Governor extends COI by six months!
Governor John Rankin has given Sir Gary Hickinbottom an additional six months to conduct his Commission of Inquiry (COI) and produce a report.
This decision follows a June 2 request to Governor Rankin from Sir Gary asking for an extension.
Sir Gary — the sole commissioner for the COI — was initially required to produce his findings from the COI by July 19. But with this new extension, the COI will not conclude till January 2022 — an entire year after the COI was commissioned.
According to the Governor, the government and its Inquiry Response Unit (IRU), which the Attorney General’s Chambers set up to help provide responses to all the COI’s requests for information, (IRU) is part of the reason for the extension.
“The COI is looking into a substantial amount of information … Sir Geoffery Cox on behalf of the Attorney General clearly set out the challenges the IRU faces in providing documentation and these issues have created delay in the progress of the COI,” the governor said in a statement on Thursday, July 14 — less than a week before the initial COI report deadline.
“The current COVID-19 outbreak, the curfew order, and the encouragement to stay at home makes all of our current ways of working difficult,” Rankin further explained.
Noting that he has informed the Premier and members of the Cabinet of the extension, Governor Rankin concluded saying good governance is paramount to the success of any country and he remains committed to assisting both the government and the COI in achieving this for the BVI.
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Oh nooooooo! More reason for me to rant and rave on my broomstick
Look 2022 bvi constitution revoke and Ranki in charge people stock up and save for it will be rough in 2022
My goodness, the Government will be pleased! It will allow a really thorough investigation!
I think that is a reasonable request for the people of the BVI, in view of all the things coming to light with the COI.
Maybe this will give the CoI lawyers time to get admitted in the BVI so that are not acting criminally for the whole of the CoI.
I don’t think a CoI counts as the practice of law; its its own category of thing created by its own statute.
So I wouldn’t count on that being the “get out jail free card”, some people seem to be banking on.
I agree that the question of whether the Commission Of Inquiry lawyers are committing criminal offences does not provide a get out of jail free card but it does not look good for the Commission and could be a real problem for the lawyers.
Not if it’s outside the Legal Professions Act, because it’s not the practice of law. It’s an investigation. I think that’s a big difference.
My question is, if the local law firm is claiming that particular members of the COI team are ‘illegally practicing’ without admittance to the BVI Bar, what does it say about the local firm for participating in the same COI? Would they not be seen as participating in an illegal process?
Maybe an informed legal mind can shed some light.
Maybe it will give the AG chambers time to provide a response to the leaked information and to photocopy the bundles.
We have to wait till next year to remove Foy and his cronies. Not right!! I was hoping that the criminal prosecution would be in full force by then. I guess the Governor is being kind and letting them stay home for Christmas.
The VIP got an extension in Office not good.
Love it. Watch them squirm
“The COI is looking into a substantial amount of information …”
BUT some saying they not finding anything? Guess we will eventually know ….just before next election.
I said this was going to happen. The end result will be a temporary takeover by the UK.
The gross negligence, corruption, cronyism, cavalier attitude with the people’s money. It will all come out. And the loophole about the BVI bar will not stop the truth. I hope justice is served and adequate fines and sentences are imposed
Needed. Too much dirtiness. Time to start prosecuting..
Election plot at hand. Keep watching.
Ooh Goody. More time for the VI to hang itself.
The evidence the COI is requesting will never be forthcoming. More private citizens will seize the opportunity to lodge their horror stories and the justification for UK takeover will be more than justified.
COVID strains will continue within.
Pockwood Pond will continue to contribute deadly cancers and asthma.
Water will continue to be missing from our pipes and this glaring Human Rights violation will garner attention.
Modern day slavery tactics by the UK in the 21st Century.
The COI Act was passed in the 1800s. This clearly shows that it is colonial law that violates people’s rights in modern day. So they can ask you any question they want in the COI but you cannot cross question their witnesses. This is dictatorship.
The Commissioner of the COI is from the UK. The lawyer questioning each witness is from the UK. Each lawyer and secretary assisting the COI is from the UK. The Governor who called the COI is from the UK. The Governor that continued the COI for 6 more months is from the UK. The female staff in the Governor’s Office who is helping push this is from the UK. The UK is paying for the COI. All of the above are UK & white & looks at us in the BVI through their cultural and colonial lens. So how can BVI get a fair chance in this? The answer is NEVER! Democracy has been railroad by the UK who say they are pushing for good governance. Heaven help us in the BVI.
You are joking aren’t you? Fewer than half the tax payers can vote. That lack of democratic scrutiny is the main reason for the horrors unfolding at the CoI.
Also in case you hadn’t noticed the BVI is a British Overseas Territory. The buck stops with the UK; that is why there is a Governor. I doubt there is much appetite for independence after what has come out from the CoI, except amongst those worried about being prosecuted.
This is Black on Black crime at a level as low as you can go.
The VI is “owned ” by a White establishment. This White establishment is attempting redress against the purveyors of crimes based on complaints of wrongdoings on its property and against its occupiers who happens to be Black.
The investigation was requested by the current leader who is Black.
What fair chance? You forgot the most important part. The reports that the COI are conducting the investigations on are written and backed up by ALL LOCALS! No outsider did this, LOCALS WROTE THE REPORTS OF MISSPENDING AND OTHER BULLS**T IN GOVT! Nobody is falling for this racist victim bulls**t. We made our bed and have to lay in it.
I am so disappointed in this Governor and the reasons he gave for the extension. The COI has given the public officers unreasonable deadlines for information. Yet we as public officers produced over one hundred thousand pages of document yet this isn’t good enough for these slave drivers. Their intentions are NOT GOOD!!!
If our people get caught with drugs the law is clear. The UK lawyers got caught in a criminal act having their lawyers practicing law and did not get called to the BVI Bar and all of a sudden the law is fuzzy. This is why chaos is allowed to take root in what is supposed to be a civil society.
Wrong, theymay be lawyers but they are not pratising law, they are conducting an investogatoon. They do not need to be called to the BVI Bar, so find another spurious thing to focus on.
This is Black on Black crime at a level as low as you can go.
The VI is “owned ” by a White establishment. This White establishment is attempting redress against the purveyors of crimes based on complaints of wrongdoings on its property and against its occupiers who happens to be Black.
The investigation was requested by the current leader who is Black.
The cases are rising and therefore the team feels safer in London that is probably the real reason its being extended.
You all please go get vaccinated. The expat population is mostly vaccinated. You all are putting