The full story on former PUP standard bearer Moises Cal is coming out of Panama today, and it is scandalous. According to multiple news reports from that country, on Saturday February tenth, the former Belizean diplomat flew into Panama's Tocumen Airport with over one million U.S. dollars in a suitcase, checked baggage that drew the attention of Customs officials.
The money was undeclared and the reports say those Customs officials detained Cal for questioning. When he was taken in for questioning, Panamanian authorities allege that Cal bribed the Customs officers with over US$100,000.
The story broke days later when acting on a tip, Panama's National Police stopped Customs Inspector Gregorio Villareal at a checkpoint. Police found US$88,000 inside the vehicle and then found another US$15,000 in his home. Under questioning, Villareal implicated three other Customs officers, including one who is a shift supervisor at the Tocumen Airport.
Panactual.com, an online Panamanian news service reports that in a statement made on Friday, Daniel Diego Diamante, the Director of Customs in that country, said that a test on the money detected traces of cocaine, which, "indicates that they were dealing with drug-trafficking proceeds."
And while the Panamanian police arrested the customs officers who are alleged to have accepted bribes, they were hoping to question Cal, but he left before that could happen.
According to Panamanian press reports, he is still wanted for questioning, but it's left to be seen if they will make an official request to the Belize government, which would be hard pressed to refuse a friendly country.
According to Panamanian press reports, Cal used a diplomatic passport and presented himself as a diplomat. A fraudulent representation because as we've reported he left the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in December after declaring his candidacy for Belmopan, but kept his diplomatic passport.
Cal turned in that diplomatic passport yesterday but that will hardly undo the damage. The fact is that he is a former senior diplomat who on many occasions between 2003 and 2006 represented the Prime Minister at SICA summits. Now the information is revealed that he had reportedly made over a dozen trips to Panama in the last three months - and the burning question is whether suspicion of wrongdoing existed while he was still functioning and accredited as a diplomat.
And while the government must deal with the widening embarrassment of having a fake diplomat traveling with a reported million dollars in U.S dollars, the political fallout is another matter. The post of standard bearer for Belmopan remains vacant and today pup protestors gathered outside the Prime Minister's office in Belmopan to stand up for Cal. Bearing signs that said "Cal or no one else" - a reported 50 supporters declared their unwavering support for a man who stands accused of international money laundering.
And while those supporters want no one else but Cal, right now the PUP has no one else. The man who would replace him, Anthony Chanona met with the Prime Minister yesterday and after that he told the Amandala that he won't run, telling the paper that he has closed that chapter of his life.
Now government has the unhappy task of waiting to see if the Panamanians will request Cal; according to a source in Belize's foreign ministry, the Americans have reportedly indicated that they had not been following the case.
