And an hour later we learned what that tightly guarded decision was. The Prime Minister issued a statement which laid out the penalties for Saldivar, who he concluded had misled him and the Cabinet.
The PM referred to Jacob Kingston's testimony in a Utah Federal Courthouse. As we told you testified on Monday that he saw John Saldivar receive packs of cash valuing $10,000 dollars each from Lev Dermen at a Turkish businessman's residence in Belize.
And yesterday, he also testified that in 2014 he sat in a meeting with Saldivar and Lev Dermen who promised to pay for John Saldivar's re-election campaign in cash disbursements. Kingston also discussed text messages he exchanged with Saldivar a 50 thousand US dollar donation in cash which was to be picked up in Miami.
The jury was shown a text message allegedly from Saldivar saying, quote "Really need the February tranche," end quote, which refers to the cash donation promised by Dermen.
In his statement Prime Minister Barrow said that sealed it - and Saldivar had to be stripped of his portfolio:
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"The testimony given in the trial this Monday and Tuesday by one Jacob Kingston has proved, to say the least, explosive. Kingston incriminated Minister John Saldivar, in particular, and produced text messages in support of his evidence relating to the allegations he made against Minister Saldivar."
"As Prime Minister I have earlier gone on record about this matter. This was after Ministers had 'sworn' to Cabinet that none of them had taken any money from Dermen and associates. I said in Cabinet at the time, and later at a press conference, that any Minister subsequently proven indeed to have taken money and therefore to have lied to Cabinet, would have to leave the Cabinet."
"That time for leaving, in view of what happened Monday and Tuesday in Salt Lake City, Utah, has unfortunately come. I, therefore, today asked Minister Saldivar to submit to me his resignation as Leader Elect of the United Democratic Party. He has agreed to do so."
"In addition to the resignation, I have decided to put the Minister on indefinite suspension from the Cabinet. This will do two things: It will give the Minister a chance to prove the innocence which he strongly maintains; it will also give time for the Government to obtain official transcripts from the trial and direct the Police to launch and complete a thorough investigation into all the allegations made in the course of that Dermen trial."
"The UDP will in due time choose a new Leader Elect for the Party."
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