rumours abound re Turks n Caicos former leader n wifee

[evanovitch]

dem a seh dat him ha nuff money stash all ovah di world an is not fi him money fi stawt wid...also dat him di gift wifie wid a rolls but she come to find out seh is lease him lease it an put it in har name so now she response fi di how much tousan a mont rental....

a so mi hear it mi a seh it but i is not one to gossip soooooo

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Corruption “endemic” in TCI's public life


CORRUPTION in the TCI has become “endemic” with bribery reaching “monstrous proportions”, say British investigators.

Commission of Inquiry counsel Alex Milne spoke of a culture of “serious dishonesty” and warned that the road ahead would be “difficult”.

“Money has distorted and corroded the political fabric of this territory,” he said in his final submission on Wednesday.

He pointed to a “widespread disregard” for the law among Ministers, saying: “Corruption has been accepted and encouraged from the highest level and has become endemic in public life.”

And he had astringent words for the ruling PNP Party which, he said, operated on cash gifts bearing all the hallmarks of “bribery and extortion”.

“It is a multimillion-dollar enterprise, bought and paid for by a small number of rich individuals, many if not most of whom appear to have prospered under the current Government.”

In a frank and candid address, the attorney referred to the “tensions and conflicts” sparked by the arrival of the UK team conducting the probe.

“We understand the concerns of those who view our intervention as humiliating and intrusive.

“It has not been our intention to embarrass or to ridicule anyone.”
Mr Milne spoke of the importance for elected officials to formally declare their financial interests – mandatory by law – to ensure openness and accountability.

The apparent lack of willingness to do so formed a large part of the month-long hearings.

“The picture which emerged from these declarations is of a wholesale and widespread disregard for the requirements of the ordinance.”

He had scathing remarks for Housing Minister Jeffrey Hall whose annual returns to the Registrar of Interests he described as “lamentable”.

“He either left whole sections blank or he wrote in ‘nothing to declare’ when there was a considerable amount to declare.

“The sanguine and casual approach that has apparently been taken to the application of the law would be a matter of concern if the Commission was simply considering middle or low level executive positions.

“We are, however, considering the highest elected officials in the territory who are ultimately responsible for the passing and implementation of legislation.

“The responses of most Ministers, even whilst evincing regret for their slapdash approach, have been: it is no big issue.

“You are wrong. It is a big issue. It is a very big issue indeed.”

Mr Milne condemned Premier Michael Misick’s evidence that no Ministerial code of conduct was yet in force – despite having publicly announced its implementation last summer.

“To boast of a code when it suited him and to deny its effect when his behaviour was held to its standards…is the plainest form of hypocrisy.”

Mr Milne went on to say that the lack of financial control by the ruling administration “would have shamed a roadside conch shack”.

He expressed concern about the “sheer volume of money” that washes through the system with no accompanying paperwork.

The senior counsel accused Ministers of bribing constituents by dishing out cash “loans”.

“The voter may not believe that he or she is being bribed; the politician may not say ‘remember to vote for me’ but in any environment where poor people have to turn to elected officials for basic financial help, one would have to be profoundly obtuse not to see that the voter will vote for the most generous benefactor.”

He said the vast sums of cash donated to the PNP Party did not correspond to the small pool of less than 7,000 voters.

In the last three months of 2006 – just before the last general election – the PNP received a staggering $1m.

“A further $2.9m arrived in the following first three months of 2007.

“Those sums alone amount to more than $550 for every registered voter in the territory.”

Mr Milne criticised Party chiefs for deliberately concealing the extent of its debt from members – something Treasurer and Deputy Premier Floyd Hall admitted to.

“This amounts to an admission of serious collective dishonesty on the part of all concerned and it gives one great concern as to what other matters have been concealed or misrepresented by these same individuals.”

Referring to the Party’s refusal to name major donors, he said: “The PNP is no private enterprise.

“It cannot demand privacy to be eccentric in its own private way.

“This is the party machinery behind a majority Government, which has helped to fund and promote the current TCI Government and to ensure its recent re-election in 2007.

“It acts as a conduit for large amounts of unregulated and undeclared cash from individuals to politicians.”

A handful of donors were eventually declared by the Premier’s brother, Chal Misick.

They included $500,000 from Cem Kinay, developer of Dellis Cay and Joe Grant Cay.

Mr Milne said most donors had some form of business arrangement with the Government.

“These donations bore all the hallmarks of bribery and/or extortion.

“The commercial concerns would hope to have a sympathetic ear in Government because of their generous and often massive donations.

“The pretence that those corporations are deeply committed to the political aims of a Party is precisely that, pretence.”

A dubious land deal over a 20-acre site in North West Point which implicates the Premier along with three Ministers was dubbed a “classic example of abuse of Crown land policy”.

“The principle of land for Belongers for a home or a small business is being subverted by the simple device of Belongers applying for land and then passing it on to non-Belongers for a much higher price.”

Multi-million dollar “loans” to the Premier and the “elbowing aside” of alternative tenders when awarding a health care contract to a firm run by a friend and business associate of the Deputy Premier also incurred the attorney’s wrath.

Mr Milne closed his submissions with remarks about the controversial development of historic Salt Cay.

It was revealed during the proceedings that developer Mario Hoffman had been given a 99-year lease for land for a golf course for just $1 per acre.

“The provision of the golf course to Mr Hoffman…is the clearest possible case of the exploitation of the power of his office by the Premier for personal gain.

“It is, in a word, corrupt.”

By Gemma Handy

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No fair trial for Premier, says Fitzgerald

No fair trial for Premier, says Fitzgerald


IF THE Premier is made to face a jury for any alleged criminal offences he will not get a fair trial, his defence lawyer argued this week.

During his closing submissions to the Commission of Inquiry Edward Fitzgerald QC said that there had been intensive media interest in the corruption probe which would make any ensuing criminal trials redundant.

The experienced human rights barrister added that criminal investigation should not be recommended in any case as there was “no reliable information that any corruption or other serious dishonesty on his part may have taken place.”

Fitzgerald said on Tuesday that although the Premier may be “flawed,” “fallible” or “extravagant” so too are many politicians who get things done.

“He has done a great deal for the good of these islands,” he said.

“He has attracted tourism and investment, he has sought to empower the people, he has sought to increase land ownership, he has done much to extend educational opportunity and to provide health care to all people of these islands.”

Michael Misick’s British attorney said that the Premier had dispelled any suspicion of corruption or dishonesty by his own evidence and the supporting evidence of many witnesses.

Mr Fitzgerald said his client admits that he had been “at fault” in a number of ways, including through non-disclosure of assets to the Register of Interests.

But added that this was part of a practice of “neglect and carelessness” that had existed for years and long pre-dated his Premiership.

The Premier has also run up very large personal debts in the form of large loans from financial institutions and individuals, failing to make repayments on many of them, but the lawyer argued that this was simply “financial mismanagement.”

Mr Misick also admits that the Government is heavily in debt and agreed that he should not have leased the Gulf Stream III jet, but Mr Fitzgerald argued that this “does not involve either dishonesty or corruption.”

He added that many allegations made against the Premier did not take into account local practices and realities.

He said there was no law against receiving political donations or against political candidates and elected officers helping out the electors with money for special needs, weddings, funerals or telephone bills.

Mr Fitzgerald said that the Premier had been criticised for being friends with developers, such as Mario Hoffman and Dr Cem Kinay but he is the minister for development for a small jurisdiction.

“Good relations with important developers promote development and he cannot be criticised for promoting development.”

Allegations of bribery related to those developers were “a matter of speculation, based on a series of completely unsound inferences,” he argued.

“It is alleged that they won favours but both of them have submitted clear and detailed statements denying any improper deals or any special advantage of any sort.”

Edward Fitzgerald maintained that there was no ‘climate of fear’ claiming that both of the Islands’ two main newspapers, the Weekly News and the Sun, are “openly hostile” to the Premier without suffering any adverse response or retaliation.

He also said that the inquiry audience had no hesitation in laughing at the Premier, “expressing disapproval when they sought fit.”

He added that if a criminal trial were recommended “there is absolutely no prospect that the Premier could receive a fair trial in the light of the adverse media publicity surrounding this case and the contamination of any potential jurors by rumour, by comment and by the public disclosure of inadmissible evidence.”

Mr Fitzgerald described Commissioner Sir Robin Auld’s powers as “draconian” which had been conferred on him by an “exceptional law.”

He said the Premier had been denied some of the “basic protections which would be conferred on the lowliest suspect in the criminal process because of the special nature of this Inquiry.”

Mr Fitzgerald listed the admission of hearsay, secret evidence, his wife’s evidence, his bank and credit card statements, and information on how he funded his honeymoon in Israel.

Visit www.tci-inquiry.org to read the full transcript.

By Rebecca Bird

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Premier’s former bodyguard dishes the dirt


PNP politicians tried to buy votes during the 2007 general election by dishing out parcels of land and Belongerships “by the truckload”, according to the Premier’s former bodyguard.

Gary Lightbourne told the Commission of Inquiry on Friday that obtaining a parcel of land in previous years had been “like pulling teeth”.

But during the electioneering process, “all of a sudden grants start popping up everywhere”.

The former boxing champ said he was offered two separate plots – which he never applied for – by then Chief Minister Michael Misick and Lillian Boyce, both signed by McAllister Hanchell.

<span style="font-weight: bold">North Caicos-born Mr Lightbourne testified to “a lot of changes” in Mr Misick’s standard of living during his two-year employment as the leader’s minder, driver, personal trainer and cook.</span>

<span style="font-weight: bold">He told the probe into corruption that Mr Misick had gone from driving a jeep “with a mash in the side” in 2003 to taking private jets all over the world.</span>

<span style="font-weight: bold">Describing himself as the “back seat guy with my ears open”, </span>he cast light on a number of dubious dealings involving the now Premier.

<span style="font-weight: bold">And he dished the dirt on Mr Misick’s refusal to return home from Europe following Hurricane Wilma’s devastating floods in 2005, preferring instead to jet to Nice and Monte Carlo.</span>

Limousine operator Mr Lightbourne, who was once the Bahamas’ heavyweight champion and fought a string of international stars, said he first began working for Mr Misick in 2003.

He told the proceedings he had previously applied for parcels of land for residential use and also to build a sports centre.

Upon telling Mr Misick of his aspirations to open a boxing gym, he was offered a 0.62 acre plot in Grace Bay in 2005.
He said he turned it down as it was both too small and under water.

Later, in December 2006, Mr Lightbourne received a letter signed by Environment and Lands Minister McAllister Hanchell entitling him to a 2.2 acre site in West Caicos.

Mr Lightbourne said documents informing him of the offer were handed to him directly by Five Cays MP Lillian Boyce just weeks before the election.

He told the Inquiry he “did not want the land at all” and had never asked for it.

Alarm bells rang, he said, as no information was given on the plot’s open market value, freehold purchase or annual rents, prompting him to refer the matter to former Chief Minister Derek Taylor.

Mr Lightbourne continued: “I said ‘these guys are desperate’. I have been with the Chief Minister since 2003.

“It was like pulling teeth to get a piece of land and all of a sudden grants start popping up from everywhere.

“I saw it as election time. I understand the game, it was just a game. I left in 2005, it’s now election time in 2006.

“They knew my position at the time, I saw them as trying to cool me down.”

Mr Lightbourne was later offered another plot in Proggins Bay. This time the letter, also signed by Minister Hanchell, was handed to him by Mr Misick.

“I was at the airport getting a soda and the Chief Minister drove up in his black and yellow jeep and he called me.

“He said ‘Gary’. I said ‘what’s your problem besides me?’

“He told me to get in. I walked around the jeep, put one leg in the jeep and one out and he gave me the letter.

“I was not looking for any land. I saw this in the same light I saw the other one. They knew exactly where I stood leading up to the election.”

The witness said he did not even know where Proggins Bay was. He continued that he had heard of other people also being offered land during the campaigning process.

“I stay in the view a lot in the Five Cays area and I mean it was at election time..it was the thing.

“Because I say, boy, these guys desperate. They was giving papers like they was out of their mind.”

Mr Lightbourne said rumours were rife that Belongership status was also bestowed on potential PNP voters in the run-up to the February 9 poll.

“In the years leading up to the election…this stuff was not happening.

“During election time, they’re running around like their heads are cut off giving them away.”

Describing his former employer’s much publicised lavish lifestyle, Mr Lightbourne spoke of Mr Misick’s penchant for private air travel.

He said he accompanied him on numerous trips to places across the Caribbean along with the USA, Britain, Prague and Monte Carlo.

“He was hanging out; it was just leisure time most of the time.”

Mr Lightbourne said he was present during discussions between Salt Cay developer Mario Hoffman and Mr Misick about the possibility of opening a casino.

He testified that it was decided that locals would need to be allowed to play in order for the venue to be financially viable during the tourist low season.

At the time, strict gaming laws were in force. These were changed in summer 2007, amid a wave of controversy, to enable Islanders earning in excess of $50,000 a year to gamble.

Mr Lightbourne also claimed that a Cabinet reshuffle in 2006 in which former Lands Minister Galmo Williams was replaced by McAllister Hanchell came as a result of a plot hatched between Mr Misick and Mr Hanchell.

“Gilley was not giving the land like they wanted him to.”

Mr Lightbourne said he cut all ties with the leader following a trip to Prague in November 2005 when the TCI was badly affected by flooding from Hurricane Wilma.

Minister Galmo Williams, also present on the trip, suggested they fly home.

“Gilley said to Mike ‘let’s go home man’ but Mike said ‘no, man, you go’.

“Gilley said to Mike, ‘man, home in trouble’…. And Gilley made his reservation and left at four o'clock in the morning.

“I wanted to go home by that point too, we were not doing anything.

“The next day me and Mike took off in another private plane provided by Mario from Prague to Nice.

“We spent the night in Nice and the next day we went to Monte Carlo.

“When we got home I said I want a vacation, I really quit but I said I’m going on vacation.

“I completely severed my ties with everybody.”

He also said he had “had enough” of the way he was treated.

He told the Inquiry he was often left outside “looking stupid” while Mr Misick and his companions went to events such as the Grammy Awards, despite being the leader’s bodyguard.

Speaking on behalf of the Premier, Edward Fitzgerald QC accused the witness of “acting out of spite” due to being upset that Mr Misick eventually hired a professional personal trainer.

He said Mr Lightbourne had become Mr Misick’s “bitter political opponent” appearing on public platforms speaking out against him.

Mr Lightbourne replied that he was merely a “concerned citizen”.

By Gemma Handy