TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands BVI Commission of Inquiry on 18-06

I highly recommend watching this on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p258-xLQeoI

The witness is the Hon. Julian Whitlock and the testimony is worth watching. To categorize him as "hostile" is an understatement. I also put him into the category of "arrogant" and "misinformed" but that's purely personal - for those who have experience of BVI politics you should get some popcorn and lean back and soak up this soap-opera worthy session. With politicians like this who seem to see themselves above the law it is not surprising that the crown has called this commission into being!

Just as a tidbit, he starts off with demanding to be referred to as "Speaker Whitlock" as he is the speaker of the house; and mentions several times that he considers the COI commissioner to be his "equal" and does not recognize the authority of the court. And it gets better from there! If anyone here remembers the old "Perry Mason" TV show you'll see lots of parallels.

His whole testimony is just over 1.5 hours and there's a quoteworthy/newsworthy item every couple of minutes. It should be noted that the Hon. Whitlock opted not to attend his first session and only the threat of jail time compelled him to attend this session

Keep the updates coming Zanshin. This is incredible content

In the initial part, the Hon. Whitlock stated that he wanted to "cut to the chase" and state "for the record" that his 3 years of registry of interest filings were done correctly and on time. The commissioner and the commission's attorney did not let that go through, and within a couple of minutes it was proven that in none of the 3 had he filed correctly or on time. When asked if he could confirm the date and his signature on the court documents he refused to do so, saying he would need to check with his copies. He openly suggested that the documents might have been altered or forged.

Anyone following the Auditor General? She seems competent, but she's not making the politicos sound good.

How right you are! Her competency and professionalism are not in question but her evidence is damning.

Looks like the COL is lining up the evidence that Covid grants to farmers and “fisher folks” were undertaken from the Premiers office with no oversight allowed. It appears that many of these grants were far in excess of monies the applicants asked for. It also seems that the monies in many cases went to people not involved in these industries.

https://www.bviplatinum.com/news.php?articleId=32761

The auditor general was actively blocked from doing her job in auditing these payments by the Premiers office.

https://www.bviplatinum.com/news.php?articleId=32760

They will obviously be looking for evidence of kickbacks. That’s a lot of people to depend on keeping their mouths shut if they “shared” exaggerated or unwarranted payments with those granting them.

In previous glances at the news it seemed there was a lot of emphasis on disclosure of business connections of office holders. It seemed many were not in compliance. Other than causing some red flags about what they might be hiding, it didn’t in my mind seem to be leading anywhere. This on the other hand sounds like it might blow things wide open

Will - yesterday's session was informative and the two articles you referred to represent just the biggest points made by the auditor-general. I haven't seen today's session yet, but it, too, should prove interesting.

Zan

I need a diversion this morning so I clicked the link in your first post...oh boy! It was riveting! I was completely engrossed in the proceedings. It may have been too long with no oversight from the UK of BVI government. And now there may have been payoffs from the farmers and fishers COVID relief??? If it was plot for a fiction book, I would not believe the corruption in the story.

Karen

I am hooked! On the edge of my seat to see how this plays out. I've always believed the US government to be corrupt. But this is unbelievable.