COI Report: Consider doing criminal probe against Premier’s Office
The Commission of Inquiry (COI) report has called for officials to look into the possibility of a criminal probe into the obstruction meted out to the Auditor General’s (AG) office by the Premier’s Office during an audit of the COVID-19 assistance grant programmes.
In June last year, Auditor General Sonia Webster issued a damning audit report which outlined a plethora of infractions committed by the then Andrew Fahie-led administration. She detailed several areas where there had been outright attempts to block the audit exercise itself.
According to the COI report issued by Commissioner Sir Gary Hickinbottom, those obstructions to the Auditor General is not presently a criminal offence.
But he recommended that consideration be given to amending the Audit Act to make failing to cooperate with the Auditor General, without a legitimate excuse, a criminal offence.
At the very least, a failure by a public officer or any employee of a statutory board to cooperate with auditors without reasonable excuse should be treated as gross misconduct, Sir Gary said.
“Furthermore, in my view, given the ease with which the Premier’s Office defeated the Auditor General’s attempt to audit the COVID-19 Assistance programmes, the sanctions for a failure to cooperate with an Auditor General’s investigation and audit require strengthening.
The report offered two specific recommendations related to this particular issue.
First, Sir Gary said: “I recommend that the appropriate BVI authorities consider whether a criminal investigation should be held into the conduct of the Premier’s Office in obstructing the Director of the Internal Audit Department in respect of her audit of the COVID-19 Assistance Programmes.”
Secondly, Sir Gary stated, “I recommend that consideration should be given by the Governor as to whether an investigation, to be conducted by an independent person or persons, should be held into the conduct of the Premier’s Office in obstructing the Auditor General in respect of her audit of the COVID-19 Assistance Programmes.”
How the Premier’s Office blocked the Auditor General
During the COI hearings, AG Webster said even as she made efforts to conduct the audit, she encountered deliberate attempts at blocking her from accessing government files needed to carry out her duties.
Webster said that despite repeated requests to the Premier’s Office via email and telephone, her office was unable to obtain the relevant files and information about the COVID-19 stimulus grants.
She further stated that her office was denied access to databases, documents, reports, and other information relevant to policy development and implementation programmes.
It wasn’t her turn
Meanwhile, Permanent Secretary (PS) within the Premier’s Office, Dr Carolyn O’Neal-Morton revealed during the COI that the AG was stymied from auditing the government’s COVID assistance grants because the PS did not feel it was the AG’s turn.
Stressing that she only needed more time to comply with the Auditor General‘s request, Dr O’Neal Morton said she never intended to dishonour the AG’s Office.
At the time, the PS also denied any attempts to wilfully obstruct the operations of the Auditor General‘s Office, as was indicated in some reports.
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The PS Carolyn in premier office has always been like that…. Sorry the public have to deal with her. I wish if she would just go and God deal with her for how she treat people.
The UK parliament is prorogued today, and tomorrow is the State opening of the UK Parliament. So looks like Wednesday will be the big day for the announcement as to whether the colonial
power will take over.
The most honest woman in the BVI?
Michael Barry go f— yourself
AND THE PLOT THICKENS / LET THE PEOPLE KNOW WHO THESE HOLY IMPOSTERS ARE AND ROOT THEM OUT / OTHERWISE WE ONLY GOING IN CIRCLES
deliberately dragging your foot and or denying the Auditor General information pertaining to government spending should be illegal. Investigate everything!
To hear many pseudo-intellectuals talk, this PS should be considered a hero for resisting the “colonizers.”
The PS blocking a local audit from taking place is not resisting colonizers my friend. It’s preventing important checks and balances to keep our government clean.
If there was nothing to hide there should not have been a problem sharing information. maybe if the premiers office didn’t give away our social security money to “farmers & fishermen” who don’t actually farm nor fish; a lot of them was not even registered. If that’s the nonsense she stand for she is part of the problem…she need to go too! Hero where!? How?
Who is going to conduct the criminal probes and audits? We don’t have the ability to do that. Please send in Scotland Yard and clean this place up.
We DO have people to do it: the auditor general, the police and the DPP. We just need to clear out the dead political weight that has been preventing these people from doing their jobs. We’ve already started with a 400-pound premierectomy, so let’s keep going.
All these BVI civil servant departments/offices require some type of investigation and/or audit.
There are 14 English speaking BOT’s with 8 having a civil service and the other 6 administered by the military or the Uk’s weather service. The 8 BOT’s are Anguilla, Bermuda, BVI, Cayman, Falkland, Gibraltar, Montserrat and Turks & Caicos. At this time only the Governor’s are allowed to rotate every 4-5 years between these BOT’s. In the 21st century the UK needs to expand this rotation scheme to allow more civil servants from each BOT to work in other BOT’s during their civil service careers, especially the senior civil servants with over 5-10 years of public service in one BOT.
Ideally the future civil service in each of the BOT’s will comprise 10% of civil servants from each of the other BOT’s(70%), locals 10% and the remaining 20% non-BOT citizens. In the BVI this 20% can be down islanders and other ex-pats temporarily employed in the civil service.
Just like the current crop of governors have the privilege to live and work in 8 different BOT’s during their careers now the civil servants will also have this privilege extended to them.
I know you meant well, but that’s not how it works. That would effectively make the UK responsible for the running of Government. it would undermine continuity and the would be no real stability moving the entire managerial role every year.
What we need are laws the heavily prosecute withholding of data and information, as well as a reform of the way we collect and preserve stats and contract details. Add mandatory transparency, more than one regulating body, and a whistleblower act to protect the watchdogs and we will be fine.
This is actually a really good idea.
Who all is in the public account committee because Fraser cant do it alone by himself
WE NEED A COI EVERY 3 TO FOUR YEARS . IT WILL BE CHEAPER FOR THE TAXPAYERS TO FUND THE COI THAN CORRUPTION
I feel like no one has to consider anything. After the Premier’s arrest there SHOULD be further investigation into that office. The government has been quietly trying to make it seem Fahie’s arrest was a 3 person affair, but logistically far more people needed to be involved. We all know it’s more than 3 people too.
why should the auditor general’s office have to “wait their turn” to get information to do an audit. why cant her office get the information/ access to databases and you continue doing your internal audit. I found the PS explanation absolutely retarded she need to go too.
Isn’t she the same one who wrote the unauthorized letter claiming the ex-Premier had immunity?
Ms. Christopher wrote the letter for immmunity. It was not he PS. This when public servants get comfortable in them office. They do a lot of ***. They don’t talk to people good and they very wicked in their actions. This is a wake up call for the wicked them oppressing them own. Karma isn’t sleeping. She is wide awake looking at the next rogue public officer.
She said she didn’t know about it.
Oh yes. I wonder if anyone believe that?
The number of related civil servants in an island government inhibits transparency, accountability, audits and investigations concerning faults by public servants. Repetitive political parties and politicians have made these promises over the last 30 years with no positive results. Simply these BOT colonies are too small to do it themselves so use 21st century technology to unite all the BOT’s with a civil service. The UK is the parent country so there is no problem moving thousands of civil servants around the BOT’s during their careers to broaden their life experience in the civil service.
Free 1st world civil servants trained at 60 million market made avail for 30,000 bvi population. Right now we have 1/2000 of the labor pool for civil servants and all else. Hence s**t service. Damn good in some parts given our population but for running services and gov, this would make bvi tick like clock and subsequently boost local land holding values from milllinns to billions.
Go for it. Wouldn’t expect any thing less. Lock them all up
I say now things start to roll go back to 2015 how much increments you had to wait on and the have the tax payers monies flying away to they so call friends I say turn over every stone put them back side in Jail could be by brother or sister.
Mrs. ONM, and P** was all brought back to protect the Premier with his thiefery. ON had every public service worker under her ministry under her thumb, .scared to do their jobs, or to cooperate with the Auditor General. They all need to be jailed. Aiding and abetting is the same as the perpetrator.