The Senate hearings on Immigration continued today, and this time Senate wanted to question the Department’s IT Manager for a second time.

They’ve been hearing some startling disclosures from witnesses on breaches to the passport system which may have been exploited to get passports for persons who did not qualify. The most recent came last Wednesday on from Therese Chavarria, a retired Immigration Officer. She said that she had no difficulty fooling the passport system into accepting a picture of 2 applicants who didn’t show up to take a picture for their passports. That’s important because other witnesses have come before the Senate to say that it’s impossible to take a picture of persons who didn’t show up personally for their application.

Yet, that’s exactly what happened in the case of Won Hong Kim and others, and so, Rodolfo Bol, the IT Manager was called back to counter or confirm that revelation. Here’s how the Senate Chairman put it to him directly today:

Hon. Aldo Salazar - Chairman, Senate Select Committee
"Mr. Bol on the last occasion you were here, I think the important thing we had gathered from your testimony was that your view was that we are not able to take a picture of a picture and put it into the system. We heard testimony from Ms. Chavarria she indicated that in instances where it was a matter of emergency life and death situation, they did take pictures of their images and it did go into the system and a passport was produced. What is your view on that?"

Rodolfo Bol - IT Manager, Immigration Dept
"I was unaware how it was done, I heard about it last week when she came in, she mentioned about it. Where to that she came in like 2 weeks before to the office to get a report of one of the child I believe and that was the first time I saw that one, I wasn't aware of it to tell you the truth."

Hon. Aldo Salazar
"So you weren't aware of these instances, the one with Mr. Robinson and the one with the child?"

Rodolfo Bol
"No."

From there, the Senate questioned him on a number of topics, mostly internal business of the Department’s system protocols. Then, the Business Senator brought up the Won Hong Kim application file once again to ask if it is possible to change a photograph for a passport application after the original picture was taken. That’s important because if you remember, former Immigration Data Entry Clerk Erwin Robinson, came before the Senate to assert that he was being set up. He claims that someone was framing him for that Won Hong Kim passport application. That South Korean Fugitive did not set foot in Belize to apply for the Belize passport he got, but somehow a picture was printed on the passport.  Robinson claims that he took a picture of a man posing as Won Hong Kim, but then, the picture in his South Korean Passport was the one that ended up in the system. That picture was then printed in the Belize passport that he didn’t qualify for. Here is Erwin Robinson’s explanation, followed by the IT Manager’s perspective today on Robinson’s claim to innocence:

FILE: March 22, 2017

Erwin Robinson - Implicated in Citizen Kim Scandal
"How would I know this man, a man that is in jail, how is that possible?"

Hon. Mark Lizarraga
"It's not one person, its many people."

Erwin Robinson
"I just feel like I'm being framed- I do believe it could have been a photo switch at some point after the data was done."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay
"You are just suggesting now a photo switch?"

Erwin Robinson
"Yes sir."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay
"You are telling us that as far as your role is concerned once you take that picture and you move on to the next stage, you can't go back and correct or do anything?"

Erwin Robinson
"Yes sir, I personally cannot."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay
"So if a photo switch took place, it had to have happened when you completed the data and sent it on."

Erwin Robinson
"Yes sir."

END

Hon. Mark Lizarraga - Senator, Business Sector
"He's capturing the data and he is saying at 10:53 at least the system records that process has been completed. So he push a button and done. Can he change anything in the system after that point?"

Rodolfo Bol - IT Manager, Immigration Dept
"No, that would it."

Hon. Mark Lizarraga
"And he is reporting to have taken the picture of a gentleman. So if the change in photograph occured it would have had to occur between 12:53 and 13:01 and you are saying the only person that had that capability was Sharon Flowers then."

Rodolfo Bol
"She can modify bio data."

Hon. Mark Lizarraga
"Okay excellent that's what we are trying to establish quite clearly. She can modify what?"

Rodolfo Bol
"Bio data which is the name, first name, last name."

Hon. Mark Lizarraga
"But not the photo?"

Rodolfo Bol
"No the photos cannot be changed."

Hon. Mark Lizarraga
"But she can change any other information in spelling, dates, or letters or words? Not fingerprint, not picture?"

Rodolfo Bol
"Not fingerprint, not picture not signature, nothing like that."

Hon. Mark Lizarraga
"And after she approved 13:01, nothing then could be changed?"

Rodolfo Bol
"Nothing could be changed."

Hon. Mark Lizarraga
"The system would have captured and that process if irreversible."

Rodolfo Bol
"It is read only, that is right."

FILE: March 22, 2017

Erwin Robinson
"From my knowledge a computer is a computer and everybody knows a computer can be compromised at any time. There are people with the level of intelligence that can - I'm saying that is the only way I would see how it could happen, I'm not saying that's what happened but that is the only thing I could believe because it's not me."

Next week, the Senate will call Elvin Penner to testify. If he shows up, it will be the very first time that he is being asked to publicly explain himself for his central role in that Citizen Kim scandal.