.png)
EXCLUSIVE: 'A COI will go deeper than the AG’s probe’ - Gov
His statement comes after two reports - one from the House of Assembly's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and the other from the Auditor General (AG) Ms. Sonia M. Webster - found alleged corruption, lack of transparency, conflict of interest and that no one was looking out for the taxpayers of the Virgin Islands.
While two other reports authored by the Auditor General - one on the Greenhouse and the other on the Sea Cow's Bay Harbour Project have not reached the Governor via the PAC, the UK non-elected Governor told our news site in an exclusive interview last week that he also wants to look at those reports.
“As I said, what I am looking at is ‘are the procedures for tendering and procurement fit for purpose?’ and by that I mean do they meet international standards? Are they suitably adjusted for a small community? Because we have to get a balance between building capacity local business with what is the cheapest price,” he said.
Governor Duncan who is on the job for three months said the tender process, "is something for which you must have a rule book but it must be something that is balanced between best practice and the needs of the local community and I am looking to see whether that is the case.”
“Personally I have asked experts, I have discussed it with political leaders of the past government and the current government and then once I established that, I want to know whether those rules and procedures have been properly applied. And if they have not been properly applied, why haven’t they been properly applied? Is it because people didn’t know what those procedures were? Is it because people attempted to circumvent the procedures? And if they did try to circumvent the procedures why did they do it,” he said.
“And the other question, was any of the circumvention for personal gain. So those are the questions I am looking at and as I said I am looking at that in terms of asking expert advice and when I have that advice I will take a decision on whether an inquiry is required on the issue on procurement,” Governor Duncan told our news room.
“The people are not happy with the way the procurement processes are working. Now that may be a matter of their simply not understanding them; that they are not visible enough. It may be that we need to make sure that much more understanding of what these processes are,” he said.
“The other question may be that they need strengthening. They may not be as suitable as they should be for this Territory and this may need people probably to come in and advise us on the procurement procedures,” he said.
“It has been a very difficult and contentious issue for this government and the past government so on has to take it seriously and I am taking it seriously and I will give my decision on it as soon as I possibly can,” said Governor Duncan.
On the issue of conflict of interest, he said this is something one has to be careful with in a small community. “But at the same time one has to be aware in a small community people are related to each other. It is quite difficult to manage the issue of conflict of interest and one has to pay particular care to it,” he said.
Asked whether there will be any revision to the timeline set for the announcement of whether a Commission of Inquiry or not he said, “I said I would give a response by the end of the year and this is still my intention. Because I don’t like having an issue like this with uncertainty and rumour, so I hope to do that if not by the end of the year sometime shortly thereafter. But I am still hoping for the end of the year.”
“What we see in terms of the Auditor General reports are just the symptoms of the problem. The core of the problem is whether the processes of the BVI Government are fit for purpose,” he said.
The Governor of the Overseas Territory of the Virgin Islands said that with regards to what powers the Commission of Inquiry would have, this would be dependent on the terms of reference set out for it.
“But at this stage, I cannot tell you whether there is any need for a Commission of Inquiry. It is one of the options,” he said. “But it would not be a body able to carry out criminal proceedings; it is a body that would make recommendations. It is not a judicial inquiry. But it will go deeper than the Auditor General’s [investigations] have gone,” he said.
Asked what apart from the Commission of Inquiry would be the other options for investigating the issues, he said, “At this stage I can’t really go into the details because that will be prejudging what my findings will be,” he said.
.png)
Follow Us On
21 Responses to “EXCLUSIVE: 'A COI will go deeper than the AG’s probe’ - Gov”
There is also the assumption that all the proposed projects are wanted by the public. Clearly not all are.
And in the meantime, the cruise project continues- making one mistake after another without an overall plan.
Indeed, BVI needs a master plan and lay the foundation for a reliable project. But we continue to fix as we go because issues were not determined before hand. Very Mickey Mouse. Why is there a need to extend the decision to after Christmas?