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

COMMISSION PRESS STATEMENT

25th November 2008

The Commission, in its Press Statement of 17th November 2008, indicated its intention to hold hearings in Providenciales in December 2008, depending on the information provided and yet to be provided by Ministers and Members of the House of Assembly as to their interests. Only recently, as indicated in the Press Statement, some Ministers and Members had begun to provide the Commission with voluminous quantities of documents purportedly in full and accurate disclosure of their interests. However, in the main, such documentation - in the short time the Commission has had to examine it – still appears to be inadequate and in significant respects otherwise questionable.

The process of piecemeal disclosure continues – mostly without regard to time-tables set by the Commission. Some of the promised documentation has been made available only in hard copy in Providenciales or has still to arrive at the Commission Secretariat in London. Much that has been sent to London, either in hard copy or electronic form, has arrived only in the last few days. All of this new material has now to be analysed and considered alongside previous returns and disclosures to the Commission to enable it to determine the need for and form of any oral examinations.

The late provision, principally by Ministers, of documentation has been accompanied by a recent surge of approaches from others seeking, not only to provide information, but also to give evidence. This too has led to the production of much fresh documentation for analysis and comparison with ministerial disclosures of interest.

Fairness requires that all this new material, whatever its source and where relevant, should be considered for inclusion in re-constituted or new bundles of Commission copy documents for service on Ministers and others in advance of any hearings.

In the circumstances, the Commission has been driven to abandon its intention to hold hearings in December - hearings already delayed by difficulties mentioned in its previous Press Statements, including slow and/or inadequate responses to its requests for disclosure of interests and other information and the aftermath of the Hurricanes. It now proposes to convene in the Territory early in the New Year to examine, where necessary, those whose declarations and/or disclosures of interest remain materially deficient or otherwise questionable, and to take evidence from others bearing on such disclosures and otherwise on its terms of reference.

The Commission continues to invite anyone who believes that he or she has information that may assist the Inquiry or who seeks further information as to the proposed hearings to contact the Secretary, at lodea@tci-inquiry.org, and/or the Assistant Secretary, Bahar Ala-eddini, at +44 (0)207 173 2400 or secretary@tci-inquiry.org.

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, the Commission repeats that those who wish to provide information to it 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.

However, the Commission also urges those who have material evidence to give relevant to its terms of reference - whether in relation to past or present Ministers or other elected Members of the Legislature - to join with others in coming forward to do so in good time before the start of hearings in the New Year.

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

Laurance O'Dea, Secretary to the Commission

25th November 2008