Belizeans Coming Forward In Immigration Passport Scandal Investigation

While in Belmopan, we also caught up with Tanya Santos, the recently appointed Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of Immigration. She was asked for an update on the ongoing investigation at the Immigration Department Belize City Branch. As we reported, one employee has been placed on administrative leave following reports that falsified passports receipts were being entered into the system leaving numerous passport holders with illegitimate passports. Here is what C.E.O. Santos told us.

 

Tanya Santos, C.E.O., Ministry of Immigration
“So far, the investigation continues, clearly but we have had suspension of the officer and we are still gathering more information. So it is, bit by bit, day by day, the more we are finding out so.”

Reporter
“How many passports were illegitimately issued using this false receipt system?”

Tanya Santos
“I am not at liberty to say that at the moment but there were a few that we have encountered and people are also coming in to report it and still wanting to claim their passport that they paid for.”

Reporter
“When they come to say they paid for it, you all don’t have a legitimate receipt for that payment.”

Tanya Santos
“No we don’t and so it is an issue we are internally addressing as well, attempting to resolve and correct on behalf of the applicant. The scam isn’t per say with the passport. The scam is amounting to a financial issue. It could have occurred in any particular department of any Ministry. It really is the falsification and fraudulent production of receipts. And that could have happened in police. It could have happened in Lands. It could have happened anywhere but the fact that it is related to passports makes it a lot more egregious. So yes we do take it seriously which is why we wasted no time once we found out. We took the necessary steps and an investigation is still underway. We have made reports already. We have staff who have made reports and the investigation is taking its course.”

Reporter
“Might these passports have ended in nefarious hands since it was a fraudulent process that someone was selling these passports through?”

Tanya Santos
“I don’t think it ended up in nefarious hands. But anything is possible at this moment as the investigation continues and yes there is a loss of revenue and we are still determining the extent of that loss of revenue.”

C.E.O. Santos says an official police report will be filed following the ministry’s internal investigation.