INTO POSSIBLE CORRUPTION OR OTHER SERIOUS DISHONESTY IN RECENT YEARS OF PAST AND PRESENT ELECTED MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURE

COMMISSION PRESS STATEMENT

10th October 2008

The Governor has, pursuant to his power under the Commissions of Inquiry Ordinance, agreed to enlarge the time for the Commission’s Inquiry and submission of its Report until mid February 2009, and is shortly to issue a formal order to that effect.

From 19th October to 1stNovember 2008 the Commission’s Solicitor, Jacqueline Duff, and its Secretary, Laurance O’Dea,will visit the Turks & Caicos Islands to identify and examine documents, visit relevant locations and talk to persons wishing to give information and/or evidence in the Inquiry. Anyone who wishes to speak to them while they are there, in complete privacy or otherwise, should contact the Secretary as soon as possible (if they have not already done so) at secretary@tci-inquiry.org or (0044) (0)207 173 2400 The Commission will provide further information as to contact on this Web-Site and by other media means when they are in the Islands.

As indicated in earlier press statements of the Commission, the responses to its invitations in mid-August 2008 to Members of the Government and other Members of the House of Assembly voluntarily to provide it with full and accurate disclosure of their interests have been, in general, inadequate. They continue to be so, and the Commission is persisting with its requests for the requisite information. As a last resort, it will, if necessary, issue summonses under the Commissions of Inquiry Ordinance, requiring attendance before it to give evidence and, or to produce documents in formal hearings in the Territory.

The Commission is receiving an increasing volume of information from the public about transactions giving rise to those interests, and expects to receive more.

The Commission is also in the process of instructing forensic accountants to examine individual transactions relevant to its Terms of Reference. It will also consider seeking the consent of the Governor to instruct them to inspect books and accounts.

There will, in any event, be further hearings in Providenciales at which oral evidence may be taken. At those hearings the Commission will give an opportunity to give evidence to anyone who appears to it to be a subject of the Inquiry or implicated or concerned in its subject-matter. Some of those hearings may be in private.

Given the continuing and widely expressed fear of intimidation or victimisation expressed by many who have made submissions to the UK Foreign Affairs Committee and to the Commission, and who have approached the Commission with a view to giving it information, Sir Robin repeats that those who wish to provide information to the Commission in confidence should say so. Neither the information nor its source, nor anything that might suggest its source, will be made public without their express consent.

Anyone who, at any time, requires further information, should not hesitate to contact the Secretary at one of the points of contact given above.

The Commission will continue to issue further Press Statements on this Web-Site,
www.tci-inquiry.org, summarising its progress at about fortnightly intervals, and renews its invitation to all who can assist it in its Inquiry, to do so.

Laurance O’Dea

Secretary to the Commission

10th October 2008