Tonight, the Prime Minister and the Cabinet Secretary are searching for a new Minister of Defence. That is after the current Minister of Defence Florencio Marin went on a leave of absence from Cabinet today. He is the second minister to do so in a week; Minister of Home Affairs Oscar Mira did so last week.
The decision was made this morning. Sources tell us the Prime Minister took action after growing concerned that the Mira case is just the tip of the iceberg. There are fears that numerous other sub-$10,000 payments could link back to Marin-who served as Mira's senior minister from 2020 to 2025, and returned to the post last November.
But, to hear the Prime Minister tell it-it was Marin's decision to take the leave while the audit at his Ministry is ongoing:
Reporter
"All the persons who officials who would have been involved in the payment process regarding the split payments, those people should be placed on suspension. Has that been done?"
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"I don't know. That is something for the Auditor General to take a look."
"She will be making recommendations. Right now, I can deal with what I can deal. I can deal with the ministers. Minister Marin just called me earlier before the meeting to say, you know what, I think it's best for me to ask for a leave of absence so that the Auditor General can continue to do their auditing of the ministry."
"It happened whilst the minister, he believes that he didn't do anything illegal, but he thinks that it will be best for the government for him to step back for the next 90 days, then we could get a report and then take it from there."
