What did former Minister of State Edmund Castro do that got him fired? We first asked and largely answered that question days ago when the news of his firing was announced.
But yesterday when the usually glib and expository Prime Minister refused to go into details, that just seems to have excited more public interest and to some extent outrage at the PM's uncommon restraint.
As we've reported - and the Prime Minister pointed without discredit to that report - a Belizean American woman alleged and offered documentary proof to the Prime Minister that she paid Castro 48 thousand Belize dollars for land - reportedly 20 acres - which she never got. The money was paid in - reportedly - at least three transfers from her US bank account.
In today's Amandala, Castro is quoted as saying, "she had given me X to secure Y" and that the Lands Department was taking "too darn long to process the documents." He adds that, quote "I received the documents and by then she had already blown her top."
Castro added that "there is no proof of any wrongdoing" and that the woman had "over-reacted."
But quite to the contrary, The Prime Minister told the Amandala that, quote "he was confronted with evidence that left him in no doubt" and added that a minister is not supposed to take money from a citizen for a land transaction.
And while Castro soldiers on with his division work in Belize Rural north, there are rumblings from within the UDP that he may be given a hard time from the UDP screening committee when he puts in his name for a convention which is due sometime next year. AT this time, however, that's just talk - time will tell how serious it is or is not.
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