By Renee Trujillo From LOVE FM

Last night sometime after seven o’clock, a vehicle assigned to Deputy Prime Minister, Patrick Faber  ended up in the Caribbean Sea near Marine Parade. There are many questions surrounding the incident and today the Deputy Prime Minister made himself available to do just that but first we hear the official police version.  Officer in Charge of Eastern Division South, Assistant Commissioner Chester Williams discussed the issue.

CHESTER WILLIAMS

“Last night around 7pm the Deputy Prime Minister reported his vehicle stolen and the vehicle was found plunged in the sea near Marine Parade boulevard. It was almost totally submerged. It was removed from the water and is currently at the Queen Street Police Station. It will be taken to Belize Diesel and I have communicated with them and they are saying that the vehicle can be brought back but the sooner the vehicle gets there the better it is so we are in the process of getting the vehicle from Queen Street to Belize Diesel so that they can commence working on the vehicle so as to not have the vehicle totally destroyed.”

ACP Williams stated that the vehicle will be inspected at the Queen Street Police Station and later on will be taken to Belize Diesel for further inspection.

CHESTER WILLIAMS

“The Deputy Prime Minister had parked the vehicle at his girlfriend’s house on the George Price Highway at mile 4 and that is where the vehicle was stolen from and after he was notified of the vehicle being found in the Caribbean Sea that is when he realized that the vehicle had been stolen. It’s theft of a motor vehicle and the police are investigating. The Commissioner has directed Mr.Lynden Flowers to investigate the matter and he is on top of it and we are assisting him with it because it was stolen from our jurisdiction so  we are assisting to the best that we can to see how we can get to the bottom of this to be able to ascertain exactly who removed the vehicle from where it was parked and went and plunged it in the Caribbean Sea. We did not find a key inside the vehicle so I don’t know if it was hot wired or what, I don’t know how that works.”

For more on this story go to: http://lovefm.com/2016/08/15/ministers-vehicle-found-partly-submerged-in-the-caribbean-sea/

Related story:

Education Minister Says It Was Theft and Nothing More

By Renee Trujillo From LOVE FM

As you have heard, the Government issued vehicle, a 2013 Toyota Prado was found partly submerged in the sea near the Marine Parade in Belize City.  Via his social media page, Minister Patrick Faber had indicated that his vehicle was stolen and that he was not present in the white SUV.  Authorities had managed to extract the vehicle from the water just before nine o’clock last night.  Deputy Prime Minister Faber spoke with the media this afternoon. In that meeting, he spoke of the last time he drove the vehicle, having parked it in a friend’s yard on the George Price Highway.

PATRICK FABER

“Yesterday evening around between 5:30pm and 6:00 pm I parked my vehicle at mile 3.5 on the George Price Highway and I got a lift back to Old Belize where I was earlier in the day having gone to the Cayes. While I was there I was notified maybe at about 8 or so by Ms.Ava from Love FM that my vehicle was reportedly in the sea in front of Marine Parade. I was subsequently called by ACP Broaster who confirmed that my vehicle was in there. I checked and sure enough my vehicle was not where I had expected it to be and it was then that I learnt that it was stolen and that it was in fact plunged into the sea. I then called ACP Chester Williams who I made the report with and at some point I made a formal recorded statement to the police explaining what I understood to be the case certainly as it related to the series of events yesterday evening. So as far as I was able to ascertain the vehicle was stolen and taken for a ride. I have not seen the vehicle so I can’t tell you if there were things missing I can only say what the police reported to me. I did have very limited amount of money in the glove compartment, I think about two or three hundred dollars and my credit cards and stuff like that which I was able to get back from the police but my laptop and my other equipment needed for everyday work was not in there thankfully and again while it is regretful that this happened I am thankful that there was no loss of life and I know now that the police have launched a full investigation to try to find out who the culprit is in terms of the vehicle disappearing from that location that I left it.”

According to Faber, the vehicle was purchased partly by the Government as he had paid forty thousand dollars towards the total price which is about one hundred and thirty thousand dollars.  So, who would want to steal the Minister’s vehicle?  The media asked him of enemies that he may have that would explain the reported theft.

PATRICK FABER

“I always say that I don’t have much enemies but in politics that is sometimes nonsensical but to my knowledge nobody had that kind of anger towards me or at least I did not know about it. The police reported to me that the eyewitnesses saw a male of kriol decent driving the vehicle contrary to the flow of traffic on weekends on the Princess Margaret Drive coming to Marine Parade and then that the vehicle came on the side of traffic that it was not into then veered into the sea. I will say that I’ve heard comments that people are saying that I was in the driver’s seat and I will make that as plain as I can,  I was nowhere in the vehicle, some of the descriptions that have come to me say that it was a person of kriol short and stocky which some would believe describes me. I will assure people that I was nowhere around the scene and it was not me driving. In fact when I learnt of the vehicle being in the sea I was at the Old Belize dock yard. I know for certain that my driver was not involved as well because they weren’t working on that day.”

A point of concern brought up was the fact that the vehicle had no license plates to which Faber explained that he does remove them from time to time and at the time of the alleged theft, the plates were inside the vehicle.  As it relates to the speculation that the incident may have occurred following a domestic issue, Faber indicated that it was not the case.

PATRICK FABER

“Yes that was where I left the vehicle and I did not authorize anybody to move it or to drive it. My check on how it moved, I left the key with my friend indeed caused me to believe that someone stole the vehicle. I will say at this time as well that I do have a second set of keys that have been missing for the vehicle and that has been missing for some time although I’m not certain that that was the key used to move it but I think it is useful to share that with you that there is an outstanding key at large for that vehicle. From what I’ve been told a male was driving the vehicle and that caused it to get into the water so I have no reason to believe that there was some issue with my friend that caused her to want to damage the vehicle.”

Faber says the vehicle is at the dealer to undergo an assessment as to whether it can be fixed for continued use.  He added that it is not only a loss for the Government but for him as well since he did contribute forty thousand dollars of the purchase price.

For more on this story go to: http://lovefm.com/2016/08/15/education-minister-says-it-was-theft-and-nothing-more/