‘No info removed from gov’t drives’ - Dr Smith on BVI Airways
Premier Fahie was at the time speaking at the Friday, May 17, 2019, Third Sitting of the First Session of the Fourth HoA of the Virgin Islands (VI), when in responding to questioning from the Representative of the Third District, Hon Julian Fraser, RA, noted that he has been ‘Stonewalled’ in his attempt to get the files.
Dr Smith lashes back
Dr Smith in a statement released via Facebook has lashed out at the Virgin Islands Party (VIP) leader of Government business noting that no information was removed and that all files are easily retrievable.
“Good afternoon I have seen reports in the Media on what was said in relation to BVI Airways. I have answered many questions in the House of Assembly on BVI Airways, and I have made several statements on the matter. Suffice to say no information relative to BVI Airways has been removed from Governments I drive,” Former Premier Smith said in the social media statement released, today, May 21, 2019.
Further, he said, “Save for copies of answers to Questions which were delivered in the House of Assembly and reported in the press, [they] and are easily retrievable.”
War of Words
Premier Fahie, in answering questions from the Third District Representative, has further noted that, “most of the information from the Ministry [are] either missing or was on a hard drive and was deleted and I’ve asked… to get that back up,” he told Hon Fraser and the House.
However, Dr Smith is saying, “It would also not be true to say that the Ministry of Finance was not kept in the loop, as this was the Ministry that was at the forefront of the discussions with BVI Airways.”
“I did promise that I would seek to recover monies spent on BVI Airways, and after much deliberation with Cabinet and the AGs office a firm was selected in August of last year to do so. Long before an election date was even considered,”
Investigation launched
Meanwhile, Premier Fahie had further revealed that he discovered a $200K contract issued to a new company signed by the NDP on the eve of the February 25, 2019, General Elections to look for the missing $7.2M funds and that he has launched an investigation.
“Somebody has to have the information on this plane somewhere, and someone has to answer to the new government,” he told the HoA.
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6 Responses to “‘No info removed from gov’t drives’ - Dr Smith on BVI Airways ”
Thus, it is highly unlikely that he would know everything going on at the base and middle levels, especially about technical information/details; organizations do not function that way. A leader’s success depends on the full-throated support and cooperation of folks at the middle and base level of the pyramid.
Nevertheless, as any leader, I’m sure that he always hope that subordinates would do the right thing. Most subordinates do but on occasions some may go off the rails either on their own or as directed by others. In the interest of good governance, hopefully an investigation will show that no files were maliciously deleted.