Former Governor of the British Virgin Islands Augustus Jaspert has said that calling the Commission of Inquiry (COI) was one of the most difficult decisions he made during his tenure as governor, but one that had to be made following alarming concerns raised by many individuals.
Jaspert made those comments when he appeared before the COI on Wednesday October 20, where he explained why he decided to call the Inquiry.
He said, “It should be very clear though, as governor, one of my most difficult decisions was to call the Commission of Inquiry. It is not a step that I would have ever wanted to have to do or undertake, should there have been any other way to avoid doing so.”
He added, “With those specific ones that you mentioned there was still investigations underway at that point, but for me calling the Commission of Inquiry was really because of the cumulative concerns that was presented to me about good Governance which covered not just specific reports that you’ve mentioned or some of those themes I saw the practice continuing.”
Allegations of prominent public figures involved in cocaine trafficking
The former governor also outlined some of the major concerns raised to him, which included allegations of persons he said that hold pivotal positions in the BVI society that are actively involved in the cocaine drug trafficking organised crime.
“So the practice of for example, tender waivers continuing, the practice of for example employing consultants without competition, the practice of not complying with the laws of the territory. Also some of the practices of appointing people to statutory boards with little transparency or openness in the process or sometimes there are some of the institutions hindered in carrying out their work in a significant sum of alleged areas which may need to be looked at in more detail,” Jaspert stated.
“So at that point when we had discussed and look at those issues, the concerns were presented to me later relating to an accumulative set of concerns as I’ve outlined, including more widely concerns that had been relayed to me, many allegations including from credible public officers, leaders of some of our institutions, as well as credible members of the public on serious concerns relating to intimidation of public officers, serious concerns relating to allegations of decisions being directed outside of processes and most concerning also, allegations linked to organised criminality and to those involved in the cocaine trafficking trade as well, including allegedly that amongst those in the highest holder of office,” he further explained.
Jaspert believes his decision to call the COI is for the good of the territory as it will help to strengthen good governance in the BVI and improve some of the many discrepancies found during the investigation process.