Letter to Chris Bryant MP, Parliamentary
Under-Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office and
Michael Foster MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department
for International Development, from Helen Garlick, Special Prosecutor,
Turks and Caicos Islands
I was appointed as Special Prosecutor to the
Turks and Caicos Islands Special Investigation and Prosecution
Team (the SIPT) on 10 August.
Before accepting the appointment and to date
my main concern has been that I should be confident that I can
carry out a thorough and independent investigation. Prior to 10 August
my distinct understanding was that, although the British Government
would not fund the investigation indefinitely, the most probable
outcome would be that it would advance a loan to TCIG. It was
on this basis that I signed my contract. I was initially appointed
for two months. My principal task was to review the material collected
by the Commission of Inquiry and to draw up an Investigation Plan,
Strategy and Budget. For this purpose a small Senior Management
Team was assembled. It consists of a Deputy Special Prosecutor,
a barrister named Lee Marler, who is the former Head of the External
Investigations and Integrity Division at the World Bank, a Senior
Investigating Officer, Keith Chamberlain, who is a former Detective
Chief Superintendent and Assistant Chief Constable of Cambridgeshire
and his deputy, John Briggs, who is a former Detective Superintendent
of Derbyshire Police Force. We are assisted by an experienced
former Detective from the Metropolitan Police, who is acting as
the Case Manager.
On 27 August I visited TCI and gave a press
conference with the Attorney General and the Governor, announcing
the opening of the investigation.
In late September I presented the FCO and the
Governor with the Plan, the Strategy Document and the Budget.
The contents of all three documents were accepted. A Strategic
Oversight Group has been appointed within TCI, to have superintendence
of the Investigation, the documents were also presented to it
and accepted without qualification.
In summary, our budget for the remainder of
this financial year totalled £1.9 million and for the
next financial year it is £4.9 million. These figures
do not include the costs of any prosecutions. ***.
The preparation of all three documents was dominated
by the Senior Management Team's acute awareness of the need to
keep costs to the minimum consistent with conducting an impartial
and thorough investigation. Every aspect has been thought through
with care and can be justified on those grounds.
In October I learned first, that the British
Government would neither make a loan, nor guarantee a separate
line of credit agreed by the TCIG. In the absence of any support
from HMG, the only option open to TCIG was to negotiate one or
more facilities backed by hypothecation of an identified stream
of income. (***). If it is agreed, the facility will be syndicated.
I am informed that the facility is close to being agreed and that
funds are expected to be in place by early January. In the meantime
our initial two month contracts have been extended to 10 February
2010 and we are being funded by the FCO. As from that date,
we will be in charge on the budget of TCIG. The TCIG's financial
priorities will be first, the protection of human life, safety
and the avoidance of suffering; second, servicing of government
debt; third, other essential expenditure; fourth, salaries; and
fifth, desirable public expenditure. I have been told that, to
ensure the SIPT's funding requirements are met, it will be placed
at the top of priority three. My comments, that I have made in
meetings and in writing to the Governor and the FCO are as follows:
1. The budgeted costs of the SIPT will amount
to between 4.5% and 5% of the TCIG's budget and could well increase,
if charges are brought and there are several trials.
2. There is a real prospect there will be months
when the SIPT's expenses and salaries will be met, whilst TCI
Government servants, including police officers, with whom we may
be working, will not. There is also a distinct possibility that
other important government expenditure that has a real impact
on the well being of the Islanders will be subordinated to the
SIPT's needs. In my view this is wrong in principle. Furthermore,
it is hardly likely to help us to win and maintain essential public
support.
3. We now face a considerable and highly damaging
delay before the investigation can be started. In recent weeks,
we have needed to react to some important and urgent developments.
This is very much in the nature of major criminal investigations
but our capacity to deal with them is severely limited. ***. However,
I cannot begin to interview and offer permanent posts to any new
staff until I am certain that the facility is in place. You will
understand that I also have a responsibility to assure staff that
they will have a proper measure of job security and also that
they will be paid in full and on time. ***. On my current understanding,
that the facility will be agreed by the beginning of December,
I am unlikely to be able to have a full team in place until March
2010.
4. There is a risk that public confidence in
and support for our work will ebb. Questions are being asked about
the apparent lack of progress and the failure to establish a presence
in TCI. Public support is vital, both to maintain the independence
of the Investigation against the very real prospect of political
interference, once the Islands return to elected government but
also to encourage potential witnesses and providers of information.
You will recall that the Foreign Affairs Select Committee and
the Public Inquiry both recorded evidence of intimidation and
a climate of fear.
5. It is disappointing in the extreme that funding
for the SIPT's work has taken so long to be resolved. Sir Robin
Auld's Interim Report was published at the end of February. I
think it is fair comment that by that date at the very latest,
it was plain that the cost of a substantial criminal investigation
would have to be met.
6. I have asked the question why a separate source
of funding from HMG cannot be found for the SIPT. I have been
told that it is impossible. My understanding is that the FCO has
no budget for this type of expenditure and that there is no other
realistic government source of funding, with the exception of
DFID, to which I will return below.
7. I have also raised my concern at the position
that the SIPT will be in, if a new government seeks to remove
or reduce financial support for the SIPT when the Constitution
is restored in full and elections take place in the summer of
2011. ***.
8. I have also been told that an approach has
been made to DFID for a financial support but that there is no
assurance that this will be forthcoming and that in any case,
any grant (I understand that DFID do not provide loans), would
be for economic restructuring. I am told that there is no question
of a grant for the purposes of good governance, including the
the SIPT.
9. I am aware that there is a traditional objection
to providing support for a prosecution, I assume because DFID
and other government departments do not wish to appear to be adopting
a partisan stance. If that is a material objection in this case,
then I would comment that larger issues are at stake here than
simply securing convictions against particular individuals. The
Public Inquiry was initiated by Her Majesty's Government, as a
direct result of the recommendations of the Foreign Affairs Select
Committee and it was also Her Majesty's Government that decided
upon the partial suspension of the Constitution and my appointment.
Through no fault of their own, the TCI police and the Attorney
General's office lack the experience or the capacity to conduct
this investigation and in the case of the former, largely because
of the size of the population and family interrelationships, they
do not have public confidence. The principles that will lie at
the heart of this investigation and of any trials are those of
good governance and the corruption free conduct of public office
and the lessons that will be learned from a properly conducted
investigation could be of lasting and international value.
10. I have made it clear that although the Senior
Management team are fully committed to the investigation and have
complete confidence in the Governor's support, we are not prepared
to continue to work indefinitely, or to be responsible for recruiting
others, without the assurance of funding that is sourced and managed
on a basis that assures our independence and ability to carry
out a full, independent investigation and any trials. At present
I am firmly of the view that the only way in which we can be assured
of this, without impacting on other important TCIG expenditure,
is if separate funding is made available by Her Majesty's Government.
I have told the Governor, who has in turn briefed
the FCO, that I am writing to you.
I urge the Government to adopt a principled
and constructive approach to the funding of this investigation,
I would be happy to take part in any discussions aimed at achieving
this, to attend meetings, or to answer any questions you have.
24 November 2009
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