Former Premier Fahie instructed us to file injunction against COI
The injunction against the Commission of Inquiry lawyers to prevent them from practising in the Virgin Islands was architected by former Premier, Andrew Fahie.
This is according to a letter from Silk Legal sent to the Special Parliamentary Committee that was formed to decide whether former Speaker Julian Willock should personally pay the approximate $98,000 in legal fees incurred from the court case.
Silk Legal attorney, Richard Rowe said in the letter: “We at Silk Legal (BVI) Inc were instructed verbally and on multiple occasions by the then Premier and Minister for Finance, the Honourable Mr Andrew A. Fahie to file an injunction against the COI lawyers, who were acting in criminal breach of the Legal Professions Act 2015”.
The letter explained Silk Legal received numerous phone calls directly from the then Premier, directing that the matter be filed without delay.
“It should be borne in mind that the Premier signed the contract under which we acted. We were also urged by Withers to file for an injunction and we had conversations as to how this could be done,” Rowe said in the letter.
“The Honourable Speaker also indicated that he received a telephone call from the Deputy Speaker, the Honourable Neville A. Smith, that the then Premier had instructed him to ask the then Speaker to instruct Silk Legal (BVI) Inc to file for this injunction,” he continued.
Rowe noted the issue of permission from the Attorney General, was not raised until after the application for the injunction was filed.
“The issue with respect to permission was raised in an irregular judgment. When we say irregularly, we mean that the law requires that parties be given an opportunity to be heard before a judgment is given. No such opportunity was afforded to the Speaker before this judgment was handed down,” the letter further read.
“We then instructed the Speaker to obtain the necessary permission from the Attorney General. Unfortunately, as far as we are aware the Attorney General did not respond. We then recommended to the Speaker that the best course of action was to withdraw the matter in light of the judges’ request for permission. The Speaker then instructed us to withdraw,” it continued.
In the end, the Special Parliamentary Committee determined that no expressed permission was given to Willock to file the injunction as such the burden of payment falls squarely on him; as was ruled by the court in the first place.
Our fees pale in comparison to cost of UK takeover — Silk Legal
Copyright 2024 BVI News, Media Expressions Limited. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed.
I’m not surprised that the former Premier was the architect behind this. Many of us suspected that to be the case all along. Thats old news.
Now when Silks says that an irregular judgment was made as the law requires hearing from the other side before rending a judgement, to my recollection the speaker was given an opportunity to respond to the court by 4 pm on a specific day to which he did not comply. So that assertion is not based in fact.
The bottom line is this: The Attorney General did not cosign the speakers injunction. He had no authority to proceed without her approval but went ahead anyway. As such he should rightfully bear the cost of his own misadventure.
Some people need to learn to stay in their lane. When they don’t they are responsible for whatever happens. Its an expensive lesson for the firmer speaker, one from which he should learn.
Slick lawyer knows W never gonna pay him. Now he comes forward and says Fat Albert told him to file. Why didn’t he say something before. Just another cr**k trying to get money from the government.
He is a lawyer. He should have known that his instruction were to come from the Attorney General. I have no sympathy for this f**l. None at all.
Rowe, What kind of lawyer are you?: if you couldn’t advise against that injunction knowing that the COI lawyers didn’t need to be on the lawyers bar association because it was not a court hearing. Yea if they are so stupid to spend the money I will take it.
lawyers are greedy he saw free money and he took it, somebody will pay him either us or willock
Now Slow Wande want to separate himself and his cronie friends were lock and step with Joules. They all need to get washed out. I have no confidence in these ppl. New elections are needed now and all these ppl, including NDP ppl, need to get thrown out. Dissolve the house! Slow Wande and the Slopes need to all get their walking papers
All verbal nothing in writing for proof?
Apparently the ‘lawyers’ at Silk Legal forgot everything they should have learned in law school concerning the Westminster form of government in regard to government departments, authorities and commissions.
A Commission of Inquiry is an investigative exercise to examine the performance of government institutions and report on their success or failures. A CoI has a head Commissioner and a staff of investigators and examiners. There are no lawyers on the staff because no one is practicing law. Examiners and investigators do not need to be admitted to the Bar because they are asking persons questions in the presence of a Commissioner not a Judge.
Then why did they the COI have two solicitors and one barrister? If the COI had no lawyers, why was Bilal Rawat appointed as counsel to the COI? If the COI had no lawyers why did the Commissioner direct that the COI lawyers apply to the High Court to be admitted to practice law in the BVI?
Should there have been a legal case brought against the commission then to appear in court to respond to it the lawyers would need admission to the bar
This was clearly stated by the commissioner at the time but no one wanted to hear a perfectly sensible response
Fahie used tax payers money to hide his activity.. not sure withers earnt their fee….
Fair comment if that’s all the COI was, an investigation on success and failures. But the fact is, it was more than that. It was more of a passive aggressive attack on the territory where the conclusion was already written before the investigation even started. No lawyers needed where a hidden consequence of a ‘mere investigation’is direct rule?? To dissolve an entire book of laws (a constitution) without due legal process? Nah, the consequence should be bringing criminal prosecutions against who need to be criminally prosecuted (due process) and working with the rest to improve good governance. Talk about public lynching in the 21st century. Open your eyes and see.
My people don’t worry there is a lot more to come out in the light wickedness in high places.
and how much did they charge for that letter …..
Who is it that get thrown under the bus.
So, he sign a contract retaining the law Firm, before getting a meeting with the AG. Then instructing the speaker to go ahead and get things done. I know a lot of people do not watch television , but you can learn at lot from those documentaries.
So who pay now? seems if I am instructed to do something , did it half way and then pull out of it by instruction of someone , then whoever sign the contract pay their bill. Its easy moral, don’t ask me as an employee to do your job and when things get messy I am stuck with the bill. No way, and if you push it I will pay 0.27 cents each year. Silly People.
The Speaker is not an employee of the Premier. They are expected to perform their duties independently.
I’m not a fan of JW but something about this is fishy. He may have been a pawn, poor fella.
Did JW’s lawyers write a similar letter or make such an argument to the court on behalf of JW? If not, why? I think there should be an investigation into all of the key players involved in the JW case, and steps taken based on the findings.
Willock is always vindicated in the end
Has Slowandie trick you all by finding means for willock to get the funds to pay the court by relieving him of duties with full remuneration package to 2023 when his term would have ended? So all perks allowances and salary projecting into 2023 will allow willock to pay it easily without feeling a thing since he is paid by tax payers even though he is not in the speaker capacity?
If this is true, it is shameful.
Silk Legal ought to have immediately advised their client that he did not have standing to make the challenge as he was not the Attorney General, and to do so he would be acting ultra vires.
If Silk Legal had done their job properly then the Honorable Wig would never have brought the challenge and the costs order would never have been made against him. This is Constitutional Law 101 (literally first term of law school) stuff.
Silk Law ought to be making a claim on their professional indemnity insurance for the costs order. They screwed up big time.
But the law firm who received $6M+ and hired a former AG of UK was allegedly also calling on Silk Legal to file the injunction! Seems we also need to seriously question the work of Withering and they should also contact their insurance company in preparation for the challenge to come from the people of the BVI.
Isn’t AF a ward of the US? It’s believed he left without informing us that he was changing his turf. Take your bill to him, not enough money in the kitty to even buy a cat. Had he asked you to kill someone would you have done so? As a trained legal mind, you ought to have known that his request was foolish and would taint Slik and be costly for the territory.
Last time I checked I believe AF was property of the US Gov, take your query there. Apparently, he left without informing the territory that he was changing turf,
Should he as a lawyer knows he should get the AG permission before taking such action. Shouldn’t he have said to the client, yes, we will file the injunction but we have to get the AG permission first. He is therefore also responsible and should pay half the fees. Failure to advise is just as bad as a bad advice.
All this has confirmed is that Slick Rick and Daniel Flail were unbearably out of their depth. No surprises here.
That said, naughty Withers. Tut tut. They’ve used about as much critical judgment as the ex-Premier with a whiff of some $ in a cessna.
All round, sorry affair, which just looks awful for the BVI.
Is a s**m