Third District Representative Julian Fraser has completely denied claims of any conflict of interest regarding his brothers’ involvement in a project in his Sea Cows Bay constituency while he was a serving government minister. Fraser, the then Minister of Communication […]
Category: Commission of Inquiry
4-year gap to form Audit Advisory Committee raises questions
No plausible explanation has been produced for a mysterious four-year gap in the formation of an Internal Audit Advisory Committee (IAAC) in the territory. The government’s Internal Auditor had raised the issue of an absent IAAC when she appeared before […]
BVI Airways partners were decent people — Former FS Neil Smith
Former Financial Secretary (FS) Neil Smith said he was convinced the BVI’s investment partners in the planned BVI Airways initiative were decent people. This conviction likely helped to pave the way for his nod of approval to former Premier Dr […]
Gov’t was over-ambitious in stimulus distribution — FS
Financial Secretary, Jeremiah Frett has characterised as madness, the situation within the government when it sought to distribute COVID-19 stimulus packages during a territory-wide lockdown last year. Speaking at a hearing before the Commission of Inquiry (COI) on Tuesday, Frett […]
No disconnect between govt’s Belonger policy and the law — Dr Smith
Despite a 2012 internal audit suggesting otherwise, former Premier Dr D Orlando Smith said he believes there is no disconnect between the government’s policy regarding Belongership and what the actual law says. According to the Immigration & Passport Ordinance, a […]
EDITORIAL: COI’s belated attempts to admit its attorneys to BVI bar undermines the Inquiry?
After months of conducting proceedings in the territory, attorneys appointed to the ongoing Commission of Inquiry (COI) are today seeking to be ‘admitted into the BVI bar’. But this retroactive move might very well undermine the spirit of the COI […]
Vanterpool explains hiring CSC and selecting cruise pier developer
While denying he commandeered the Cruise Pier Project, former Works Minister under the previous NDP government, Mark Vanterpool conceded that the procurement process to select a developer could have been different. A Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report done in February […]
Complaints Commissioner raises impartiality concerns about COI
Complaints Commissioner, Erica Smith-Penn levelled a startling claim of impropriety against Sir Gary Hickinbottom during yesterday’s hearing of the Commission of Inquiry (COI). During the hearing, Smith-Penn told Sir Gary, the sole Commissioner of the Inquiry, she was concerned about […]
COI publishing stimulus audit report online despite objections
Despite objections from the government, the man leading the ongoing Commission of Inquiry (COI), Sir Gary Hickinbottom has ruled that he will be placing a COVID-19 audit document on the COI’s website, thus making them publicly accessible. The audit covers […]
Gov’t inflates stimulus $$ to fishers, farmers! Most not registered
An audit of the government’s COVID-19 stimulus programme for farmers and fisherfolk has found that the Premier’s Office violated procedure and inflated its payments to recipients — a large number of whom were unlicensed and unregistered. The report from the […]
