Government must do what it needs to do in order to tackle white collar crime, according to Douglas Wheatley. Photo: VINO/File

Douglas Wheatley felt that the territory does not place the same emphasis on white collar crime as it does to blue collar crime, even though it was believed that both crimes may be just as prevalent. Photo: VINO/File

Wheatley renewed his calls for attention to the issue and stated that white collar crime is a fact of life and exists in the Virgin Islands just as it does in other parts of the world and needed to be addressed seriously.

The talk show host said on the Speak Out BVI radio show on July 2, 2013 that other Territories had dedicated units within the DPP’s office to deal with the issue of white collar crime as well as within their police force.

“The government must do what it needs to do in order to tackle white collar crime, we can’t just be emphasising and going after the other types of crime and leaving white collar crime alone,” the host expressed.

He said this was because special skills were needed to ‘ferret out’ white collar crime. “You might need to do a forensic audit, you may have to understand balance sheets, and that sort of thing,” he said.

Wheatley felt that some Territories such as the United States Virgin Islands had newspapers such as the daily news which does a good job at investigative journalism, which often went after a lot issues related to this type of crime.

“They get a lot of information and sometimes it’s after that information is published in the Daily News – and sometimes it runs over several days of publishing – that the US Attorney’s office will then follow up on the story carried in the investigative piece,” he said.

In a number of these instances, he remarked, they find that there is “sufficient meat” for an investigation to be done and perpetrators to be brought to justice.