Reports completed on Skelton-Cline’s contracts, EZ radar barges
A report on the various contracts executed between the Virgin Islands Party (VIP) government and Claude Skelton-Cline after 2019 has been completed by the Auditor General.
This is according to the latest update from the Commission of Inquiry (COI) Implementation Unit on the status of governance reforms implemented up to the end of December 2022.
Skelton-Cline’s contracts with the government came under fire in the COI report, with COI Commissioner Sir Gary Hickinbottom concluding that the contracts were patently false and demonstrated serious dishonesty on the part of public officials.
“On the evidence, there can be little if any doubt that these contracts were, on their face, false. They did not attempt to set out the intended contractual obligations of Mr Skelton Cline (if any),” Sir Gary found in his findings at the time.
According to the COI Implementation Unit’s status report, the Auditor General also completed reports on HOA Assistance Grants and EZ Shipping’s government contracts for radar barges since 2019.
It is unclear if or when the reports will be made public, but the reports have since been submitted to Governor John Rankin for consideration by the Auditor General, according to the COI implementation Unit.
Statutory body reviews
In the meantime, two Independent Reviewers completed and submitted their reports on the establishment and maintenance of statutory bodies and their review of the membership of statutory boards.
These reviews will be submitted to Cabinet as ‘information papers’ and laid before the House of Assembly (HOA) before the relevant ministries begin public consultation and make changes to the relevant policies and procedures or request legislative amendments.
Director of the Unit Hadassah Ward has advised that work on 48 of the 50 Framework recommendations has begun, based on the timelines agreed in the Framework for Implementation of the Recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry Report and Other Reforms.
According to Ward, “15 of the recommendations have been completed and 33 recommendations are in progress. The Recommendations are currently split into 132 actions. Of these, 52 (39%) are completed, 31 (23%) are in progress and on track, 26 (20%) are in progress but experiencing challenges and 22 (17%) have not been started as yet.”
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I am not a political person but I hope these audits allow for all sides to weigh in to form part of the reports and not a one sided audit as has been the case in the past. This is important for balance and good governance.
The pre-arranged and pre-authored COI and its recommendations done by the pre-arranged Commissioner at it again. There can be no justice how these things are being done.
Teaser!
I listen to all of the COI hearings and it seemed clear that it was targeted and a foregone conclusion from the beginning. I had issues with the process as there was no transparency in the selection of the commissioner and staff by the Governor. To take the job he had to be given a description of the job prior and discussed and agreed. What was that description. Also how can the Governor give the COI a terms of reference to work from and call the report, the process, and the recommendations independent and reliable. What was the tender process used to secure the services and if none was used then this raises a major red flag. Of course the Audit General will now follow the same pattern to fulfill the recommendations. I agree that like everywhere in the world improvements were necessary but this seemed to be a mission to get persons rather than to get improvements across the board including the subjects under the Governor.
The witch hunt continues.
So you think these contracts don’t need investigating?
If so, no wonder the Territory is in the state it’s in, having squandered the billions of dollars of government revenue paid in since the 1980s.
There were opportunities there to have the best educated population in the Caribbean and really good infrastructure that would have contributed to further prosperity.
Instead, the revenue was stolen or wasted.
The government should be looking at ALL contracts that were given during Fahie’s administration. Then review the fees imposed on the charter/tourism industry. Explain where this money has gone. How about the environmental fee imposed from the Smith administration. Has there ever been an accounting where that money goes. How about the ridiculous port fee to enter and territory. Where is all that money going to?
Regardless of how you feel about some of these people including Skelton-Cline, and by the way I can stand Skelton-Cline, but I am a fair person. These reports and arrests are targeted. Is it a coincidence that they are only going after the people who have spoken out about them at one time or another? I know we were trained by them to hate each other but Lord man, it’s the 21st century. By now we should have picked up some sense along the way. It is a systematic attempt to silence the voices of those who call out for independence or greater self determination. Even the blind could see this.
COI Commissioner Sir Gary Hickinbottom concluding that the contracts were patently false and demonstrated serious dishonesty on the part of public officials
Skelton-Cline’s contracts with the government came under fire in the COI report, with COI Commissioner Sir Gary Hickinbottom concluding that the contracts were patently false and demonstrated serious dishonesty on the part of public officials
I agree that “ The pre-arranged and pre-authored COI and its recommendations done by the pre-arranged Commissioner at it again. There can be no justice how these things are being done” BUT I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO READING THE CSC REPORT.
As long as Natalio and Marlon keep giving away the power of the country to save themselves and their past and present party members, not a thing will come of these Investigations. It’s the people that will suffer. Check your history.
sure..let’s pretend its not all corruption that happens!
I object to the suggestion that Sir Gary concluded anything himself – he wrote the report that Gus demanded when he appointed him, and did so without any independent judgment of his own!
It was such a put up job that even the UK Government declined to accept the primary recommendation. Sir Gary is still sulking that it was rejected.
This whole COI thing is a set up to silence us. The one that I watched most was the ESHS wall project because I smelt a rat from the time the story started. I listened to the former minister of education, the staff and the project manager speak before the COI. I listened intently. I saw nothing criminal from what they said. In fact, I saw a flawed and bias Auditor General Report. Mr. Walwyn acquitted himself extremely well. I was proud of him. He was the only one that Rawat could not turn upside down.
Then I read the section of the COI report on the wall and saw where the commissioner deliberately left out pertinent evidence so that he could arrive at his pre-conceived and advised position on the matter.
Then I saw Mr. Walwyn and Ms. Stevens before the court and the DPP appear in person. She doesn’t show up for even murder cases. She sends her juniors. But she showed up for this one. You would have to be a fool to not realize that she was sent.
However she could not specify exactly what sections of the Acts were breached by Mr. Walwyn and Ms. Stevens. Isn’t that just wicked and unjust?
Some people believe that we are all stupid. I could see clear through all the games and gimmicks. The UK is up to no good.
Claude Cline is not my favourite. He is not at all for many reasons. But I believe he is being targeted because of his stance against the UK. This is wrong! Wrong! I am not condoning any wrong that he may have done. If he has done wrong it must be addressed but their so called justice is being targeted against certain people. That makes their actions equally wrong.
Appears that the doomsday clock for the local BVI government is ticking closer to that time when the entire public service is dissolved, the BVI constitution is suspended and the Brits take over 100% of the BVI government.
An audit of itself should not be biased.
An audit of itself should not be biased.
Sorry – I listened to the whole section too and though I agree, Mr. Walwyn by all accounts presented himself well (I understand he is a lawyer by profession, so he would probably have been fairly comfortable unlike some other people called before the COI), his answers and REASONS for breaches were nothing but… everyone else does it… so here we have a qualified LAWYER who is quite intelligent, who has been voted in and trusted by the public to manage the territories education, saying that YES he agrees the way the contracts were done, 1. violated the laws set in place to protect public funds and 2. could have been done much more efficiently and much better….BUT he can justify this because everyone else was doing it?!? COME ON! Why could he not have said, NO – I don’t care what the other ministers do on their projects, I’m doing the right thing by the people of the BVI by spending their tax money that has been entrusted to me in the correct manner…. is that too much to ask from a member of our government? Integrity and honesty? Or would we rather the thread of people with a ‘well everyone else does it’ kind of answer? What we ended up with is sub-par teaching, sub-standard salaries for our teachers, sub-standard facilities for our children riddled with mold and falling apart and an overpriced wall that wasn’t even completed…. Lets all pat Mr. Walwyn on the back for such a wonderful service he provided to our territory.
looks like his goose is cooked
hush ya sk—
When prospective politicians enter politics as regular middle income earners and leave as multi-millionaires, questions have to be asked.
This is what we continually turn a blind eye to.
Wake up BVI!
Of course they had prior knowledge. Dont you remember the civil servants complaining of the thousands of documents they had to produce? Nobody goes into any sort of discussions without collecting information beforehand. Similarly those called as witnesses should have prepared themselves. The corruption uncovered came from their own mouths.
For all defending Claude and calling it a conspiracy. Confirm how much money he has received over the last 15 years in contracts and name ONE THING, just ONE THING he has done under those contracts. Do not mention the Pier Park because this was done when he was employed as Director of BVI Ports Authority. We are speaking of private contracts that he has gotten. He has been paid millions as a private contractor, outside of his appointment as MD of BVIPA. Name one single thing that he has done for this Territory after being paid all that money, I will wait.
These reports need to be published.
She is honourable. Honest and truthful.. Time for people to answer for their wrongs . I hope the govt or the court ask them to refund the treasury..
You are severely misguided. I did not hear Mr. Walwyn say any such things as what you are saying before the COI. I didn’t even hear him imply such things. I didn’t hear because it never happened. He was straightforward and even provided evidence which the COI commissioner didn’t have himself. If you knew anything about government you would know that ministers do not deal with procedures. Go and read and understand things before you open your mouth. It’s either you didn’t watch that interview as you are saying or you are just being untruthful. We seem to have a difficulty with telling the truth in this country.
Mr. Walwyn’s performance as education minister was good. I was pleased. He was ? percent better that the two that came after him.
Sorry if you cannot recognize good quality work from bad quality work.
Mold remediation is an on going thing. That should be part of maintenance always. So the fact that you blame Mr. Walwyn for mold in a school years after he has left tells me that you have no clue what you are talking about. It brings all you have said into question even though on its own what you have said has no merit.
You are a dishonest and bias person. It’s a shame.
Aren’t people innocent until proven guilty in the BVI anymore? Or is it once somebody from the UK say that you are guilty then automatically you are. I would appreciate some clarity on this.
Even the blind could see these guys recognize the ramifications of their crooked action that could be destined for ballo and cried aloud independence and self determination so they could manipulate the system and judiciary
Can not believe CSC has been stealing from the government for all of these years! Who saw this coming?……anyone with two eyes, that’s who!!!
what about P** who got a$108,000.00 Contract to sit on the Taxis STAND
what about the money that was giving to people who claim to be farmers and fisher folks who used it to buy vehicles and other things and not the true purpose.
MISS CLEO COMES TO MIND , SHE A SELF PROCLAIMED PSYCHIC AND ( CALL ME NOW ) WAS HER FAVOURITE WORDS AND WILL PREDICT YOUR FUTURE , BUT SHE COULDN’T SEE THE IRS COMING ?, / CSC WAS PASTOR / CONSULTANT / POLITICIAN AND NOW TURNED PSYCHIC AS HE DOES HIS MOONWALKING ? ,( WELL IF THE GUY IS A GENIUS THIS IS WHERE WE ARE GOING TO SEE WHAT KIND OF SKILLS HE GOT
Pumpkin and the Pope! Did the latter fell from a pumpkin vine?
There is nowhere in the world where a commission of inquiry is set up by a tender process. “We invite tender for persons to conduct a commission of inquiry into the operations of the BVI Government”, Get real. Thoughts are so bias on this that there is no longer any room for logical and rational thinking. The Brits are coming to get us. The Brits wants to rob us. The Brits wants to enslave us. In today world of scarce financial resources and tight fiscal space colonial powers are trying to divest themselves of additional expenses. Unless it is somewhere like Guyana with newfound wealth that they can benefit from. Lets be real. What are the benefits that holding on to the BVI can bring for the Brits. There is no economic benefits, there is no geopolitical benefits. There is no longer a British Empire. Especially in this BREXIT era Britain is a very ordinay member of the G7 grouping.
It’s really funny seeing the same person writing
anti uk posts here and on Vino. He just changes the
name but keeps saying the same thing! Really funny!!
Since ayo playing retarded go ahead and make her Premier. I swear we are the most moo moo set ah people God created.
Even the blind can see it is those shouting the loudest that have most to loose when this corruption is exposed.
The $250k CSK received for stat up youth programmes but a) disappeared to Miami and b) provided a list of recipients that was fake alone should have sent him to jail.
Why is the HOA still meeting in a gym and how much are they paying to use STS each month? Given the waste amount of double rented office space (Geneva Place?) its incredulous that 5 years on our Ministers do not have a formal space to meet
Try to keep in mind that the COI was demanded by the previous Premier, maybe you can see yourself clear to give some responsibility to him for all this muck coming out. Classic case of be careful what you ask for. When you think you are going to kill off someone else at the hands of someone other than yourself there can be glitches. He did not tell the governor to ONLY investigate the NDP. So then the investigation went ahead starting with him and his administration. Was he a prearranged Premier or was he an authorized authority entitled to ask for this investigation? Balance my good people, balance.