According to those court documents, one of the associates - Jacob Kingston, quote "will testify that Dermen and his associates made cash payments to foreign government officials….Kingston will also testify that a government official from Belize was routinely paid $25,000 cash a month by Dermen and that when Dermen could not make the payment himself he would ask Kingston to make the payment on his behalf." End quote.

Sources tell us that those funds would go to an address in Miami to be picked up - and that US authorities had to warn the government of Belize that this address was under surveillance for suspicious activity.

Additionally, Kingston says in February of 2014 Kingston himself arranged for cash payment to the Belizean official through an associate. And in June of 2013, he electronically sent funds to a different Belizean government official at Dermen's request." End quote.

So that's two government officials - and the solid suspicion is that these are UDP ministers - because a number of them were known to be rubbing shoulders with Dermen - known in Belize as Levon Termendzhyan.

And that's because Dermen was throwing around lavish sums of money. And he did that because his primary interest in Belize was to become a diplomat - even if it meant buying the diplomatic immunity associated with that. He needed that status - US court documents say - to facilitate his illicit movements of cash - since diplomats are not searched.

And 7News has learned that he almost got that diplomatic immunity - right here in Belize. Reports say one Minister recommended him to be an Ambassador - and - our reports say - that might have gone through - except that the US authorities stepped in and said they would reject his nomination. We have learned that another minister put forward his name for honorary consul in the US state of Nevada - but that didn't work out either. It's not far fetched to assume that every recommendation was made for an inducement, or, what in political parlance is called a campaign contribution.

Court reports out of Utah say the case is set to go to trial on January 27th - so the wagons are circling very quickly for the Barrow administration.

Today, Barrow told the Reporter newspaper, quote, "The documents call no names and appear to be a preliminary description of evidence to be led when a trial starts. If such evidence is led and names called, I will - as I always do - deal harshly with any proven official wrongdoer." End quote. Of course, in politics, perception trumps proof, and Barrow may have to act more quickly than he might wish - difficult with a national convention and his imminent retirement on the immediate event horizon.