31 March 2010

NEW FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE REPORT:

TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS

UK Government is risking its credibility in Turks and Caicos and therefore other

Overseas Territories, says Foreign Affairs Committee.

The Foreign Affairs Committee today publishes its report into the governance of the
Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI), the British Overseas Territory that has been subject
to a Commission of Inquiry and subsequent suspension of its constitution and
reimposition of direct British rule while investigations take place into allegations of
systemic corruption discovered by the Committee in 2008.

Chair of the Committee, Mike Gapes, says:

“Despite the progress that has been made since we first became aware of the
allegations of corruption, the future of the Turks and Caicos is still far from secure.
It is essential that the issues identified by us in our 2008 report and by the
Commission of Inquiry are resolved to secure the well-being of the territory, or
there may be a loss in public confidence.

“The overriding aim of the current British administration of the TCI must be to
restore democratic self-government as soon as purging of the corrupt and
dysfunctional political system has been completed and entrenched. It has already
been twelve months since the Commission’s interim report and still no decisive
action has been taken against those suspected of corruption.

“There are solid reasons for regarding the Government’s preferred July 2011 date
for the end of direct rule as unrealistic. If elections proceed on this timetable, there
is a real danger that politicians against whom serious allegations of corruption are
pending could liquidate their assets and put funds beyond the reach of the
authorities or seek to use bribery and intimidation to engineer a return to office.  The Government should reassure the people of the TCI that a new constitution will
not be put in place, nor elections held, until there is absolute confidence that the
necessary reforms have been fully embedded."

“We are very concerned that the Government has failed to put in place adequate
funding arrangements for the work of the TCI Special Investigation and
Prosecution Team (SIPT), which must rely on funds from the already financially
overstretched TCI Government to carry out its work - funds which are desperately
needed for healthcare and policing. The UK Government was culpable in allowing
a culture of systemic corruption to develop in the TCI unchecked, and now that it
is officially intervening it has a responsibility to follow through with the required
financial commitment. It is unreasonable to expect the people of the TCI to fund
investigations and prosecutions relating to corruption for which they were not
responsible. The UK Government must fully fund the SIPT or risk undermining its
own credibility in its use of reserved powers in not just the TCI but in the other
Overseas Territories.”

The Foreign Affairs Committee is responsible for scrutinising the “expenditure, administration and policy” of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and its associated public bodies. The text of all Committee publications, including Reports, can be found on the Committee’s website at www.parliament.uk/facom