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THE BELIZE TIMES
NO REFERENDUM WITHOUT RE-REGISTRATION!
Wednesday, 01 March 2017 At an Executive Meeting held on Tuesday, the leadership of the People’s United Party from across the country unanimously supported a resolution withholding support for an ICJ Referendum until the Barrow administration listens to Belizeans and conducts an urgently needed and lawfully mandated re-registration exercise. That means that the Party will not participate in any move towards a referendum on going to the ICJ, and in fact will work with other social partners and institutions to demand that when we do go to a referendum, it is with a clean and properly vetted voters list. Prime Minister Dean Barrow has refused to listen to reason and has instructed his peons at the Elections & Boundaries Commission, led by UDP insider Doug Singh, to proceed with a redistricting exercise, even though according to law a re-registration exercise is long overdue. Additionally, the Prime Minister has refused to accept compelling evidence that UDP Ministers, in collusion with persons at the Immigration Department, worked to get nationalities for over 2,000 persons just before 2012 elections, even though many of them did not meet the requirements. That assertion has been borne out by the direct testimony of then Director of Immigration Ruth Meighan. She admitted under oath at a Senate Inquiry hearing that UDP Ministers worked the system to get persons nationalized even though they did not meet very strict criteria. The aim, Meighan stated, was to then have those persons registered to vote in the 2012 elections. She further asserted that it was clear than many of them did not qualify for Belizean nationality, and thus were ineligible to vote. Last week the People’s United Party met with the Vision Inspired by the People (VIP) and issued a joint release expressing that in light of the fraud exposed in the Immigration Department, a proper re-registration exercise would be the only way to ensure that future elections would be free and fair. Both Parties further expressed that with the very real possibility of a referendum on the ICJ very soon, “the leaders are insisting that re-registration occur before the planned re-divisioning announced by the Elections and Boundaries Commission. They maintain that re-divisioning before re-registration is a nonsensical proposition, which appears to have gerrymandering of electoral divisions as its sole purpose to create a more favourable advantage for the incumbent UDP.” In 2012, the United Democratic Party was only able to win elections because of
STOLEN VISAS LINKED TO CHANG AND TILLETT Thursday, March 1, 2017 While a highly placed Police source told the Belize Times that there is already more than enough evidence to warrant them being called into the Immigration Department, he also confirmed that at no time has the Police Department been asked to investigate any corruption directly linked to UDP officials, like former UDP Deputy Mayor Eric Chang and UDP insider Patrick Tillett. According to the source, the Department has never been asked – not by any Supervisor or Director or CEO or Minister – to dig deep into the corruption at the Department, so they have never gone in. Based on past experience with the UDP, it is also unlikely that there will be any criminal prosecution of UDP affiliates Eric Chang and Patrick Tillett, despite damning evidence against them. Chang, particularly, has also been directly linked to the Wonhong Kim scandal, but has enjoyed the political protection of his bosses and has managed to stay above the law. In his appearance before Senate Investigators on Wednesday, former Supervisor at the Belize Western Border Station Mark Tench, provided testimony which directly links both Chang and Tillett to various crimes. Tench was the officer who discovered 8 missing Visas at the BWBS, and he was the Officer tasked to approach Patrick Tillett, said to be in possession of the stolen Visas. the illegal nationalities granted just before the election. In 2015, the United Democratic Party was able to win solely because of the many millions in Petrocaribe monies squandered for political mileage. Whenever elections are called next, it is clear that the UDP intends to seek a victory based on the re-divisioning exercise and gerrymandering. The PUP this week met with representatives of the Belize Chamber of Commerce and the Belize Council of Churches. Both organizations have agreed that the voters list is not ‘clean’ and both have agreed to support the demand for a re-registration exercise, pending meetings which they plan to hold with the Government of Belize.
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Under oath, Tench revealed that he met Tillett at the Calypso restaurant in Belize City. Tillett was accompanied by then Deputy Mayor Eric Chang. According to Tench, “Mr. Chang informed us that he was the one who was getting the Visas for some people, and they had bought it through a person, and they had realized that the visas were not good, not valid, and that is why they had taken it to Belmopan Office. What they wanted, they wanted us to help them get back their money. That was why they chose to meet with us. They wanted to see if we could help them get back their money that they had lost through that deal that they had made.” According to Tench, Chang revealed that they had paid $5000 each for the Visa foils, a total of $40,000. “They admitted that they had bought the visas. They paid $5,000 per visa, and that the visas were not done properly. They also told me that they had looked at a person who had gotten another legitimately issued Visa, and they could have seen some of the discrepancies. So, once they saw that, they decided to see if they can get the visas
Fatal RTA or Foul Murder..? Continued from page 1 who allegedly own property near Maya Beach. But those sources are also indicating that Police have reason to suspect that the apparent RTA was more than that, and the couple may have been murdered. While we could not ascertain what may have led Police down that path, we can confirm at this time that the case, on directive from Belmopan HQ, has been handed over to the Major Crimes Unit for investigation. That would not be the case if the fatalities were believed to be the result of an RTA. According to the official Police report on the incident which as released a full day after, “the pickup truck collided into an electrical wooden lamp post. Inside the vehicle were suspected charred human remains yet to be identified. Between the hours of 3:00 p.m. and 5:00p.m a post mortem examination was conducted on the two charred human remains that verified that they were those of a male in the back and female in front and cause of death were certified to be due to ‘thermal injuries.’”
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2017 fixed in the office in Belmopan,” Tench revealed. In what seems to be incredibly bizarre circumstances which speak volumes about the culture of corruption in Immigration, Chang and Tillett allegedly committed the crime of purchasing stolen Visas from a crooked Immigration Officer. When they discovered those Visas might not be valid, they then brazenly returned to the Immigration Office to try to get the stolen Visas fixed. When Tillett and Chang met with Tench, they were in effect trying to induce him to fix the stolen Visas for them, another crime. Imagine that. Yet Chang and Tillett continue to roam freely in the country, enjoying the privileges afforded to them by being UDP insiders. While normal Belizeans are held to the letter of the law, the UDP Belizeans can break the law with impunity. Both Eric Chang and Patrick Tillett have refused to present themselves before the Senate to answer to all those questions. We are told that if they continue to make themselves unavailable, the Senate may have to issue police warrants for them. In his testimony, Tench also claimed that instead of using the hard work of all the investigators, his superiors at the Immigration Department sought to pin the entire embarrassing and scandalous episode on him. They ignored all the investigative work that he and the other immigration officers had done, and they sought to discipline him before the Public Services Commission. Their grounds for going after him was that he was negligent in the handing over procedures of all of the government property, but try as they might, he was acquitted. Meanwhile, the real culprits continue to walk around free.
The Belize Times
Established 1957
14 APR 2013
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ISSUE NO: 4840
The Truth Shall Make You Free
www.belizetimes.bz
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$1.00
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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28 Feb
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