Attorney General Confirms Fraudulent Birth Certificates Used by American Nationals

After our newsroom broke the story of fake birth certificates on Monday the Office of the Attorney General sent out a release today.  Apparently, an investigation was conducted, revealing that several fraudulent birth certificates were issued which led to processing of social security cards and passports.  Information to our newsroom is that three American nationals had used the fraudulent certificate to obtain the other documents, but upon the third submission, someone as Social Security had flagged the birth certificate as unauthentic.  The Police were called in back in June and an investigation was launched.  In its release today, the AG’s Office indicated that the birth certificates were not generated at the Vital Statistics Office as IT personnel had gone in to conduct a scrub of the documents.  Also confirming the investigation was Minister of Public Service, Henry Usher, when he made an appearance on The Morning Show today.

Henry Charles Usher, Minister of Public Service: “So I know the Attorney General has, or the police department has been investigating the issue of the fraudulent birth papers so that is an ongoing investigation and we’ll have to wait to see what that investigation comes out with but certainly there’s no intention or there’s no effort to cover up anything. This is a police investigation to see what exactly was happening in the Vital Statistics Unit for these birth certificates to be issued irregularly.”

The release from the Attorney General further states, quote, “persons are being interviewed, statements have been given, and charges are forthcoming.  Further security measures have since been implemented at the V.S.U., Ministry of Immigration and Social Security Board. These measures cannot be disclosed for obvious reasons.”  End of quote.  These new measures would reportedly strengthen the systems and reduce the potential for incidents like these.  Belizeans are cautioned to not engage in the dealing or procuring of fraudulent documents as it is only a matter of time before these acts are uncovered and prosecuted.