| Four concede evidence enough for SIPT trials | | Print | |
| Written by Richard Green/richard@fptci.com | |||
| Wednesday, 18 April 2012 20:34 | |||
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Four people facing various corruption charges by the Special Investigation and Prosecution Team conceded that there is enough evidence to be tried while six others await a decision in their cases. On April 17, those admitting enough evidence existed were former government ministers Floyd Hall and his brother Jeffery Hall for conspiracy to defraud the government, and developers Richard Padgett and Jak Civre for bribery. Sufficiency hearings before Supreme Court Justice Margaret Ramsay-Hale were still underway at press time April 18 on whether the SIPT has enough evidence to proceed with trials of Lisa Hall, attorney and Progressive National Party Leader Clayton Greene, former ministers Lillian Boyce and Samuel Been, and Quentin Hall and Earlson Robinson. Three others were granted postponements of their sufficiency hearings until May, including former premier Michael Misick’s brother, attorney Chal Misick, and attorney Melbourne Wilson for money laundering; and former minister McAllister Hanchell for conspiracy to commit bribery. While the public and news media were allowed to attend the hearings on Providenciales, TCI law forbids publication of all but the barest details. Much of what was said pertains to evidence SIPT needs to prove that it has enough to take the defendants to trial. However, most of the allegations were laid bare in Sir Robin Auld’s Commission of Inquiry Report of 2009, which alleged widespread corruption in Michael Misick’s PNP-dominated government. And prosecutors gave the basic facts and charges against each defendant in open court earlier this year at their bail hearings. Floyd Hall and his wife, Lisa, are both charged with conspiracy to defraud the government to give Padgett special consideration for his aborted Third Turtle development on Providenciales. Seven Stars developer Civre is charged with bribery for giving one of Floyd Hall’s businesses $150,000 the day before elections in 2007. Jeffery Hall is charged with conspiring with others to defraud the government by distributing Crown land to earn money for himself and his family. Charged in the same conspiracy are Boyce and Been. Quentin Hall, Floyd Hall’s brother; and Robinson, Boyce’s brother; are charged with accepting proceeds of criminal conduct for receiving money from the transactions. Both Greene and Wilson are charged with money laundering in those transactions. Hanchell is charged with conspiracy to commit bribery with Michael Misick and other former ministers, and Chal Misick is accused of laundering bribes from developers of Dellis Cay and Joe Grant’s Cay. Michael Misick has not been charged with any crimes, but he has refused to report to SIPT for questioning. An Interpol notice has been issued for his arrest, but Misick says he is seeking asylum in an undisclosed country to escape political persecution. On April 18, he called on the U.N. commissioner human rights to intervene in his case, citing a laundry list of alleged violations by the U.K. and the interim TCI government that suspended elected government and took control of the country in 2009.
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