| Trials expected next summer | | Print | |
| Friday, 30 April 2010 07:45 | |||
 Six to 10 people will be charged by next summer in connection with corruption alleged in the Commission of Inquiry report last year, Special Prosecution and Investigation Team leader Helen Garlick said Wednesday, but she would not reveal her targets. “Based on previous experience of running serious and complex cases, you would normally expect an investigation like this to take 18 months, from the start to bringing of charges,” Garlick said. In this case, part of the delay has been that the interim government has struggled to come up with the money to pay for the SIPT in the absence of any funding from the U.K., Garlick said. “I am confident today that as a result of a mixture of good luck and very hard work, we have almost closed that gap and we are pretty close to where I had hoped we would be when I spoke to you in August of last year.” The SIPT is only now up to full strength of almost 30 members, mostly veteran investigators. They have been going through more than a dozen allegations made by Sir Robin Auld in his Commission of Inquiry report last summer. The principle offenses as described by Garlick are misconduct in public office and bribery. There are no fixed penalties in the TCI for such common law offenses, so it will be up to a judge to decide the fate of those convicted. “We are in the unusual situation of there having been a public inquiry before criminal investigations,” she explained. “That public inquiry took place under the provisions that gives a large measure of protection for people who provide evidence under oath, and that is as it should be, but we are now obliged to go out and re-acquire much of that evidence and produce it in formal and admissible form.” Investigations so far have led to five or six other countries, including the U.S., and cover political activity over the last 10 years. “It would be a great mistake to think we are only concerned with allegations of corruption, or misconduct with one section of political life here,” Garlick added. “Since we started work, additional further matters have been brought to our attention which are at least and in some cases even more serious than those listed by Sir Robin Auld,” Garlick said. Garlick said the SIPT will pay special attention to protecting witnesses. The team has members “who have served in difficult and dangerous jurisdictions all over the world, including Africa, the Middle East, Bosnia and Northern Ireland before and after the troubles over there,” she said. “Very sadly it has been a characteristic of these islands for some decades that people have been afraid to come forward to express their opinion honestly and say what they believe to be the truth,” she said. “Our permanent presence will include a sophisticated intelligence unit, and if there are people who are minded to intimidate people, to commit breaches of the peace or to pervert the course of justice, the likelihood is that we will find out about it, and we will be able to identify the persons responsible, and they will be dealt with under the law. That is something on which I am absolutely determined.” Garlick said she expects to be in the TCI at least two and up to five years to see her job through. She also confirmed she anticipates trials to be held in the Turks and Caicos on the island of Providenciales. In addition to government corruption allegations, the SIPT is leading the investigation into Olint TCI, a currency exchange operation run by Jamaican David Smith, who lives on Providenciales. Garlick referred to Olint as the biggest ponzi scheme ever prior to the Bernie Madoff case.
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