7 News Belize

A Crooked Birth Certificate For a Crooked Con
posted (July 22, 2016)

So, as the William “Dannyâ€￾ Mason saga continues to unravel, there a number of unanswered questions. We've managed to unearth several aliases of his. His Guyanese passport says that he is Rajesh Oulette, and that would make the name “William Masonâ€￾, just one of the assumed identities. He's known also as Canadian “Ted Ouletteâ€￾, as “Raj Ouelletâ€￾ - a variation on the spelling on the Guyanese passport, and there are reports suggesting that he has also identified himself as Belizean “William Fergusonâ€￾, and we know that police are seeking his wife, Mellissa Ferguson.

Today, we asked Immigration Minister Godwin Hulse if he or the other Government Department heads have managed to find out just how he got hold of the fake birth certificate which says that he is from Crooked Tree. Hulse told us that the Attorney General's Ministry is still investigating that, but he knows for certain that Mason did not manage to get hold of a Belizean passport:

Hon. Godwin Hulse - Minister of Immigration
"We found nothing I immediately after I left the press conference contacted the director of immigration and they people at the passport to research the file to see if he had gotten a passport and how he got it. From their record there is no record of him having a passport; a Belize passport that is. So that is where I am with it, we have left that open for continued research in terms of the electronic follow up of that process and to date everybody is saying no; no Mason applied, no passport. I have instructed them to look under the other names as well to see if any passport was issued under the other names so as of this interview that's the position."

Mike Rudon
"Sir have you been able to follow up the birth certificate angle of this?"

Hon. Godwin Hulse - Minister of Immigration
"No absolutely not but I can tell you that the prime minister and cabinet instructed the attorney general who's responsible for vital statistics to look into that like post heist because of course that is a serious matter."

Daniel Ortiz
"Sir are you able to tell us have you all done any research as to how and when he entered the country? We've seen a document which says he's a Guyanese and his name is Rajesh Ouellet."

Hon. Godwin Hulse - Minister of Immigration
"No not at this time also. This is an ongoing thing and I don't want to prejudice. No information has come back to me, I've simply said to the CEO and to the director and as you know the roll of immigration has been split functionally and supervisory so to speak or over sight. So they are working on that. I can assure you as soon as we get some information I will pass it to you."

Mike Rudon
"We have seen this happen in vital statistics before where people come up with these birth certificates and nothing happens. There seems to be no investigation, nobody follows it up and it just passes."

Hon. Godwin Hulse - Minister of Immigration
"You are right and it’s something that have troubled me for a long time this whole issue of a birth certificate that has no physical trace to the person. There's no finger print on it because it's a baby. There is no picture, there is nothing and so it’s happening all over the world and I figure that vital statistics has to come up with a way. And that is why and I want to repeat this gentlemen; please that is why when we did the immigration thing we said move away from the JP because we know that story and please bring in some people we think would have some integrity. This is an issue that the whole national has to coal lest around."

Daniel Ortiz
"It may have seen time and time again where once one person gets one of these documents either the nationality passport or the birth certificate; all doors tend to open up afterwards where the different departments depend upon the due diligence that the others did. Have you all moved away from that to do your own investigations?"

Hon. Godwin Hulse - Minister of Immigration
"That was why we set up that system so we would move away and just no accept social security card or some other thing. And if you talk to the people on the street they'll tell you oh that's a difficult process you have to go through hoops. I had a passport before and now I have to bring all of this again and it's cumbersome. But people need to understand that it’s because of their very same mess we had to put in some systems to try to circumvent."

As you can see, the fake birth certificate says that He is “William Alexander Masonâ€￾ born to parents James Mason, a farmer from Cooked Tree, and his common-law wife, Sharon Tillett.

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