Patrick Faber says Lev Dermen scandal weakens UDP’s chances for re-election

By Aaron Humes: As general elections draw nearer, the United Democratic Party is gearing up to seek a 4th consecutive term. The party’s leadership convention is only five days away, and with Patrick Faber and John Saldivar both vying to replace current leader Dean Barrow, the race is on to secure the last of the 570 delegates.

In an interview with reporters, Faber indicated that his opponent’s name being called in the accused Armenian fraudster Lev Dermen’s case means “our party has taken a blow – whether or not it is true, whether or not it is factual that these kinds of engagements have been made by my opponent or anybody else, it has really caused the party to be put under pressure, and in that regard I am saying it is going to be difficult – it has made our chances to move ahead more difficult, but it has not made it impossible.”

Nonetheless, he agrees that the party should wait and see what happens in the court case in Salt Lake City, Utah. But he points out that whether or not he wins on Sunday, he has nowhere to go – “politics is my life, the UDP is my life.”

And on what the Government saw in Dermen that he might be considered – though not ultimately handed – a diplomatic position as honorary consul, Faber said he didn’t know. “I don’t have that kind of information and knowledge about what kind of business he was engaged in, at all. I was not a part of making a recommendation for him to be not an ambassador, or an honorary counsel…I cannot say that I know of any value or what characterizes or traits or resources or whatever he would have brought to the table in order for us to consider him favourably…”

Quizzed on having met Dermen (in passing, with no regular communication by text message or otherwise) and receiving finances from him, Faber repeated that he has not received “twenty-five cents” from Dermen, nor his associates, nor any payment from convicted murderer “Danny” Mason, or any political donor.

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