It's been almost two weeks since we reported on the makeshift, fraudulent immigration setup inside Double Zero Bar in the Lake I area. After a police raid, several fake passports, VISAs, and immigration stamps were found, along with a firearm and 15 pounds of marijuana.
Criminal charges have been brought for the weed and the gun, but there have been no updates on the immigration material, and if 7News hadn't broken the story, there would have been no public knowledge about it.
And on Sunup's Monday Morning Beef, News Director Jules Vasquez stated that while there's a gap in public disclosure, the Prime Minister and Minister of Immigration John Briceno had jetted away for a Thanksgiving trip, without any public notice.
But the Ministry of Immigration, which falls under the PM's office, as well as the Commissioner of Police rushed to Briceno's defense today. While Jules did not refer to this discovery as a scandal, today the ComPol said that's what he heard - and he explained why calling it an "immigration scandal" was going too far.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"It's something that we have to look at very carefully and I heard the comments on the Beef this morning, alluding to it being an immigration scandal, as a matter of fact I have heard that narrative for quite some time. But I can say from a police investigation standpoint, that issue has nothing to do with immigration. It so happens that it's an individual who happened to have in his possession some Asian national passports and within those passports contained some Belize VISAs. He also had with him some immigration stamps. We have done our investigation and it has been confirmed by the Department of Immigration that the VISAs in those passports are not authentic, the stamps are not authentic either, they're a replica of what immigration had so it would appear that this was an individual who was operating on his own. We have not unearthed any ties to anybody from immigration colluding with him. I can say I had briefed the prime minister on this issue when it first occurred and the PM's exact words were, commissioner, please pursue the investigation to the fullest and go after who you need to go after. So the police is operating under those instructions from the prime minister and we have not been to find any link to immigration it's just a person who was on his own accord develop these things for his own purpose so to call it an immigration scandal I think is taking it too far."
Courtney Menzies:
"But it still uses immigration type materials even though they're fraudulent, but the passports, the names in them, have you guys located those persons?"
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"We've located some of them and again if somebody goes and makes a Channel 7 logo and goes around and uses that to solicit funds, you can't say it's a Channel 7 fraud, it is somebody outside Channel 7 who would develop this logo knowing that Channel 7 is popular and would make money from it, you cannot equate Channel 7 being corrupt so it's a very thin line. If Mr Ashburn was working with immigration then yes, but he's not an immigration officer so you cannot equate his conduct to the department of Immigration."
Courtney Menzies:
"Has he been cooperative at all?"
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"He has been interviewed by the police, the police has received some information from him and I believe that at the end of this week, the police should be levying charges against him in respect of those fake VISAs and fake stamps."
Courtney Menzies:
"Do they know how he got hold of the fake stamps?"
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"In an interview that was given by his wife, she alluded to them being given to him by an Asian National."
And while information out of the Government Press Office is generally sluggish, at 5 this evening, they relayed a press release from the Ministry of Immigration, who fired off at New Director Jules Vasquez, referring to him as a "tabloid journalist."
The release, which reads more like an angry Facebook rant than an official statement, says that while Vasquez declared that a press conference is needed in matters like this, they "beg to differ."
They then stated, quote, "At the Ministry of Immigration, we understand and appreciate that Mr. Vasquez is more fixated on sensationalism in the guise of public knowledge than he is on any form of objective truth or indeed on any iota of pure journalism that should be premised on truth. We cannot be guided by the same principles, or lack thereof, as we MUST maintain a REAL duty to integrity and high standards." End quote.
They added that they cannot keep Vasquez apprised of every move they make, and say - with an Orwellian wink - that, quote, "all information will be presented to the people of Belize when it is prudent to do so." End quote.
The rant ends by saying, quote, "we respectfully ask that Mr. Vasquez do his job and allow us to do ours."
When we asked Vasquez for a comment, oddly, this is all he would offer in response:
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