And so, on Sunday, a leader will emerge - and if it is John Saldivar, there will be a week of extreme tension ahead for the UDP. That's because Jacob Kingston will be on the stand in a Utah Federal Courthouse most of next week and he will continue to testify about his relationships and connections in Belize.
Court documents we have seen say that will include text message exchanges he had with John Saldivar.Saldivar has said, and repeated that he had no corrupt dealings with Kingston or Lev Dermen and has nothing to fear from that testimony.
But, what if something emerges? Then what would the UDP do with its new leader, who is supposed to take over the Prime Minister's post from the retiring Dean Barrow? It's a grim possibility that Barrow himself addressed in his press conference on January 15th:..
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow- Prime Minister
"I ain't going no place until I see what the results of the trial will be in terms of the evidence led you know. Or, alternatively, I would have to get a solemn sacred promise from the leader elect, made in front of the cabinet and backed up in a way, that I will explain, by the cabinet, that if evidence emerged that he was the recipient of funds that he will resign. And I will say to the cabinet, I couldn't force it, but I could expect that you would oblige him to resign for your own sake. Otherwise, just pack your bags, leave and hand over the government to the PUP."
Of course, we might add as an editorial observation that self preservation is not an instinct that appears to be on abundant display recently in the UDP, but next week will surely be interesting.
Kingston is expected to be on the stand from Monday to Thursday of next week.Yesterday, he testified that he traveled to Belize several times with Lev Dermen to explore investments. He said those discussions included Ralph Fonseca, described by Kingston as "Belize's Minister of Finance"‚ Kingston added that he had also met Fonseca at a meeting in Miami. These meetings with Kingston, Dermen and Fonseca were held around 2013 - 5 years after Fonseca was voted out of office in 2008.
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