camera. But Belizeans are well aware that there are now two sets of laws – one for normal Belizeans and the other for ‘not normal’ Belizeans like Douglas Grant. For context, we note that Grant and John Saldivar were in the group that aggressed Police in Belmopan after one of Saldivar’s crew pulled a firearm and fired it into the air. That person, too, was “not normal” and nothing every came of that case. We note, again for context, that where this scenario is concerned, there is a criminal charge to be levied when the complainant in a matter is approached by the accused to induce him to drop the case. Just saying.
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The Belize Times
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14 APR 2013
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ISSUE NO: 4840
The Truth Shall Make You Free
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serving Belize since 1957 as the longest continuous newspaper. Founder: Rt. Hon. George Cadle Price, People’s United Party Leader Emeritus OFFICE MANAGER
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