PROVIDENCIALES, Turks and Caicos Islands — With his departure looming, Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) Governor Gordon Wetherell has acknowledged that lack of funding of the Helen Garlick-led Special Investigation and Prosecution Team (SIPT) by the former British Labour government has delayed the investigative process called for by the 2009 Commission of Inquiry into alleged government corruption.
Cabinet ministers in the former Michael Misick-led Progressive National Party (PNP) government, along with a number of other individuals, were examined during the inquiry, revealing questionable activities that Commissioner Sir Robin Auld later described in his report as “systemic government corruption”.
However, no charges have yet been brought against any of the former cabinet ministers or PNP backbench members to date.
The SIPT was funded one year late and only after the government in Britain changed in May 2010.
Wetherell, in publicly aired remarks, has now expressed gratitude to the British “coalition government” for its assistance in this and for its help obtaining a $260 million dollar loan, which has kept the TCI interim government afloat since Britain imposed direct rule in August 2009.
Wetherell said that currently the SIPT and the civil recovery team are making “good progress” in the investigative efforts and recovery of Crown land, which was passed out by the PNP government without regard to land policies in place.
