‘Unearthed evidence shows I didn’t violate Register of Interests Act’
House of Assembly (HOA) Speaker Julian Willock is claiming he has unearthed new evidence which he says the Commission of Inquiry (COI) “strategically left out” when he appeared before them and admitted to breaching the Register of Interests Act.
All members of the House are legally required to declare their private businesses/properties into the territory’s Register of Interests yearly.
At a press conference called today, Willock said he discovered several letters in his possession which showed he communicated with the Registrar of Interests about his submissions. However, the Speaker said these were left out of the bundle of documents he was presented with during his appearance before the COI.
At the time of that COI hearing held two weeks ago, Willock said he had doubts about the accuracy of the documents the COI presented to him as ‘his declarations into Register’.
At the time, he promised to return to his office where he keeps his personal copies of his declarations. The purpose of this was so he could verify whether his office documents matched the copies the COI handed to him during his hearing.
In his press conference today, Willock said the documents in his office show “there has been no violation by the Speaker of the Register of Interests Act”.
“I want the record to show that after the information was put together, I did the professional thing by writing to the Commissioner via Silk Legal on June 24, 2021, with my new evidence,” he told members of the press.
Unanswered requests
According to Willock, he humbly requested to return to the COI to present his newfound evidence orally but was told that the COI would get back to him.
He said after hearing nothing days later, his attorney again requested an audience with the Commissioner but, again, the COI did not respond.
The Speaker said he felt the Commission would have, in the interest of transparency, been more anxious to hear his new evidence that they left out of his bundle during the previous hearing.
Communication with Registrar of Interest
The debate on whether the Speaker was late in declaring his interests arose from the fact that he did not complete a Register of Interests form in his second year as Speaker. Instead of filling out the required form, Willock said he wrote to the Registrar simply saying he had “no change” to his previous declaration.
The Speaker today argued that this communication with the Registrar showed an intent to comply with his obligations to declare.
“All along, if one wants to be fair, you will see there was good faith intention on each of the anniversary dates to ensure the Registrar of Interests had something from me on file.”
He said one could argue about ‘technicalities’ such as the Registrar not receiving his submission one year or not filling out the correct form. But what Willock said was most important was the fact that his “information” was sent each year to the Registrar, despite the hiccups.
The Speaker then proceeded to claim that the new correspondence vindicates him in his previously admitted breach of the Register of Interests Act.
Willock, in the meantime, said he has been careful never to repeat the mistake of declaring his interests via a letter.
Copyright 2024 BVI News, Media Expressions Limited. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed.
Willock, we dont care.
I do care. It is important in these times of trouble that we have satirical side shows from the Hon. Mr Delusion of Grandeur. Laughter is after all the best medicine. His comic interludes may not appear to serve the people well but they are so absurd that the COI will be groaning with mild disinterest. No one this ridiculous and self-serving belongs in public office and the COI can only conclude that he was appointed as Speaker for comic reasons. That said his understanding of corporate and business structures was impressive although my 5 year old son did explain to me where he fell down. My 5 year old son is however a genius and there are unlikely to be many children under 10 who would have his level of understanding of corporate and contractual law, DBAs and stupid people of faux grandeur.
HYA
yes we do care! that is our esteemed price now go smoke that. Mr. Speaker more of us with you just keep being a speaker of the truth
WE DON’T CARE!!!!. WHAT IS IT THAT YOU AND THE REST DON’T SEEM TO UNDERSTAND THAT WE DON’T GIVE A FLYING F**K.DO WE THE PEOPLE HAVE TO DRAW UP A PETITION TO HAVE YOU AND THE PREMIER REMOVED FROM OFFICE? WE ARE DONE,
Well maybe we should care a bit about have such a puffed up p****jay as Speaker of our House.
We want an elected speaker , not some crony appointed by Mr Shifty.
Anyone can type up a new document and back date it
He is good at inventing stuff. The ridiculous statement about criminals being brought in as policemen after the hurricane. An insult to the forces of Bermuda and Cayman who came to help.
He is not fit for office and must go.
A letter of intent does not negate your obligation to complete the required forms. Is this best-or acceptable-practice in this context? Of yes, then you have a valid case if not you are in violation of the order. Sending a letter that there is no change in your circumstances cannot suffice in these matters. This is not good governance and it obscures transparency.
This is not about you. Please stay in your lane. Your new evidence pales in comparison to the bombshell the AG dropped two days ago.
If I was you I would enjoy my fews day left in office before UK take over.
‘O Special One’ You had you day and ample time to put your evidence in order, so go back in your box.
There is a fine line between ignorance and arrogance and Honourble Speakers Sir, you sit directly on that line complete with robes and blonde wig !
… needs to be able to wear that special wig 24/7
HE NEED TO GET SOME GORILLA GLUE AND GLUE THE WIG TO HIS HEAD TO ASSURE IT WILL NEVER FALL OFF. THAT BLONDE WIG IS HIS PRIDE AND JOY, THE APPLE OF HIS EYES. Y’ALL BETTER NOT MESS WITH MY WIG OR ELSE Y’ALL WILL SEE WHAT A TRUE D**** Q***N D**A IS ABOUTTTTTT. SNAP TO THE SNAP, SNAP IN THE AIR WHILE SASHAYING OUT THE DOOR. HOW RUDE!!. LMAO.
Willock allegedly failed to comply – end of story. Guilty as charged. Of course he will try to wriggle out of it. He’s good at that. Remember when he *** – wriggled out of that too
Yawn……..Some one looking attention
So you created letters to back up your l**s. You are truly pathetic. Pack your bags as you and Foy are heading to the same vacation spot. You truly act and look like a go***la yet the go***la is infinitely smarter than you. Oh by the way, wait up for your buddy CSC. He’s coming with.
Blah blah blah.
What an waste of time and one d****sting individual
We have prepared the cells here at Bolo for you and the government ministers. Waiting to welcome you all.
…………….if you leave on those robes and blonde wig my friend you better pack lots of petroleum jelly……….as the song goes”who put de peppa in de vaseline”
Please spare us another freak show.
Lol
This is an amazing revelation. Stop everything, the Speaker has spoken. He must be listened to. He is the Speaker. Do you realise what that means? When the Speaker speaks everyone must drop everything. He is more important than a detailed investigation into the inner workings of the House, Ministries and Statutory Bodies that are there to serve and protect the people. Of course he is. Why haven’t they stopped everything to address his incredible, earth shattering news? It makes no sense. Do they think he is irrelevant, self-important and ridiculous? Surely not, He is the Speaker. Stop everything! BVI Electricity – shut it all down until the Speaker has been given top priority at the COI. We must all suffer until he has the opportunity to be heard.
Hon Speaker, do you really think that the COI would leave documents out purposely. Sir, this is not all about you. However, if there is wrong doing, I can understand why Sir Gary and his team would wish to dig deeper.
Willing, nobody cares. You are too disrespectful and rude.
We are going to send you a Letter of Intent to pay your salary for the balance of the year. No cheques will be paid to you, just a Letter of Intent.
Willing, nobody cares. You are too disrespectful and rude.
What this clown has come up with is the same exact information the COI revealed and confirmed.
This *** is a *** jack@$$ that should have never ever been allowed to hold any Government position. We are all horrified by his di***ttedness.
W***ock take a seat for your deceit!
I don’t understand why this register of interest was created. If only to tracked and trace the amount of wealth one accumulate during and or after political office then who cares. If its illegal then they face any consequences. BUT really, why would I want to know what they have. Someone educate me on this, its good to know.
All of these men and women had their businesses and assets long before they entered politics
A key component is to ensure transparency and ensure the document identifies interests which may unethically or unlawfully influence duties. Eg – if an individual is 100% BO of a company (lets say a security company) and majority of security contracts are awarded to that company in violation of a lawful tender process, said person is gaining an unfair advantage because of his political position. In short this = bad / unethical / unlawful.
It is not what they have. It is what they are doing with what they have.
Are they engaging in contracts or attempting or has become engaged/ entangled with the Government with what they have and if so, are they following the lawful procedures required.
That man is v**e in too many ways and following is Klein. Even more troubling and revealing is that they were placed in their government positions with huge salaries by the Premier..,⁹a lapse in judgment or more likely,, sinister reasons.
Speaker go take a fl*cking seat! Nobody wants to hear your nonsense! Shut up and take a seat. You and your lawyer looked d**b. And sounded d**b!
Hon Willock you did the right thing in clearing your name/.
More are with you trust me on that
What he is saying is he wrote a letter (wrong) instead of sending the correct document that is needed. Sounds like when Mark resigned.
Simple: If he owns a company and nobody knows he owns it (by not declaring it), then he could give contracts to his own company (via his influence in the HoA). From there, you can conclude what happens next.
If I understand correctly, the lack of certain documents being produced in evidence springs from the witness’s failure to make a full disclosure at the outset.
Mr Willock was not in compliance in any case. Sending a letter did not fulfil his duties. Imagine, if a work permit holder simply wrote a letter asking to renew his work permit, but did not submit the form, he would not have fulfilled the renewal application process. I doubt that the Immigration Department would be sympathetic to that person when they “overstayed” because their work permit has not been renewed.
Based on the esteemed one’s past actions and hyperbole, this sounds a lot like “obscuring or embellishing of the truth of a situation with misleading or irrelevant information”.
All Smoke and Mirrors!
HIM AND HIS LAWYER SOUNDS LIKE TWO SPUTTERING CAR MUFFLER ABOUT TO SHUT DOWN. GO HAVE A SEAT IN THE FAR BACK GUYS. DOCUMENTS TO SERVE ONES PURPOSE CAN BE ALTERED. DON’T CARE.
The esteemed speaker is our God we love him
Local
Leave mr speaker alone,he knows what he’s doing
Please leave Mr speaker alone he knows what he’s doing