Months of rumors, and weeks of edgy anticipation came to an end today as former Prime Minister Said Musa was charged for theft in Belmopan Magistrate's Court. No one knew what to expect. Would the old PUP cavalry emerge to bolster their embattled leader? Would the riot squad have to be restrain a riotous crowd? Would the police provide the public with the spectacle of handcuffs for a former head of government? All those questions were answered this morning. The scene played out in the heart of the capital and 7NEWS was there. Jules Vasquez has a minute to minute account of the morning's events.
Jules Vasquez Reporting,
Before 9:00, about 50 supporters including attorneys, family members, and loyalists gathered outside Belmopan Police Headquarters. At 9:00 a busload of supporters
from the Fort George Area arrived with signs and flags and took their place in front of the station. The shirts said "I support Said 100%" - but there weren't more than 100 of them. Still, they were sufficiently loud. And at 12 minutes after 9:00, Musa arrived at the Police Station to applause from his supporters.
He stayed in their being processed, or served with a charge sheet. That lasted for 40 minutes at and 10 to ten a line of 5 police officers came out, and a minute later Musa emerged to cheers from the crowd – hand held up defiantly.
He was escorted over to the court without handcuffs in a large procession locked in by 25 uniformed police officers – including three Assistant Commissioners of Police. Head of National CIB Assistant Commissioner James Magdaleno was on his left and on his right, Sergeant Ricardo Cho from Special Branch. The crowd
of supporters followed behind vocal, but struggled to reach a total of 50.
Musa was led to the courthouse where oddly he was led into the wrong courtroom at first and after a short while he was taken upstairs – where he gave another gratuitous wave to the crowd.
The crowd waited outside and inside, the DPP arrived sharply at 10:00, facing a team of 7 Musa attorneys. Court was called to order at 10:03, and Musa went into the dock; it took exactly three minutes for him to be read a single charge of theft of US$10 million – the property of the government of Belize. No plea was taken as it is indictable and he was released on bail of $100,000 plus a surety of the same amount. After arranging the bail, he spoke to the press.
Rt. Hon. Said Musa, Charged for Theft
"Now this is political persecution, brought by a petty, vindictive
Government. I am innocent of these charges, indeed of any charges that they threaten to bring against me. I acted in good faith always when I secured the grants from Venezuela for the benefit of the Belizean people. What we have here happening is this government, this regime, is trying to harass me, trying to shame me but in fact they are shaming themselves because they are dragging our country Belize down to the level of a failed state where a rogue totalitarian regime is perverting the justice system, controlling the justice system and using it and instructing people to use it to persecute and to jail their political opponents. As I said I am innocent of this, I am not worried about it. They know that they will not succeed with this ridiculous charge against me."
And from there the former Prime Minister was taken into the crowd and unto the shoulders of Papi Poti and swept away as if on a tide. After a few well wishings, he left in his law partner Edwin Flowers' Land Cruiser. One of his attorneys Anthony Sylvester spoke to the media.
Anthony Sylvester, Attorney for Said Musa
"He has not benefited from it nor has he ever been in possession of it. So you for yourself can make a determination as to whether the charge based on what the legal definition of theft is a serious one and we've been saying from the outset and in particular Mr. Musa has said that the charges basically trumped up and they are based on political persecution."
Patrick Jones, Love FM
"You describe these as trumped up charge but I am yet to hear why you say it is a trumped up charge other than Mr. Musa saying it is political victimization. US$10 million was given to this nation and it ended up where it ought not to have gone."
Anthony Sylvester,
"I explained just a while ago what is the legal definition of theft. Theft is that you take property and either for the benefit of yourself or another with the intention of permanent deprive and in our opinion the facts as have
been borne out in the public domain does not accord with that legal definition of theft."
Patrick Jones,
"But weren't the Belizean people deprived of that $10 million that went to pay a private debt when it was for a public purpose, that that money was given to Venezuela?"
Anthony Sylvester,
"All of those issues will be ventilated at trial."
Lisa Shoman, Attorney for Said Musa
"It is for the state to prove their case against Mr. Musa and so the issue of disclosure is going to be very important. It is the DPP's duty and responsibility to make out the case and according to the case that is made out, the disclosure that is obtained, the proofs and the evidence that they present, that is how the defense will unfold. It would be really premature at this stage for us to lay out any strategy for you. Not because there is any evasion or there is any sliding of the issue but simply because until you know what it is the state is alleging, no one can give you an answer.
The facts do not to us bear out the charge and that is an important element because in this rule of law in Belize, every single person is innocent until the state proves you guilty."
Jules Vasquez,
Explain the charge of theft. We know it as theft from an individual, you stole something and I had it. You had possession of it. Mr. Musa never had possession of this, he took something from an individual. How do you construe the charge of theft?
Cheryl-Lynn Branker-Taitt, Director of Public Prosecutions
"I think there is misunderstanding of the crime of theft. The laymen would think that is exactly as you explained, you are going to snatch something from someone and you have it in your possession. But the offense of theft actually
looks at the assumption of it rights, it looks at a person treating another person's property as though it is his own and this is what we are saying occurred in this case, that that money belonged to the people of Belize and that person acted as though the money belonged to them."
Jules Vasquez,
Mr. Musa is saying this is trumped up, implying that the DPP's office is working at the whim, at the dictates of a totalitarian executive. Are you pursuing this independently? How can we be assured of your independence and that it is not a political prosecution?
Cheryl-Lynn Branker-Taitt,
"The DPP does not take instructions from the government and we didn't take instructions from anyone in relation to this matter. Information was provided to us, documents were sent to us, we looked at them and it was a long process. I took over as Acting DPP over six months ago and the charges have only just been brought because it required work to analyze everything to ensure that there was a case to be brought and the decision was made by me without any input from anyone else."
Jules Vasquez,
We've seen that the DPP's office cannot prosecute the Prime Minister's former press secretary, not the DPP's office the police in that case, cannot even prosecute his former press secretary for a stick of weed; he was acquitted of that yesterday. How can we prosecute the Prime Minster for theft of $20 million?
Cheryl-Lynn Branker-Taitt,
"We have the evidence and we'll be taking the evidence to court and it will be for a jury to decide whether or not he is guilty or not guilty."
Jules Vasquez,
Is there enough evidence to support this? We've seen political prosecutions before failed disastrously?
Cheryl-Lynn Branker-Taitt,
"Do you think that I would have brought a case if I did not feel that there was sustain it?"
Jules Vasquez,
It depends on if your motive is purely legal.
Cheryl-Lynn Branker-Taitt,
"So then obviously my answer to that is yes."
Jules Vasquez,
Are you intimidated when you enter the courtroom and see six, seven attorneys for Mr. Musa, a Senior Counsel as well?
Cheryl-Lynn Branker-Taitt,
"I would not have been intimidated if the entire Bar was on the other side."
The DPP is confident, and the former Prime Minister appeared confident – but if this case ends up as the DPP plans before a jury – this crowd won't be enough, Musa will need political cover from a mass party – and it was clear he didn't have it today.
As we noted, Musa does not have the support of the present PUP executive: no leading PUP figures were there – in fact party leader John Briceno left the country today. Musa did have the presence of two of the PUP's elected representatives: Freetown's Francis Fonseca – who is one of his attorneys and Corozal Southeast's Florencio Marin Junior. The only other notable Old Guard PUP's present were Florencio Marin Senior, Winston Smiling, Luke Espat, and Yasin Shoman. Musa was represented by Attorneys: Edwin Flowers, Francis Fonseca, Anthony Sylvester, Arthur Saldivar, Kareem Musa, Kevin Arthurs, and Lisa Shoman.
As for the crowd, Police report that there were 3 busses, two from the city and one from the north. And while we counted hardly more than 50, Police say the figure was closer to 100 supporters – which in the scheme of mass party politics is still largely inconsequential. And while the Police presence may have seemed disproportionate to the small crowd, our understanding is that the Department wanted to set a precedent for order and dignity, and didn't want to turn the inevitable spectacle into what would be called a "poppy-show."
As for the absence of handcuffs, under the Indictable Procedure Act states that handcuffs should not be used except when it is necessary to restrain an accused person. Of course, the scene will play out in greater or lesser terms tomorrow when former Budget Minister Ralph Fonseca is also charged for theft. It's left to be seen if he will mobilize a crowd of supporters larger than Musa's or whether he will bring any crowd at all. Best information suggests that he won't do the crowd thing, but we'll wait and see – and have it all for your tomorrow.
