fp Turks and Caicos

1 – Finding: The Hon Michael Misick failed repeatedly throughout his period of membership of the Legislature of the TCI to make full and accurate declarations of his interests as required by the Registration of Interests Ordinance 1993.

No Recommendation

2 – Finding: The Hon Michael Misick has failed in several important respects to make adequate disclosures in response to the Commission’s requests, pursuant to its powers under the Commissions of Inquiry Ordinance, for full and accurate disclosure of his financial interests.
No Recommendation

3 ‐ Finding: There is information that the Hon Michael Misick may have abused his position as Premier and as Leader of the PNP by using PNP funds for his own purposes in that: 1) if and insofar as he may have been entitled to reimbursement from the Party for monies expended on its behalf, he failed to account for such expenditure; and 2) that the level of his personal expenditure was disproportionate to any expenditure on the Party he may have incurred.
Recommendation: Criminal investigation by police or others in relation to him of possible corruption and/or other serious dishonesty in relation to such and other similar matters in recent years.

4 – Finding: The Hon Michael Misick accepted and failed to declare many gifts of money via the client account of his brother and attorney, Chal Misick, which were not, and could not reasonably be interpreted as being, political in nature, and which he appears to have applied to his personal expenditure without disclosure to the Registrar of Interests or to the Commission.
Recommendation: Criminal investigation by police or others in relation to him of possible corruption and/or other serious dishonesty in relation to such and other similar matters in recent years.

5 – Finding: The payment of $500,000 by Dr Cem Kinay, through his company, Turks Ltd, to the Hon Michael Misick was a possibly corrupt payment because: 1) the Hon Michael Misick did not declare it in Cabinet when Dr Kinay’s proposals for development were under discussion, or to the Registrar of Interests or the Commission; 2) it was paid to him through a third party account, namely the client account of his brother and attorney, Chal Misick; 3) it was wholly disproportionate to its stated purpose, namely for political campaigning, and was not, for the most part, spent on such campaigning; and 4) it was received from a developer who had a continuing relationship with the Government, with whom further development agreements were under consideration or being negotiated, and who benefited from Cabinet decisions generous to him.
Recommendation: Criminal investigation by police or others in relation to the Hon Michael Misick of possible corruption and/or other serious dishonesty in relation to such and other similar matters in recent years.

6 – Finding: The receipt by the Hon Michael Misick of $250,000 on 29th July 2005, purportedly by way of loan from Inazio & Gataen Caltagirone, via the client account of Chal Misick, was possibly a corrupt payment in the light of: 1) the Hon Michael Misick’s nondeclaration to the Cabinet of his receipt of the money three weeks earlier or of his links to the Caltagirone Brothers and their interest in the proposed development under consideration; 2) the Cabinet’s decision in favour of the proposal, followed by the Hon Michael Misick’s subsequent decision on appeal in favour of it on planning matters; 3) his failure to disclose the payment to the Registrar of Interests and non‐disclosure of it to the Commission; 4) the absence of any documentation identifying the Caltagirone Brothers as the source of the money or any terms for repayment or interest; and 5) the absence of any evidence of repayment.
Recommendation: Criminal investigation by police or others in relation to him of possible corruption and/or other serious dishonesty in relation to such and other similar matters in recent years.

7 ‐ Finding: The undocumented and unrepaid, North West Point loans to the Hon Michael Misick, collectively amounting to about $350,000 from Hon Jeffery Hall, the Hon Floyd Hall or his brother and the Hon Lillian Boyce or her brother were possibly corrupt payments to him for favours given in relation to the North West Point transaction engendering the money to facilitate such payments.
Recommendation: Criminal investigation by police or others in relation to him of possible corruption and/or other serious dishonesty, including misfeasance in public office, in relation to these payments and the transactions giving rise to them.

8 – Finding: The Hon Michael Misick in recent years accepted and failed to declare to the Registrar of Interests many gifts or purported loans of money via the client account of his brother and attorney, Chal Misick, which were possibly corrupt on account of possible favours given by him in his capacity as Premier.
Recommendation: Criminal investigation by police or others in relation to him of possible corruption and/or other serious dishonesty, including misfeasance in public office, in relation to the North West Point transaction and other similar matters in recent years.

9 ‐ Finding: There is information suggesting that the Hon Michael Misick has promoted the abuse of the Crown Land Policy on a number of occasions, and benefited personally from that abuse: 1) in his receipt of $161,618.92 from the Hon Floyd Hall via the client account of Chal Misick on 20th February 2006 of a possibly corrupt payment derived from a purported finder’s fee of $373,000 in respect of the Third Turtle Club from Mr Richard Padgett, a developer, in the circumstances summarised above; 2) in his facilitation of the sale of former Crown Land by Ashley Properties Ltd for which he received a commission, as described above; 3) in his participation in the profits of Urban Developments from the sale of land at North West Point to a company controlled by David Wex, an overseas developer, as described; and 4) in fronting the sale of Land to Crown Land to overseas developers, specifically in his involvement in the company, MIG Investment Ltd, by which he enabled overseas developers to purchase 18 acres of land entirely at their expense, but in which he acquired a 50% interest by virtue only of his status as a Belonger.
Recommendation: Criminal investigation by police or others in relation to him and the above matters of possible corruption and/or other serious dishonesty, including misfeasance in public office.

10 – Finding: The Hon Michael Misick behaved in a possibly corrupt manner and/or in misfeasance of his public duty, by securing highly paid advertising contracts for his wife with the TCI Tourist Board and with Kerwin Communications purportedly acting on behalf of the Tourist Board, thereby potentially abusing his power with a view to enriching his wife and himself.
Recommendation: Criminal investigation by police or others in relation to the Hon Michael Misick of possible corruption and/or other serious dishonesty, in the form of misfeasance in public office, in relation to him to his exercise of his responsibility as Minister responsible for tourism in this matter.

11 – Finding: The Hon Michael Misick behaved in a potentially seriously dishonest manner, including misfeasance in public office and dishonest misappropriation of public funds, by his possible misuse of government funds and facilities for his personal purposes in his use of aircraft chartered or leased by the Government for official purposes.
Recommendation: Criminal investigation by the police or others in relation to the Hon Michael Misick of possible serious dishonesty, including misfeasance in public office and/or dishonest misappropriation of public funds in relation to his personal use of such aircraft.

12 – Finding: There is a possibility of corruption and/or other serious dishonesty, including misfeasance in public office, in relation the Hon Michael Misick in the chain of events leading to the eventual disposal of land at Joe Grant Cay at well below market price to a consortium led by Dr Cem Kinay, following the secret payment by Dr Kinay of $500,000 to him in January 2007, followed by the approval by Cabinet on 16th May 2007, to which the Hon Michael Misick was a party.
Recommendation: Criminal investigation by the police or others of the possibility in relation to the Hon Michael Misick of corruption or other serious dishonesty, including misfeasance in public office, in respect of this matter.

13 – Finding: There is information of possible corrupt and/or otherwise seriously dishonest involvement, including misfeasance in public office, of the Hon Michael Misick in relation to the Government’s transactions with Mario Hoffmann of DEVCO for the development of Salt Cay: 1) in respect of his participation in that development with Chal Misick’s knowing assistance and complicity in it; 2) in his the potential abuse of his public office by accepting lavish and disproportionate hospitality from Mario Hoffmann, including the use of private aircraft, the provision of international flights and other hospitality in the course of developing business relations between DEVCO and the Government; and 3) in his potential abuse of his public office by seeking and accepting a loan of $6 million from J&T Banka when that Bank, on its own account, was in negotiation with the Government over funding and participation in the development of Salt Cay.
Recommendation: criminal investigation by the police or others of the possibility of corruption and/or other serious dishonesty, including misfeasance in public office, in relation to the Hon Michael Misick in respect of those matters.

Source: Turks and Caicos Islands Commission of Inquiry 2008-09