BELIZE CITY, Mon. Sept. 20, 2021– On Friday, at a press conference hosted by the United Democratic Party to tout the recently forged “unity” of the party following Patrick Faber’s resumption of his role as Leader of the Opposition, reporters got a chance to question John Saldivar — Faber’s erstwhile rival whose support was critical to Faber’s efforts to reclaim his Opposition Leader post through the ousting of Hon. Shyne Barrow from the seat. It was the first time that Saldivar made an appearance at an official UDP briefing since his displacement following the Lev Dermen scandal which placed him at the outer fringes of the party.
And he seemingly had a lot to say. He insisted, as he has done in the past, that the funds he received from Dermen were not bribes for his personal enrichment but were campaign contributions, and then he made an assertion that he had never stated before — that the then Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, was aware of the contributions when they were made.
“I have never accepted a bribe. I have never been a part of a corrupt scheme. I say now, though, that I had informed the Prime Minister prior to that fateful Cabinet meeting, that I have been receiving campaign contributions from Lev Dermen,” Saldivar stated during his opening remarks.
Following a Cabinet meeting in January 2020, former Prime Minister Barrow had addressed the nation, and in that address he had indicated that he directly asked all members of Cabinet if they had received the reported $25,000 monthly from Lev Dermen or Jacabo Kingston, and that all the Cabinet Ministers, including Saldivar, had denied receiving such funds.
Evidence that surfaced during court proceedings in the United States, however, would subsequently indicate that Saldivar had lied, and as a result he was stripped of his ministerial portfolios.
“I did not come out to clear my name, because to do so would have put me in contradiction with my Prime Minister and what was said at that fateful press conference,” Saldivar claimed during his remarks.
Saldivar has since been engaged in an unrelenting effort to regain a favorable standing within the UDP — at one point forming an alliance with a faction led by Hon. Shyne Barrow (Mesopotamia area rep), who spearheaded the ousting of Faber as Leader of the Opposition, and shortly after orchestrating an unsuccessful recall petition within the UDP’s Caucus for Change in an effort to remove Faber from his position as leader of the UDP.
It is believed that, with this newly formed alliance with Patrick Faber, Saldivar will once again vie to be the UDP general elections candidate in Belmopan, thus sidelining hopeful Khalid Belisle.
According to local media, when asked for his response to Saldivar’s recent revelation, former Prime Minister Dean Barrow declined to comment, saying that he has retired from politics and will not be drawn in.
Lev Dermen was convicted by a federal jury in Salt Lake City, Utah, in the United States on criminal charges related to a $1 billion renewable tax credit fraud scheme.