‘UK deliberately failed to investigate NDP corruption’ – Premier Fahie
With the UK now seeking to have the territory’s financial control in the hands of the Recovery and Development Agency (RDA), the Premier in a Saturday, August 17, 2019, statement on the 300 million Pound UK Loan Guarantee, said as a direct result of NDP Financial violations, the UK is holding it against the new government and the people with regards to the way forward.
Unfair & Unjust
The Premier said that the UK government has noted several violations under the Dr D. Orlando Smith NDP Government that are now documented on the diplomatic level.
These include, no audited financial statements under the NDP, no registration of elected official’s interest, no disclosure of contracts by elected members of the House of Assembly, over-budgeted Peebles Hospital capital project, over-budgeted $40M Pier Park expenditure, $7.2M failed BVI Airways deal, transfer of $8M funds to BVI Ports Authority and alleged misappropriation of $1.6M on the Elmore Stoutt High School (ESHS) Wall.
He said with the exception of the ESHS wall scandal that occurred under previous Legislator Myron V. Walwyn, the relevant authorities from the UK have failed to commence and conclude inquiries in the violations.
Hon Fahie said in his social media statement, “It is unfair and unjust for the UK government to seek to penalise the People of the Virgin Islands and this new government on the basis of the actions of a past government.”
He pointed out that the NDP administration was one that the people have rejected and voted out of office even as the UK government and its representatives failed to exercise their roles in getting matters investigated and properly ventilated.
“Investigation and ventilation of these suspicious and scandalous matters would have allowed all concerned parties to uncover whether any misconduct occurred and to hold persons accountable,” Premier Fahie further lashed out.
The Premier said proper investigation would have revealed weaknesses in the system that facilitated the leakage of taxpayer’s money, “which are at risk of being exploited in the future so that those deficiencies can be strengthened to increase effectiveness in the future.”
High Suspicion
Hon Fahie said there is an air of suspicion regarding the UK handling of issues around financial mismanagement.
“This failure by the UK officials to act swiftly and to have these matters probed was deliberate and designed to hold the door open for the UK government to impose certain conditions contained in the high-level framework for UK support to BVI hurricane recovery.”
He said that while suspicion is not healthy from BVI and UK relations, perception cannot be tamed by 'will and wish'.
The Premier further said, “It is important to point out that most of the conditions in the high-level framework for UK support to BVI hurricane recovery are required and just and the Government of the Virgin Islands has no problem adhering to those.”
However, the Leader of Government noted that certain conditions that work against the interest of the people and the VI constitution must be renegotiated.
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9 Responses to “‘UK deliberately failed to investigate NDP corruption’ – Premier Fahie”
All should be locked up - NDP, VIP (all of them). time longer than twine....
The previous governor was fully aware of activities of the previous government and did nothing to prevent the acts of corruptions and mismanagement. Apart from financial irregularities, some land deals were discovered and the previous governor knew about them, according to information obtained. The previous governor allowed the NDP to wriggle into the mud and sank the entire country.
As I see the intentions of the UK government is to thwart the development of the territory. The prescriptions of the UK is to create a recipe for destabilisation. I have never seen any parent who failed to defent their children in times of advercities. The Hon. Premier has done what others have failed to do, and that i s confronting the issues that are affecting the territory and urge the people be on guard