| Forum members believed U.K. paying for SIPT | | Print | |
| Written by Richard Green/richard@fptci.com | |||
| Thursday, 22 December 2011 12:23 | |||
 Some members of the Consultative Forum and others appeared surprised that the U.K. is not yet paying for this year’s work by the criminal and civil teams investigating fraud and corruption in the Turks and Caicos Islands. During the Dec. 13 forum meeting, a few members even suggested that the $11.5 million appropriation that appears in the 2011-12 budget had somehow been hidden from them. Some said the U.K. and the interim government have gone back on their word to fully fund the Special Investigation and Prosecution Team (SIPT) and Civil Recovery Team. His Excellency the Gov. Ric Todd issued a press statement apologizing for the apparent misunderstanding, but both Foreign Secretary William Hague and former Gov. Gordon Wetherell said the $10.6 million grant given by the U.K. in March 2011 was a “one off” contribution to cover the 2010-11 SIPT and civil recovery costs, plus some police expenses. “Territories should not look to the U.K. to fund criminal investigations or prosecutions that they are reluctant to pursue themselves,” Hague said in a March 10 statement announcing the grant. “But the burden in this case has been exceptional.” However, Hague went on to say that future expenses were the TCI’s responsibility: “The fiscal rescue package put in place by (the Department For International Development) should enable future costs to be met from the Turks and Caicos Islands government public purse in the normal way.” Forum Chairwoman Lillian Misick issued a statement Dec. 16 saying that “a fair reading of this ministerial statement alone could (and did) lead our people to infer that Mr. Hague was in fact making an exception for U.K. funding in our case. Moreover, that, recognizing the U.K.’s own responsibility for creating the need for the SIPT and Civil Recovery Programme, he intended this exception to last for the full term of their work, not just for one year as the governor seems to have inferred.” Sir Robin Auld, the commissioner whose inquiry report recommended the investigations; Helen Garlick, the lead SIPT prosecutor; and Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee all have said the U.K. should pay for the entire investigation. Official government budget figures for 2010-11 show that $4,573,243 was spent on the SIPT of its budgeted $7.5 million, while another $4,215,500 was spent on the Civil Recovery Team of its budgeted $2.5 million. The budget approved in April estimates that government will spend $6 million on the SIPT and another $4.5 million on civil recovery in 2011-12. The governor said both have spent a total of $17.4 million to date, of which $10 million was covered by the U.K. earlier this year. The work of both teams is expected to last through 2012-13 and be funded by the TCI at approximately the same level. “We will investigate all means of reducing this burden to (government), including asking the U.K. for additional support, but, clearly, this is not guaranteed,” Todd said. “However, and it is worth repeating: we expect that the costs of these investigations will be recovered many times over and will significantly boost the coffers of the TCI government.” Investigators have so far recovered millions of dollars, including unpaid Crown land leases, underpaid stamp duty for land transfers, civil cash settlements of criminal charges, and recovery of Crown land that was illegally leased or granted. However, Misick said recovered funds should not be used to pay for the investigation because those are “funds (the U.K.) allowed to be ostentatiously misappropriated from our treasury” by the former elected government. Misick said the U.K. should pay the full costs of the investigation. Click here to read Hague's statement on SIPT funding Click here to read Wetherell's statement on SIPT funding Click here to read Misick's statement on SIPT funding Photo: William Hague
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