Leader of the Opposition Dr. D Orlando Smith. Photo: VINO

Below is his full statement:

“The Premier stated that the Leader of the Opposition had not convened a meeting of the Public Accounts committee for the last four years. This is blatantly untrue Many meetings were convened during the past four years the first being on 2oth June 2008 and I have the minutes to hand of those meetings.

More importantly I am grateful to the Premier for pointing out the role of the PAC: He quoted from the Standing Orders and I quote from what he said in turn ' (a)to consider the accounts of the Government in conjunction with the Auditor's Report; 1971...' What the premier and everyone else knows is that the Public Accounts committee examines projects after they have been completed.

The fact is that no Auditor Generals reports were laid in the house for the four years of this administration, and no projects were completed until these last weeks.

How then could the PAC function efficiently and produce reports?

Here was another deliberate attempt on the part of the Premier to frustrate the work of this important committee.

The Premier also made reference to stamp duties that were underpaid by NDP's rich friends. Perhaps he would be kind enough to name these 'rich friends. Maybe he refrained from doing so as some whom he wished to remain unknown would have been named.

But we must remind the Premier that following a Commission of Enquiry endorsed by the NDP into alleged violations of the Stamp Duty Act in 2007, four years later he has single handedly managed to suppress the release of this Report based on the most spurious and empty excuses possible. We wonder: did the Premier and the Virgin Islands Party have something to hide?

The NDP in these last two weeks before the elections is again calling on the VIP to stop spreading these lies and irresponsible statements, and instead tell the public what they will do to ensure the daily livelihood of our people.”