Page | 1 BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS COMMISSION OF INQUIRY HEARINGS: DAY 15 (MONDAY 21 JUNE 2021) International Arbitration Centre 3rd floor Ritter House Wickhams Cay II Road Town, Tortola Before: Commissioner Rt Hon Sir Gary Hickinbottom Solicitor General Mrs Jo-Ann Williams-Roberts (instructed by the Attorney General), Sir Geoffrey Cox QC and Ms Lauren Peaty of Withers LLP appeared for various BVI Government Ministers and public officials. Mr Lewis Hunte QC appeared for Dr Kedrick Pickering. Mr Archibald C. Christian appeared. Counsel to the Commission Mr Bilal Rawat also appeared. Hon Carvin Malone gave evidence. Ms Ingrid Moses-Scatliffe gave evidence. Mr Myron V. Walwyn gave evidence Mr Ronnie W. Skelton gave evidence. Court Reporter: MR. DAVID A. KASDAN Registered Diplomate Reporter (RDR) Certified Realtime Reporter (CRR) Worldwide Reporting, LLP 529 14th Street, S.E. Washington, D.C. 20003 United States of America [email protected] Transcript Prepared by Worldwide Reporting, LLP [email protected] 001 202-544-1903 Page | 2 Those present: Session 1 Mrs Jo-Ann Williams-Roberts, Solicitor General Ms Lauren Peaty, Withers LLP Mr Bilal Rawat Hon Carvin Malone Mr Steven Chandler, Secretary to the Commission Ms Juienna Tasaddiq, Assistant Secretary to the Commission Constable Javier Smith, Royal Virgin Islands Police Force Mr Dame Peters, Audio-Visual Technician Session 2 Mr Bilal Rawat Ms Ingrid Moses-Scatliffe Ms Juienna Tasaddiq, Assistant Secretary to the Commission Constable Javier Smith, Royal Virgin Islands Police Force Mr Dame Peters, Audio-Visual Technician Session 3 Mr Bilal Rawat Mr Myron V. Walwyn Ms Juienna Tasaddiq, Assistant Secretary to the Commission Constable Javier Smith, Royal Virgin Islands Police Force Mr Dame Peters, Audio-Visual Technician Session 4 Mr Bilal Rawat Mr Ronnie W. Skelton Ms Juienna Tasaddiq, Assistant Secretary to the Commission Transcript Prepared by Worldwide Reporting, LLP [email protected] 001 202-544-1903 Page | 3 Constable Javier Smith, Royal Virgin Islands Police Force Mr Dame Peters, Audio-Visual Technician Session 5 Mrs Jo-Ann Williams-Roberts, Solicitor General Sir Geoffrey Cox QC, Withers LLP Ms Lauren Peaty, Withers LLP Mr Lewis Hunte QC Mr Archibald C. Christian Mr Steven Chandler, Secretary to the Commission Ms Juienna Tasaddiq, Assistant Secretary to the Commission Mr Andrew King, Senior Solicitor to the Commission Ms Rhea Harrikissoon, Solicitor to the Commission Transcript Prepared by Worldwide Reporting, LLP [email protected] 001 202-544-1903 Page | 4 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 Session 1 3 COMMISSIONER HICKINBOTTOM: Good morning, everyone. 4 I'm sorry about the delay in starting, which is due to a 5 technical hitch which I think has now been resolved, and I think 6 we're now ready to resume. 7 Mr Rawat. 8 MR RAWAT: Good morning, Commissioner. Can I begin by 9 introducing the representation that we have present in the 10 hearing room. The Attorney General is represented this morning 11 on her behalf and on behalf of the elected Ministers whom she 12 represents by the Solicitor General Jo-Ann William Roberts and 13 also by Lauren Peaty of Withers. There are no other legal 14 representatives either present in the hearing room or online. 15 COMMISSIONER HICKINBOTTOM: Yes. 16 MR RAWAT: Our first witness is a Minister represented 17 by the Attorney General. It's the Honourable Carvin Malone, and 18 if I could ask if he could be sworn or affirmed at this point. 19 COMMISSIONER HICKINBOTTOM: Yes, thank you. 20 HON CARVIN MALONE, COMMISSION WITNESS, CALLED 21 THE WITNESS: I do solemnly, sincerely and truly 22 declare and affirm that the evidence I shall give shall be the 23 truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. 24 COMMISSIONER HICKINBOTTOM: Thank you. 25 MR RAWAT: Thank you, Commissioner. Transcript Prepared by Worldwide Reporting, LLP [email protected] 001 202-544-1903 Page | 5 1 BY MR RAWAT: 2 Q. Honourable Malone, thank you for coming to give 3 evidence this morning. 4 Can I, first of all, start with an apology, which is 5 also coupled with an additional thanks, and that is that I think 6 you were scheduled last week, but obviously because of the 7 timetable overrunning slightly, you kindly agreed to put off 8 your evidence to today? 9 A. Yes, I'm grateful. 10 Q. We should be grateful for that, and that was of great 11 assistance to the Commissioner. 12 There are formalities that we need to deal with. The 13 first of those is to ask you, please, to give the Commissioner 14 your full name? 15 A. My name is Carvin Malone. 16 Q. And your professional address? 17 A. It's Sea Meadows, Road Town, Tortola. 18 Q. Thank you. 19 Now, I say this to all witnesses, and it is that I do 20 try to keep my questions short and simple. Sometimes it does 21 not work out that way, and if at any point you would like me to 22 repeat or rephrase the question, please do ask me. 23 A. Certainly. 24 Q. You will see in front of you perhaps a daunting set of 25 bundles. You don't need to open any of them at this stage, we Transcript Prepared by Worldwide Reporting, LLP [email protected] 001 202-544-1903 Page | 6 1 might not need to look at all of them, but what I will do is as 2 we go through evidence is to take you through various documents. 3 Can I ask one final thing, and that is to remember, 4 please, to keep your voice up and to speak slowly. The 5 microphone that you have in front of you doesn't amplify your 6 voice. It merely records. But what's important is for the 7 Transcript of this hearing to contain an accurate and clear 8 record of your answers to my questions. 9 Again, can I begin by, as I have done with all-- 10 (Lights go out.) 11 COMMISSIONER HICKINBOTTOM: I think that's a problem. 12 Do you know what the problem is, Dame? 13 (Pause.) 14 MS PEATY: It's the generator, I think. 15 THE WITNESS: So, is the generator now returning? 16 COMMISSIONER HICKINBOTTOM: I think it was a problem 17 with the electricity supply, but that may have affected the 18 live-streaming. 19 THE WITNESS: Yes. 20 COMMISSIONER HICKINBOTTOM: I hasten to add that I 21 know nothing about these matters. 22 (Pause.) 23 COMMISSIONER HICKINBOTTOM: I think we're back in 24 business. 25 The only evidence we've heard so far just to recount Transcript Prepared by Worldwide Reporting, LLP [email protected] 001 202-544-1903 Page | 7 1 is that the Witness has confirmed that he's The Honourable 2 Carvin Malone. 3 Thank you very much. 4 MR RAWAT: Thank you. 5 BY MR RAWAT: 6 Q. Hopefully, we won't have any more technical glitches, 7 Mr Malone, but my first question is the one that I put to all 8 Honourable and indeed former Honourable Members of the House of 9 Assembly, and that is to ask them to begin by just giving an 10 outline of your professional background before you entered 11 politics. 12 A. Okay, great. I'll be grateful to do that. Carvin 13 Malone, as I said before, schooled at the Willard Wheatley 14 Primary School, BVI High School and at Pace University in New 15 York City. Management experiences includes that of Caribbean 16 Basin Enterprises as the President and CEO, of CB Engineering 17 Associates of Virgin Islands Block Company; and the family-owned 18 business Malone Group Property Investment, Ltd, and Islands 19 Block Corporation, Ltd. 20 Quasi-Government experience includes past 21 Member--well, I was a Member of the 2007 Constitution Review 22 Commission, former Board Member of and the Finance Chairman of 23 the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College, Board Member of the BVI 24 Port Authority, Board Member of the BVI Development Bank, Board 25 Member of the Fiscal Advisory Committee back in '88 to '90, and Transcript Prepared by Worldwide Reporting, LLP [email protected] 001 202-544-1903 Page | 8 1 a Board Member of the Land Development Control Authority. 2 Also in terms of social and community experiences, a 3 past President of the Virgin Islands Party, four-time President 4 of the--well, which is a record--of the Tortola Lions Club, past 5 Chairman of the BVI Hotel and Commerce Association in '83 to 6 '86. Past President of the BVI Amateur Basketball Association, 7 the Lawn Tennis Association, and the Vice President of the BVI 8 Olympic Committee. 9 COMMISSIONER HICKINBOTTOM: Thank you very much. 10 BY MR RAWAT: 11 Q. Thank you. 12 And you said that you were the past President of the 13 Virgin Islands Party. 14 A. That's correct. 15 Q. Is it right that you were selected as an at large 16 candidate for that Party in the 2019 Election? 17 A. That's correct. 18 Q. And was that the first time that you stood for 19 election? 20 A. That's correct. 21 Q. Now, as an at-large territorial candidate, the way it 22 works, as we understand it, from the evidence of other 23 Honourable Members, is that each voter can vote for the 24 representative in their district and then they also have four 25 votes to choose four people to sit as territorial Transcript Prepared by Worldwide Reporting, LLP [email protected] 001 202-544-1903 Page | 9 1 representatives.