Turks and Caicos Islands Commission of Inquiry 2008‐2009 into possible corruption or other serious dishonesty in relation to past and present elected members of the Legislature in recent years Report of the Commissioner The Right Honourable Sir Robin Auld Presented to His Excellency, Gordon Wetherell, Governor of the Turks and Caicos Islands TURKS and CAICOS ISLANDS COMMISSION OF INQUIRY INTO GOVERNMENTAL CORRUPTION REPORT CONTENTS Page No Appointment of Commission 5 Submission of Report to the Governor 7 Acknowledgements 9 Summary of the Report 11 1 ‐ INTRODUCTION The Nature of th e Inquiry 14 Brief Description of the Turks and Caicos Islands 17 Short History of the Islands 19 Matters giving rise to the Commission’s appointment 27 Scope and conduct of the Commission’s Inquiry 31 2 ‐ CORRUPTION Introduction 48 Conflicts of interest 52 Disclosure of interests 55 Politics and political donations 62 Belongership 67 1 Constitutional Watch Dogs 69 3 ‐ CONTEXT OF CORRUPTION Abuse of office and of the political and electoral process 77 Crown Land 81 Public contracts 100 Immigration and permission to work 104 Revenues and Exemptions 108 4 ‐ INFORMATION OF POSSIBLE CORRUPTION AND/OR OTHER SERIOUS DISHONESTY AND RECOMMENDATIONS Introduction 113 The Hon Michael Misick Background 114 Declarations of Interests 119 Disclosure of Interests to the Commission 119 Political Donations or ‘Loans’ 120 Other Payments 125 Tourism 132 Use of Government and leased aircraft 138 Casablanca Casino and the Windsor Investment Group Ltd 141 Joe Grant Cay 146 Salt Cay 151 The Hon Floyd Hall Background 158 Declarations of Interests 158 Disclosure to the Commission 160 Political Party Finances 161 Links with Richard Padgett 164 ‘Flipping’ of Crown Land 168 Ministerial intervention in the allocation of Crown Land 171 Scholarships 172 Health Care 173 Cabinet Responsibility 178 2 Background 178 The Hon McAlDeclarations and Disclosure of Interests lister Hanchell 179 Loans 182 Caicos Oil Ltd 183 Ministerial Allocation of Crown Land 184 Joe Grant Cay 188 Salt Cay Dock 193 The Hon Jeffrey Hall Background 195 Declaration and Disclosure of interests 195 Melbourne Wilson and the first North West Point transaction 197 Melbourne Wilson and the second North West Point transaction 203 The Hon Lillian Boyce Background 204 Declarations to the Registrar of Interests 204 Disclosure to the Commission 205 Allocation and Flipping of Crown Land 205 Award of scholarships 207 Profit making from government contracts 208 Southern Health Network 208 The Hon Galmo Williams Background 209 Declarations to the Registrar of Interests 209 Disclosure to the Commission 211 Conflicts of Interest 211 First Caribbean Trust Company 212 Immigration 212 5 ‐ SYSTEMIC LEGISLATIVE AND GOVERNMENTAL WEAKENSSES General Fault Lines 214 Partial Suspension of the Constitution and Interim Direct Rule from 218 Westminster through the Governor Criminal Sanctions and Civil Recovery 224 Integrity in Public Life 230 3 Crown Land Allocation, Sale and Management 238 A New Constitution 240 6 ‐ SUMMARY OF FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS From Chapter 4 – Information of Possible Corruption And/Or Other Serious Dishonesty The Hon Michael Misick 244 The Hon Floyd Hall 249 The Hon McAllister Hanchell 253 The Hon Jeffrey Hall 255 The Hon Lillian Boyce 256 From Chapter 5 ‐ Systemic Weaknesses Partial Suspension of the Constitution and Direct Rule 257 Criminal Sanctions and Civil Recovery 259 Integrity in Public Life 260 Crown Land 262 A New Constitution 264 APPENDICES 1. Maps: i) Caribbean ii) Turks and Caicos Islands iii) Providenciales iv) Salt Cay 2. Commissioner’s Opening Statement, Providenciales Proceedings 13th January 2009 3. Commission Interim Report of 28th February 2009 4. Significant legislative and other instruments: i) Constitution Order 2006 ii) Constitution (Interim Amendment Order) 2009 iii) Commissions of Inquiry Ordinance iv) Registration of Interests Ordinance v) Ministerial Code of Conduct vi) Public Service Code of Ethics and Conduct _______________ 4 5 6 SUBMISSION OF REPORT TO THE GOVERNOR Your Excellency, Your predecessor in the office of Governor of the Turks & Caicos Islands, His Excellency Richard Tauwhare MVO, appointed me as sole Commissioner under a warrant signed and issued by him on 10th July 2008, pursuant to the Commissions of Inquiry Ordinance. The warrant, which is reproduced at the head of this Report, required me to conduct an inquiry into the possibility of corruption and/or other serious dishonesty in relation to past and present Members of the Legislature of the Turks & Caicos Islands and to report my findings and recommendations by the end of October 2008. On 14th July 2008 I attended before His Excellency in Grand Turk and took the oath. On the following day he and I attended and spoke at a press conference in Providenciales, at which I opened the Inquiry. For reasons with which you became familiar following your succession to His Excellency as Governor on 5th August 2008, and which have been well publicised in Press Reports issued by Your Excellency and by the Commission, it became necessary for you to enlarge the time for the conduct of the Inquiry and submission of the Report. The Report is now to be submitted by 31st May 2009. Following my appointment in July 2008, I spent the best part of six months until early January 2009, making written enquiries, mainly from the Commission’s Office in London. In doing so, I had the able and dedicated assistance of Mr Alex Milne and Miss Sarah Clark, Counsel to the Commission, Mrs Jacqueline Duff, Solicitor to the Commission, and Mr Laurance O’Dea and Miss Bahareh Ala‐eddini, respectively Secretary and Assistant Secretary to the Commission. As you know, in early January 2009 the Commission moved to Providenciales in the Turks & Caicos Islands to conduct oral proceedings, in the main for the purpose of examining Ministers and other Members of the House of Assembly as to their interests declarable under the Registration of Interests Ordinance 1993 and/or sought by the Commission under the Commissions of Inquiry Ordinance. Despite requests from the 7 Commission, many of those interests had still not been disclosed. The oral proceedings, which included, towards the end, evidence from a number of other witnesses called by the Commission, took just over four weeks, ending on 11th February 2009. For reasons that I gave on that day when closing the proceedings, I considered that there was a national emergency in the Territory necessitating an Interim Report by 28thFebruary 2009 at the latest. The Commission Team returned quickly to the United Kingdom to enable me, with their help, to prepare and submit it to Your Excellency on 28th February 2009. With the continued and dedicated help of the Commission Team, involving also the conduct of an extended Salmon exercise,1 I have completed the Final Report today, 31st May 2009, and present it herewith for Your Excellency’s consideration. The Right Hon Sir Robin Auld ________________ 1 Letters of this kind were recommended in the Report of the Royal Commission on Tribunals of Inquiry, which was chaired by Lord Justice Salmon in 1966. The Report laid down a set of general principles, designed to safeguard the interests of witnesses and parties to a tribunal of inquiry – Royal Commission on TriBunals of Inquiry (1966) Cmnd 3121, London, HMSO 8 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I cannot submit this Final Report without recording many and warm acknowledgements due to so many for their help in the Commission’s inquiry in and from the Turks and Caicos Islands, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. Throughout, I have been greatly aided and reassured by the welcome accorded to the Commission by the people of the Turks and Caicos Islands and valuable assistance that the vast majority have voluntarily given by way of contributions in writing and/or in oral evidence, and by some of those who gave oral evidence on summons. I include in my thanks the Governor, His Excellency Gordon Wetherell, his predecessor, His Excellency, Richard Tauwhare MVO, and their hard‐pressed staff, the Attorney General and the many senior Departmental Officials and their staffs who responded promptly and helpfully to our many requests for information and assistance. The Commission was also extremely fortunate in the arrangements made for its accommodation and oral proceedings in January and February of this year in Providenciales. The Regent Palms Hotel, under the well‐judged and hospitable arrangements made by Monica Neumann and her proficient and welcoming staff, provided us with comfortable living and a location for the oral proceedings that was just right. In such a setting, and despite all the customary travails of any such exercise, the Commission Team, Mr Alex Milne and Miss Sarah Clark, of Counsel, Mrs Jacqueline Duff, Solicitor, and Mr Laurance O’Dea and Miss Bahareh Ala‐eddini, respectively Secretary and Assistant Secretary, all gave more than their best, not just to the Commission, but also, I believe, to all who attended the hearings or had occasion to contact it. I include in that tribute the vast majority of the parties’ attorneys who, consistently with their duty to their clients, showed high professionalism, good nature and a prompt and helpful response to the many demands that the Commission made on them. 9 In addition, I should record my gratitude to the Commission’s Real‐Time Stenographers, Christina Yianni and Catherine Eden, without whose dogged and talented work in producing daily transcripts of the hearings, much of interest and importance for many at the time and for the future, would have been lost. A similar and equally fulsome tribute is due to David Woods, the Commission’s web‐site Consultant, for his regular postings of the transcript and other information about the Inquiry’s work. Finally, a thank you to the Royal Turks and Caicos Police, who, under the direction of Superintendent David Ryder, ensured – with great efficiency and unobtrusively – the orderly and secure manner in which the Commission was able to go about its task.