Hon. John Saldivar’s name surfaced last Thursday, in court documents from the United States v Lev Dermen case, but Prime Minister Dean Barrow asserted that was not sufficient evidence to take action against Belize’s Minister of National Security. Today, Caribbean Shores area representative, Hon. Karee Musa wrote to the PM and Attorney General, Michael Peyrefitte, urging them to use the Mutual Legal Assistant Treaty with the United States, that was legislated domestically as the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters (Belize/ USA) Act,` to get to the evidence.
Hon. Musa’s letter said about the text/WhatsApp message exchanged between Jacob Kingston and Hon. Saldivar, “It is likely that the messages will reveal illegality, corruption and wrong doing.”
The letter stressed that the PUP believes that the competent authority under the treaty (the Attorney General) has a duty to invoke the provisions of the treaty, because the Belizean people have a right to know the contents of the text/WhatsApp messages.
The letter added, “Mr. Attorney, I hereby request that you inform me in writing whether you intend to urgently request mutual legal assistance in this matter . If you do not intend to make the request , please provide your written reason for refusing to do so. Kindly let me have your response before the close of business on January 31, 2020.”
The letter ended saying that, “We reserve the right to institute legal proceedings to compel you to perform your duties to obtain and make public the contents of the texts/WhatsApp messages and aby other related documentary evidence.
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