In the run up to the General Elections of 2008, Said Musa famously declared on Love Television and Radio that, “All leaders have to lie.” He said this to vindicate himself after he had been caught, on multiple occasions, lying to the people of Belize. That went by and it was expected that he would say something like that since he was, by that time, identified as a compulsive liar; he simply cannot help himself. Years after he boldly declared that he has to lie, he continues in his old habits. He, however, is now joined by the current leader of the PUP who has had some of the lying ways of Said Musa rub off on him.
Both these men signed a secret agreement in 2005 with Belize International Services Limited (BISL) to illegally extend a contract 7 years after it expired in June of 2013. Now faced with the bubbling scandal, the two have gone on an all out offensive, lying at every turn, to say that the agreement was not signed in secret.
First, it was Francis Fonseca who appeared on the local television stations on Thursday, June 13th professing that the then PUP Cabinet had full knowledge of the extension of the agreement. He went as far as to suggest that there are Cabinet records which show that the signing of the agreement (which was really only a letter from BISL to the Government) was done with the full knowledge and consent of the Cabinet. He stated categorically that the Attorney General’s Ministry and the Solicitor General and even officials of the Ministry of Finance vetted it.
But as much as he is saying that the signing was not secretive, indications from persons who were in Cabinet at that time are that they had no knowledge of the signing. Also coming out on Monday, June 17th was the Ministry of Finance which clearly indicates that officials of the Ministry had not vetted the letter or extension. In its release, the Ministry states that the then and still current legal advisor in the ministry, Gian Ghandi’s, legal advice was never sought on the validity of the letter. It goes on to explain that: “Gandhi also says that he has carefully looked through the Cabinet Briefing Notes for the period 1st January 2003 to 31st March 2005, prepared by the then Cabinet Secretary, Robert Leslie, and that he found absolutely no mention of extension of term of the Management Services Agreement for the IBC and Shipping Registries.”
This flies in the face of Fonseca’s assertion that there must be records to prove that there was knowledge in Cabinet of the signing of the agreement.
Fonseca was joined by Said Musa on Tuesday, June 17th as he appeared on Positive Vibez saying that everybody in Government knew about the secret agreement. The question now is, who should anyone believe, a self-professed liar or a public officer who has nothing to gain by lying?
