The Merlene Bailey Martinez report from the DFC Commission of Inquiry - it's never been published, and though there's been an outcry from some quarters to release it, the government, it appears, isn't inclined to do so. We say that because government has never sought to challenge or set aside the injunction which was obtained by Glenn Godfrey. Of course, Godfrey and the government have their own "nobody move nobody get hurt" arrangement going - so don't expect to see that anytime soon. But on Thursday when the Prime Minister appeared on KREM WUB, he said it was the Commissioner Merlene Bailey-Martinez who ought to push for her report to get published. That passed un-noticed until today when bailey challenged the Prime Minister's interpretation of her obligation to challenge and the conclusions of her report.
Lois Young Barrow,
"Has your government made any attempt to have the injunction lifted?
Rt. Hon. Said Musa,
"No we haven't."
Lois Young Barrow,
"Why not?"
Rt. Hon. Said Musa,
"Because I expected the parties against whom the injunction were granted might have considered that."
Lois Young Barrow,
"Yes but what are the parties? The parties in both cases were the government of Belize who appointed."
Rt. Hon. Said Musa,
"Yes but the interested party was the person who supposedly prepared the report."
Merlene Bailey-Martinez,
"The physical timing was such that even if I wanted to, I would not have been able to. But the important point is that it names the government of Belize as the defendant, not Merlene Martinez and not the Commission."
Jules Vasquez,
But the meaning I draw from the Prime Minister's statement is that you could have applied subsequently to have it lifted.
Merlene Bailey-Martinez,
"Without really analyzing it legally, my Commission expired on the day I filed a report. The letter that I got from the Cabinet Secretary is dated on the day that I filed the report. So I was out of Commission, so to speak on the day that I filed the report. I had no legal standing except as a private citizen after that."
Rt. Hon. Said Musa,
"I read the report, a copy was given to me, and without going into the report, because there is an injunction against it, the only allegation/charges made in there are suggesting improper procedures being followed and also recommending to strengthen the whole process of how the DFC should have carried out its business."
Merlene Bailey-Martinez,
"If he is talking about my report, then that is not even the tip of the iceberg in terms of what is contained in the report. Certainly if the Prime Minister is talking about my report, he has omitted the main scope of the report in terms of the findings, in terms of the recommendation. There is something in there about administrative strengthening but that's a really small issue in the report. But for the Prime Minister to dismiss it, that it's just administrative changing the report is recommending - I can categorically say that is not so. That is not half of it, that does not even begin to describe the findings of the report and the recommendations of the report."
Jules Vasquez,
Are you able to say if, as I have heard, that the report speaks to significant breaches of fiduciary duty?
Merlene Bailey-Martinez,
"Well I can't even respond to that because then I would be going into the findings of the report Jules. I can't speak to those findings."
Bailey-Martinez's report totals some 160 pages.
