Final Report of Task Force Investigation
of John Allen Williams
a.k.a John Allen Mohammad.
Pursuant to our mandate of the 28th October 2002 from the Attorney General
we submit the following confidential report.
This report is supplemental to our Interim Report of the 31st
October 2002. It is based on interviews with interested persons
and the examination of documents obtained from the Antigua and
Barbuda Passport Office and elsewhere. Conclusions of fact are
solely ours and in some instances made without corroborating evidence
but with the actual experience of seeing and hearing the statements
of witnesses whom we believe to have been honest or otherwise.
Our first line of enquiry was the passport office itself where
we demanded that all applications for passports made between the
1st day of April 2000 and the 30th June 2001 be impounded and kept
in a room, the only keys to which were kept by us. This was done
on the 6th day of November 2002.
Because of the sensitive nature of the passport issue we decided
first to look for forged documents used to obtain passports. To
do so and because of the large number of applications made in the
relevant period we obtained clerical assistance from the Ministry
of Legal Affairs and a team of police officers to systematically
examine each application. There were 8304 passport books involved.
Every one has been accounted for that was issued in Antigua and
Barbuda.
As we already had the application for John Allen Williams’ (hereinafter
referred to as Muhammad) passport, the method that he used was
one line of investigation. This line of investigation produced
three more applications all of which proved to be fraudulent. They
are:
John Edwards, whose real name turned out to be Norman Migill Manroe, a Jamaican
national.
Revena Ferris, whose real name is Keshna Douglas, another Jamaican national.
Rona Ascott, whose real name is the same. She is actually a Jamaican national
but as in the other three cases the documents used to obtain the passport were
forged.
We also screened all applications by having several persons who
were acquainted with Muhammad and the persons with whom he associated
(particularly of the Jamaican community) examine the photographs
of each applicant attached to each application. It was by this
method that the application of "Edwards" was discovered
by Keithley Nedd.
Additionally, and because each of the four known fraudulent applications
were obtained using a forged United States birth certificate for
the applicant, we examined the birth certificate of each applicant
in the relevant period. This method produced the application of
Rona Ascott.
After exhaustive and careful analysis using all of the above methods
we are satisfied that during the relevant period only the four
stated passports were obtained by fraudulent means. We are also
satisfied that all four were obtained by Muhammad, for himself
and the others, for personal gain.
During our examination of the applications and after being assured
by Lady Ena Thomas that the relevant applications were securely
sequestered in a room, to which we had the only key, we discovered
that one file of applications for some reason had not been included
in those sequestered. This gave rise to concern about the assurances
we had been given regarding the safe quarantining of the relevant
documents. We took the said file into custody and secured it. This
file contained the fraudulent application for Revena Ferris which
was discovered by passport office staff.
This latter incident caused Mr. Keithley Nedd who had been up
to that time, fully cooperative, to withdraw his assistance from
the investigation.
We believe that there are no sinister reasons for the original
exclusion of this file from those that we had secured. However,
we felt that it was a lapse of care again on the part of the passport
office staff. We believe that Nedd’s refusal thereafter to
cooperate was and is totally unreasonable and may have been motivated
by ulterior motives. We continued without him. We wrote him indicating
that he had not completed his perusal of all the relevant applications
but to no avail. He has not resumed his assistance in our investigation
and has ignored all of our entreaties so to do. He has however
seen fit to make public statements on a political platform about
the investigation and us.
In the course of this investigation we interviewed the following
persons;
Keithley Nedd
M
Judith Peets
Janet Harris
Lennox Gardner
Fitzroy Anthony
George Simpson aka Shanga Netfa
N
Mrs. Gina Papadopolous
Joel Paige
Lynroy Fredrick
Carla Foster
Janet Greer and family
Orella Jarvis
Cassandra Anthony Thomas
Renee Williams
Wilbur Purcell
Jennifer Isaac
Constable Junior Mapp no. 491
Colonel Clyde Walker
Howard Kelly
Muriel Allen Bennett
Alvin Jones
Cpl. Burke no. 219
Cpl. Lewis no. 408
Const. Patrick no. 108
Francine Graham
Sgt. E. Jeffers no. 412
Alan Aflak
Lady Ena Thomas
Violet Josiah
Alvin Langlais
Kevin Perino
Katherine Skipp
Mark Fineman
Libby Nicholson
David Gonsalez
J
Y
Ondell Contstant
Basil Walters
Collin Sullivan
Sgt. Cabral no. 75
Cpl. Hampson no. 125
Several of the persons gave statements on the condition that they
remain anonymous. The names listed above which are underlined are
the ones whom we promised anonymity. Several refused to give written
statements and other statements were given over the telephone.
In respect of others it was simply impossible to get written statements.
We are in possession of all written statements given. However,
many of the witnesses above gave background information only and
their evidence is not mentioned below.
Keithley Nedd failed to give a written statement but insofar as
the passport issue is concerned he admitted to us that he saw Muhammad
with only one Antiguan and Barbudan Passport. He did say he saw
Muhammad “holding” five passports in his hand but that
he saw only the front of one of them and it was an Antiguan and
Barbudan passport.
Nedd has a child with Keshna Douglas’ half-sister. The child’s
godfather is Senator Harold Lovell. Muhammad lived in the house
of Charles and Euphernia Douglas at Rose Street, St. John’s.
Nedd visited his girlfriend at the Douglas household before she
lived with him and as a result Nedd saw and heard much of what
went on. He made no contemporaneous report of his suspicions to
the police. He admits he had a falling out with Charles Douglas
and was thereafter not as welcome at the household as he once was.
Regarding his allegation of making a loud and public protest at
the passport office in the presence of Constable Mapp, Mapp denies
any such incident ever took place. It was Nedd who reported that
Muhammad told him that he was an expert shot and could shoot a
man easily at a great distance.
Whilst it is clear that much of what Nedd had to say was corroborated
there is no doubt that he exaggerated greatly and evaded all attempts
to have him give a full and lucid statement and to complete his
perusal of the relevant passport applications. Regardless of his
motives, he does deserve some commendation for his original whistle
blowing.
M a Jamaican National was also a frequent visitor to the Douglas
household. In mid 2000 he met Muhammad at the Douglas household
and thereafter formed a relationship with him. Both he and Nedd
suspected that Muhammad was forging documents including United
States driving licenses and birth certificates. M found out that
Muhammad was selling a set of US documents for $3000.00 US and
that Muhammad would arrange for those who purchased those documents
to fly to the USA on the return half of a ticket for a trip which
originated in the USA thereby making it even less suspicious to
all concerned.
This witness also stated that Muhammad suggested blowing up Barclays
Bank and kidnapping the Prime Minister. Most of what this witness
told us was corroborated in one way or another. For example, he
told us about Rona Ascott but for some reason that information
was forgotten by us. Ascott’s name however was independently
discovered by a passport clerk who suspected the application to
be false because of the included US birth certificate. It was only
after Ascott’s arrest that we remembered this witness’ previous
information about her.
He also informed us about Muhammad’s visits to Libby Nicholson
who later confirmed it. M also corroborated independent information
given by N concerning Norman Manroe’s and Muhammad’s
interest in counterfeit US currency. He also identified Norman
Manroe as “Indian” who associated with Muhammad and
was the first witness to inform us that Manroe had been sentenced
in Antigua for drug trafficking. Manroes’s close association
with Muhammad and Manroe’s known propensity for drug trafficking
and his involvement with Deon Wylie raised greater concern about
Muhammad’s activities in Antigua particularly knowing that
Wylie was murdered on the 29th September 2000 in Antigua by a person
or persons unknown. Wylie had spent much of the day before he was
murdered with Manroe and was involved that day as the victim of
a violent pursuit.
M told us that Manroe and Wylie had met at the prison and that
he, M, had accompanied Muhammad to the prison where Muhammad visited
a prisoner. He was not present for that meeting. Prison officials
confirmed that Manroe and Wylie were in prison at the same time.
We also discovered that Manroe was sent to prison in the name of
Kenny Williams he having also fraudulently obtained a passport
in the name of Kenny Williams a year before Muhammad ever came
to Antigua.
Wylie also paid for the funeral of Manroe’s infant who died
aged 3 days, just before Manroe was released from prison. The prisoner
that Muhammad is alleged to have visited was Livingston Morgan
a convicted forger of US currency.
Judith Peets’ name was given as the certifier of Manroe’s
first false passport for which he successfully applied on the 19th
July 1999 in the name of Kenny Kasim Williams. Ms. Peet denied
signing the application and our handwriting expert confirmed that
the handwriting on the application is not hers. Obviously the passport
office did not verify independently any of the facts in this application
remember Manroe successfully applied again with Muhammad’s
help for a second false passport on the 11th September 2000 in
the name of John Edwards. Obviously again the passport office did
not verify independently any of the facts in that application.
Janet Harris is the headmistress of the Greenville Primary School
on Rose Street Ottos. Muhammad sent his 3 children to that school
and it is immediately adjacent to the Douglas household on Rose
Street. Muhammad used his wit and charm on Mrs. Harris, in addition
to his helpful attitude and healthy appearance, to obtain Mrs.
Harris’ certification on his passport application. She admitted
certifying that she knew him for 18 months when in fact she knew
him for barely two months. It is also alleged that she certified
the application for John Edwards. She denied it and the matter
will shortly be sub judice. Again neither of these applications
was independently verified by the passport office. A warrant has
been issued for Mrs. Harris’ arrest.
Lennox Gardner, the director of the Social Security Scheme, confirmed
that Muhammad obtained a social security card in the name of John
Allen Williams using the passport in the name of John Allen Williams
which he used as proof of his identity and citizenship.
Fitzroy Anthony, a senior sergeant of police assisted in two ways.
First, he was the officer who investigated Muhammad’s escape
from St. John’s Police Station on the 13th March 2001 and
who also attempted to locate Howard “Steve” Kelly;
both eluded him. His statement, a copy of which is attached, is
self-explanatory. Second, Sgt. Anthony is the investigator in Deon
Wylie’s murder. He allowed us to read his file. That murder
is still unsolved.
Gina Papadopolous, a witness at the scene of the murder, stated
that Norman Manroe was not the person seen leaving the scene covered
in blood.
George Simpson, who has since legally changed his name to Shanga
Nefta was a known associate of Muhammad and was often seen in his
company. It is Simpson’s name which is shown as the certifier
of the passports obtained in the names of Revena Ferris and Rona
Ascott. He is a plumber. He denies signing as certifier or that
the signatures of “George Simpson” on both applications
are his. Our handwriting expert supports him. Needless to say,
he was not contacted by the passport office to verify any facts
in those applications. It should be noted that the passport office
accepted a plumber’s certification without verification and
on the application “plumbing” was spelt “plumming” by
the plumber. It should also be noted that for all four applications
which we attribute to Muhammad, Eva Ferris is shown as the mother!
Joel Paige of the Birth Registry wrote up the birth certificate
for Eva Ferris which was used in all applications but understandably
he cannot remember doing so or for whom.
N was Deon Wylie’s girlfriend. She knew Norman Manroe. Both
Wylie and Manroe were drug traffickers and dealers and both were
interested in and did possess counterfeit US currency. She stated
that Manroe spent much of the 28th September 2000 with Wylie. Wylie
was murdered on the 29th September 2000. She notes that they met
in prison and that Wylie paid for the funeral of Manroe’s
infant while Manroe was still in prison. She is still afraid and
wishes to remain anonymous.
Mrs. Janet Greer at the request of her cousin Randolph Simon (who
lived in Tacoma, Washington State and was a friend of Muhammad)
allowed Muhammad and his three children to stay with her when they
arrived in Antigua on the 28th March 2000. All four arrived on
American Airlines flight 5502 on one “travel” document,
namely the Wyoming driving license no. 451891495 of Muhammad. There
is no doubt that this too was a forgery. His name was shown as
Thomas Allen Lee. His children, whose embarkation/ disembarkation
(ED) cards were filled out by Muhammad, were declared as Fred Allen
Lee, Theresa Lee and Lisa Lee- all false names of course. Muhammad
introduced himself to Mrs. Greer as John Muhammad instead of Lee
and his children as John Jr., Thalibah and Selima. Before long
Mrs. Greer realized that Muhammad had kidnapped his children and
asked him to leave in spite of being shown a letter which Muhammad
produced giving him “authority” for Muhammad to travel
with his children. Up to that point Mrs. Greer and her whole family
had been very kind and helpful to the Muhammads. It seems he went
thereafter directly to Charles and Eupersia Douglas’ house
on Rose Street. Mrs. Greer and family had no further contact with
the Muhammads.
Lynroy Frederick, a security officer for The Public Works Department,
states that in or about October 2000 he saw Muhammad and another
person twice at early hours of the morning in the vicinity of the
Prime Minister’s home at Soldiers Ghaut. He stated that Muhammad
asked him if that was the Prime Minister’s home. However,
Frederick also stated that he Frederick thought that Muhammad and
the other person were other security guards for the home but didn’t
explain how he could have thought that while at the same time Muhammad
was asking if that was the Prime Minister’s home.
Wilbur Purcell of Special Security Services stated that he knew
Muhammad, who offered his services as a consultant, but Purcell
did not take up his offer. Purcell himself was very cooperative
but his staff was not, and on occasion displayed ignorance and
were extremely uncooperative.
The Staff of American Airlines were very cooperative. It was as
a result of suspicions raised by Muhammad’s behaviour on
the 11th March 2001 that Muhammad was arrested and taken into custody
by Sgt. Cabral and Cpl. Hampson. Muhammad, calling himself “Norman”,
had for some time been purchasing tickets from American Airlines.
He sometimes would purchase as much as $10,000.00 EC worth of tickets
at one time.
On one occasion he checked in for a flight with a check-in clerk
who happened to travel on the same flight. On the flight she noticed
that he was not on the aircraft. Upon her return she checked the
manifest and discovered that he indeed was on the flight-or in
any event his name was shown as being on the flight. She rightly
concluded that he had switched documents with someone whom she
did not recognize. As a result the alarm was raised and on the
next occasion, the 11th March 2001, when “Norman” attempted
to check in, this time in the name of “Dwight Russell” she
called the police and Muhammad was captured only to escape on the
13th as we already know.
Howard “Steve” Kelly was the other person at the airport
on the 11th March 2001. He had paid Muhammad $2500.00 US to provide
false US travel documents in the name of Dwight Russel. He was
told to wait in the men’s room of Big Banana at the airport
until Muhammad had checked in and obtained a boarding pass which
along with the travel documents was to be given to Kelly in the
men’s room. Muhammad was caught. Kelly waited for hours and
eventually left. On the 19th December 2002 Kelly turned himself
in and in exchange for immunity from prosecution given by the Director
of Public Prosecutions. Kelly gave a full statement of his involvement.
When Muhammad was arrested the police took possession of a driving
license in the name of Dwight Russel bearing a photograph of Muhammad.
The Police also took a US birth certificate from Muhammad in the
name of Dwight Russel together with a one-way ticket to Los Angeles
in the name of Dwight Russel and two suitcases with what later
proved to be Kelly’s personal effects.
Colonel Clyde Walker his deputy Alvin Jones and their staff fully
cooperated. In fact when Norman Manroe was arrested at V.C. Bird
Airport in February 2000 for drug trafficking in the name of Kenny
Williams, Alvin Jones, who was present, told the arresting officer
that Williams’ right name was Manroe and that he was a Jamaican.
This information was not acted upon and Manroe was arrested, convicted
and imprisoned in the false name of Kenny Williams. Even at Court
Jones informed the prosecutor of his knowledge but the case went
ahead in the name of Kenny Williams an “Antiguan” citizen.
Upon his release from prison instead of being deported to Jamaica
Manroe was released back into society as an Antiguan. Jones prepared
a full file on Manroe and was the first to suspect that Manroe
had fraudulently obtained an Antiguan and Barbudan passport completely
independently of Muhammad’s efforts. This file was given
to the then Chief Immigration Officer. We are not aware of any
action taken.
Notwithstanding the above, we discovered that Manroe was deported
from Puerto Rico back to Antigua in December 2000. How he slipped
through the cracks on his re-arrival here we do not know. He had
already obtained his second false passport in the name of John
Edwards in September 2000. We do suspect that he too had fake US
travel documents done by Muhammad. In any event he appears to have
left Antigua for Jamaica as John Edwards in June 2001 and next
appeared in Massachusetts in October 2001 when he was arrested
on a drug charge and since then he has been in custody. We have
also discovered that on the 11th September 2001, using forged US
documents, he applied for a US passport in Massachusetts. He has
since been charged, indicted and arraigned for this and is awaiting
trial in custody in Massachusetts.
Additionally we have discovered that Muhammad, using the name
of Thomas Lee, applied in Antigua to the US Embassy in Barbados
for a US passport using more forged documents. The forgeries were
quickly discovered but Muhammad never followed up his application.
Alan Aflak informed us that he had a flurry of requests from members
of the public for driving license type photographs with red backgrounds.
When he realized the use to which these could be put he refused
to do any more. Antiguan and Barbudan driving license photographs
have a white background.
Cpl. Burke and Cpl. Lewis were on duty at St. John's police station
on the morning of the 13th March 2001. Muhammad was in their custody.
Cpl. Burke was noted in the diary as off duty for reasons of ill
health at 11:39 AM and at 11:40 AM Cpl. Lewis notes that Muhammad “Whyte
Russell” "walked out" of the station! A suspicious
sequence of events and an obvious gross lack of security.
J and his wife Y were interviewed and their home was searched
by warrant. Both their computers and laminating machine were examined
both for content and fingerprints. Nothing useful was found but
there is evidence to suggest that they assisted Muhammad in the
preparation of forged US driving licenses and birth certificates.
The evidence is however insufficient in our opinion to recommend
that they be charged.
We have been unable to discover much about Lee Boyd Malvo. He
arrived in Antigua on the 9th July 1999 aged 14 years. He went
to live with his mother Una James, another Jamaican national, at
Cashew Hill. Shortly afterward he was enrolled at the 7th Day Adventist
School. Una James met Muhammad through the Douglas’ and it
seems certain that she too obtained US travel documents from Muhammad.
She appears to have left Antigua in late 2000 or early 2001. She
turned up in Fort Myers, Florida by May 2001 where she married
a US citizen apparently for immigration purposes.
Una James left her son alone in a rented house in Bendals Road.
He lived there alone for about 3 months. He was then 15 years old
and became 16 years old on the 18th February 2001. No rent was
paid for the home for three months and the landlord disconnected
all utilities. Malvo took care of himself and went to school for
those three months. Finally, in an apparent fit of frustration,
he trashed the inside of the house and moved in with Muhammad on
Rose Street.
After Una James’ departure she would send money for Malvo
through Muhammad. Not much came. From information received Una
James did not pay Muhammad for her forged documents and was visited
in Florida in mid 2001 by Muhammad who, it is suggested, held on
to Malvo as security for his payment.
During our enquiries several reports were made to us by members
of the public but very few resulted in useful information. For
example, as a result of information, the home of a Jamaican national
one Francine Graham was searched with a warrant by our investigating
officers looking for an Antiguan and Barbudan passport. None was
found.
When Muhammad escaped on the 13th March 2001 he disappeared and
obviously shortly thereafter left Antigua probably under a false
name. It is clear however, that upon his return to the US he legally
changed his name from John Allen Williams to John Allen Muhammad
in mid April 2001. On the 20th day of May 2001 he returned to Antigua
this time as John Allen Muhammad using US driving license MUHAMJA402RU
as a travel document.
Muhammad stated in his ED card on his arrival that he would be
staying at Pineapple Beach. His children and Malvo had, in mid
March 2001, been taken away from Rose Street by a taxi and were
not seen again. In any event immigration records show that on the
31st day of May 2001 Muhammad, his three children and another person
whom we believe to be Malvo, left Antigua for Puerto Rico on American
Airlines flight 5527. This time, except for Malvo, they traveled
as Muhammads. Malvo traveled as Lindbergh Williams who in fact
is Muhammad's first son. None of them has ever returned to Antigua.
While there is no doubt that Muhammad is a Muslim we have found
no evidence that any of his illegal activities in Antigua and Barbuda
were in any way connected to his concept of Islam.
Conclusions
Williams came to Antigua to hide his children whom he had effectively
kidnapped. He was without funds. His choice of Antigua as a destination
seems to have been totally random and based solely on his acquaintance
with Randolph Simon, Janet Greer’s cousin. He did receive
small remittances from the US via Western Union. The Western Union
staff were unable to locate records of these transfers. Williams
needed money to survive and he turned to forgery. He found a fertile
market in selling forged US travel documents, probably over 20,
which at $3000.00 US each earned him over $160,000.00 EC. Most
were sold to Jamaican nationals. The fraudulently obtained Antigua
and Barbuda passports were of little value in the market as possession
of one did little or nothing to assist anyone getting to the USA.
We have no evidence that he sent anyone anywhere else.
We conclude that Muhammad obtained an Antiguan and Barbudan passport
for the sole purpose of assisting his living in Antigua and Barbuda.
As a citizen of Antigua and Barbuda he would not require a work
permit and he could easily obtain a Social Security card and register
with the Medical Benefits Scheme and other institutions.
In addition, he seems to have accompanied many of his "clients" to
a US port of entry as a shepherd and would return to Antigua laden
with goods for sale for other "clients". His outgoing
friendly nature and his attractive physical attributes all lent
to his being trusted and liked. He also seems to have had a good
working knowledge of psychology and used it to prey on anyone from
whom he needed an advantage.
As a result of carelessness on the part of the passport office
staff he obtained four passports and no more. Coincidentally a
friend of Muhammad whom he met in Antigua, one Peter John Gianquinto,
using similar methods to Muhammad's, fraudulently obtained a US
passport in New York.
The passport staff must use more care in perusing applications
and must do spot checks with certifiers of applications particularly
in respect of applications which contain foreign birth certificates.
Many of the certificates produced to the passport office contained
different typefaces and in some cases the same word was spelt differently
on the same documents. Failure to notice these discrepancies can
be described as carelessness, negligence or at best lack of competence.
We all feel that our records of births, deaths and marriage should
be available for inspection to all and even for extraction by all
but whenever an extract is made a permanent record should be kept
of the particulars of the applicant for the extract.
We do not believe that a long delay in obtaining a passport is
necessary. We have received numerous complaints about the length
of time applicants must wait for a passport and we believe there
can be no justification for these long delays. Although we have
no brief regarding applications for citizenship, our comments on
the delays in obtaining passports apply equally or more so to the
extremely inordinate delays in processing citizenship applications.
The same staff deal with both types of applications. There is a
patent need for changes in the staff and system at the passport/
citizenship office.
We debated heatedly whether a plumber ought to be acceptable as
a certifier. We felt that to exclude tradesmen and persons of similar
trades as certifiers smacks of elitism but when we look at similar
requirements in other jurisdictions a professional person is usually
required. Until recently this was the case here but it was changed
by statutory instrument.
Try as we did we were unable to find any connection whatsoever
between Muhammad and Richard Reid. We looked for that connection
because on Muhammad’s original arrival he wrote on his ED
card that he was going to stay with one Janet Reed of “Long
Fords Estate.” There is no connection. Janet’s last
name is in fact Greer- formerly Kellman.
We have found no evidence of any terrorist activity in Antigua
connected with Muhammad or otherwise.
We also concluded that no event or person in Antigua in any way
triggered or contributed to the tragic events allegedly connected
with Muhammad and Malvo in the US.
We have been surprised that other than the allegations concerning Francine
Graham, not a single complaint or report has been made to any of us concerning
the existence of a single fraudulently obtained passport. Given the widespread
notoriety concerning our investigation and the loud and clamorous allegations
from some quarters of the issuing of great numbers of fraudulent passports
it would have been reasonable to have expected to be inundated with reports
of such. We received one only and it was baseless. We have been informed that
prior to our appointment the Honourable Baldwin Spencer was invited to personally
peruse all passport applications by Lady Ena Thomas. He has to date not taken
up the offer.
We conclude that the allegation that there is a passport “scandal” are
without foundation and are concocted, at the very least in respect
of the period we investigated.
As an experiment using documents available on the Internet we
were amazed at how easy it was to create a forged birth certificate.
We created one and laminated it and we attach it to this report.
It would be just as easy to create a false driving license with
photograph. This can easily be done with the use of the Internet
and someone versed in the use of computers. John Muhammad was not
so versed and we conclude that he had local assistance from J in
creating these documents.
John Muhammad committed several criminal offences in Antigua and
Barbuda. Having regard to the charges he faces in the courts of
the USA it seems that it would be ludicrous to apply for his extradition.
There is no doubt that an extradition order would be made but it
would inevitably be postponed until he is tried and convicted and
served his sentences.
Recommendations
- We are satisfied that save for carelessness, there has been
no wrongdoing in the passport office. In order to dispel all
suspicions, no matter how unfounded, of wrongdoing in the passport
office we recommend a change in the leadership of the staff of
that department. Public confidence has been eroded and needs
to be restored by decisive action.
- Special training or specially trained staff needs to be provided
to the passport office for the purpose of ensuring as much as
possible that forged documents are not accepted. All staff must
at all times be aware of the ease with which documents can now
be forged.
- Certifiers of passport applications must provide a daytime
telephone number and ought to be contacted on a random basis
to verify facts in applications.
- The passport office ought to be computerized.
- Immigration officers should no longer accept incomplete information
on immigration cards and no one ought to be allowed into the
country without some valid identification document.
- Certifiers of passport applications should be strictly limited
to certain professions.
- Public records should be available to all freely upon payment
of a small search fee but for every extract made from these records
there ought to be a permanent record of the applicant kept by
the Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages.
- The delays in obtaining passports and citizenships must be
avoided by speedy professional handling of all such applications.
- Laminated documents ought not to be accepted. Lamination hides
embossed seals which ought to be on foreign documents. Lamination
also falsely lends to the acceptance of forged documents as true
giving them a more genuine appearance than they deserve.
- We also recommend that the passport office be audited on a
quarterly basis by an independent committee comprised of persons
appointed by both sides of the House of Representatives whose
quarterly report be published in the Gazette.
Finally we wish to thank all who assisted us in this investigation
and apologize to the passport office staff for any inconvenience
caused by us. We are particularly grateful to Inspector Leroy Morgan,
Senior Sergeant Clement Solomon and Constable Sean Wayne for their
help.
December 31st 2002
John Fuller- Chairman
Ralph A. Francis- Member
Father Arnold Francis- Member
Cosmos Marcelle- Member

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