There were one-thousand four hundred and thirteen cases of theft reported
nationwide in 2008 – but only one of them was by a former head of government.
That would be Said Musa, accused of the theft of 20 million Belize dollars in
Venezuelan grant funds. It’s the biggest case of theft ever reported and
the biggest criminal prosecution ever pursued by the DPP’s office. And
the case went back to court today – but the court date proved anti-climactic
as it was adjourned. Outside, Musa’s attorneys explained that they had
gotten disclosure late and the disclosure they did get wasn’t at all impressive.
Anthony Sylvester, Attorney for Said Musa
“The question was put to the DPP on the last occasion if the charge
is a proper charge and she indicated that she had gone through documents, analyzed
them I think for over six months. Curiously, the documents which form of the
disclosure includes a statement from the Prime Minister given on the 6th day
of November, one given on the tenth day of November by Ms. Audrey Wallace. Those
two statements would have been at the time the documents which would form the
basis of the charge. But according to the DPP she would have analyzed and looked
through documents, several documents, over all through these months. There is
a final statement which was given by Ms. Amalia Mai but that was given on the 
31st of December, well after Mr. Musa was charged. So in our opinion, the sequence
of the actual statement given, it does confirm to us that the case is one which,
as we had said from the outset, has some political motivation behind it.”
Lisa Shoman, Attorney for Said Musa
“The DPP has herself said to the media in a very coy fashion, ‘or
else why would I have charged him,’ indicating she had spent months and
months poring over voluminous correspondents, large documents – all sorts
of things and yet we have 6 or 7 pages given as disclosure, two-thirds of which
are statements given by the current Prime Minister and his CEO. You have here
a former Prime Minister being accused by his political opponent really because
it is the Prime Minister’s statement which is being brought in as disclosure
and that involves a private conversation had between him and Mr. Musa.”
Anthony Sylvester,
“For any defendant to go through a trial process, which defendant,
which accused person would want to be in a trial and have as your chief witness
the Prime Minister of the country actually giving evidence. Certainly you must
concede Jules that when the Prime Minister of a country would actually be a
witness in a trial, that has to have some bearing and some influence in the
trial. It just has to.”
The case has been adjourned until the twenty-ninth of January. Lead
counsel for the Musa team, Senior Counsel Edwin Flowers has indicated that he
will make preliminary submissions at that time.
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