Letter to the Secretary of State for Foreign
and Commonwealth Affairs from Sir Robin Auld
I write to you having regard to your ultimate
ministerial responsibility on behalf of the Queen for the governance
of the Turks and Caicos Islands and because of my concern for
the well-being of its people.
As you know, in 2008-09 I conducted an Inquiry
into possible corruption of its Ministers and other Members of
its House of Assembly.
By February 2009 my inquiry had shown that the
Territory was without an effective government or legislature,
and was near financial collapse. I, therefore, submitted an Interim
Report to the Governor recommending:
(i) temporary suspension of its Constitution
and return of executive and legislative control to Westminster,
acting through the Territory's Governor;
(ii) urgent appointment and funding of Special
Prosecution and Civil Recovery Units to investigate and, if appropriate,
institute criminal and civil proceedings to bring to justice Ministers
and others for corruption, and to retrieve Crown Land and other
assets alienated as a result of any such corruption; and
(iii) strengthening of the Attorney General's
Chambers to support the considerable forensic processes necessary
to give effect to the work of both Units.
My recommendation, confirmed in my Final Report
submitted on 31 May 2009, was adopted by an Amending Order in
Council of 18 March 2009. Following litigation, this was put into
force in about August 2009.
Over a year has passed since I first reported
on the parlous financial state of the Territory and the fragility
of its sinews of governance and of its finances. During that time,
for want of sufficient income of its own and of adequate financial
support from Westminster, that fragility has increased—despite
stout efforts of its Governor, Gordon Wetherell, to overcome the
dire shortage of resources. All or most of the troubles he faces
in trying to restore the Territory to good order, efficient governance
and financial health—and the increasing chorus of challenge
to his conduct of the Territory's affairs—flow from the
British Government's failure to provide urgently needed financial
support.
This state of affairs follows decades of the
FCO's stewardship, or lack of it, in the exercise of its ultimate
constitutional responsibility for the probity and efficiency of
the Territory's governance. The FCO now has direct control, yet
seemingly considers that that does not carry with it financial
responsibility to lift its charge out of the administrative and
financial mire into which it has allowed it to fall.
The Special Prosecutor was not appointed until
August 2009. On her appointment your Department informed her that
HMG would not fund or provide any financial support for her investigation,
and that it expected the Governor to do so by negotiating a commercial
loan to cover the investigation and, indeed, all the Territory's
needs. I understand that the Special Prosecutor objected to that
stance, indicating that she was unable to recruit staff until
funding was in place.
Only in December 2009 did the Special Prosecutor
learn that the Governor was on the verge of concluding negotiations
for a loan facility, and she thereupon began to recruit a team
of lawyers and investigators, whilst continuing to object to the
principle of the costs of the investigation being a charge on
the Governor's budget. She also rightly expressed concern about
the vulnerability of the whole exercise if, as your Department
indicated, restoration of the Territory's Constitution with full
ministerial and parliamentary government, is to take place in
2011.
In the course of recent representations by the
Special Prosecutor to your Minister of State, Christopher Bryant,
he firmly refused on behalf of the FCO to provide or guarantee
any further funds to enable the Units to complete their work,
notwithstanding the extreme difficulties that the Governor continues
to face in finding money to run the Territory's affairs on a day
to day basis. As far as I know, the same applies to the recently
appointed firm of London lawyers charged with the responsibility
of advising the Governor on civil law remedies, including recovery
of Crown assets.
Contrary to recommendations in my Interim and
Final Reports, the Attorney General's Chambers have not been materially
strengthened to deal with the considerable forensic criminal and
civil processes required to bring those guilty of corruption to
justice and to retrieve their likely considerable ill-gotten gains.
As far as I know, no arrangements have been made for the appointment
and pay of additional judiciary, court and enforcement staffs,
or to provide additional court and supporting office accommodation,
necessary to enable speedy and otherwise efficient proceedings
engendered by the work of the two Units. Even if most of the criminal
proceedings can be tried without jury, the period from start to
finish of preparation and conduct of the main trials is likely
to be measured in years rather than months.
Despite this failure of the British Government
to fulfil its constitutional responsibility for the good governance
of the Territory, I understand that it now proposes to introduce
a new constitution for the Territory next year and to return the
Territory to ministerial and parliamentary government. Even if
funding could be guaranteed and the Territory's finances restored
to a manageable state by then, it could not be "cleansed"
and governmentally and administratively reconstructed so as to
meet that timetable.
I have never before considered it my role, after
completion of an inquiry, to involve myself in the outcome of
my recommendations. But the continued deterioration of affairs
in the TCI drives me to do so here. I urge you, as a matter of
urgency, to intervene to secure the discharge by the FCO of its
moral responsibility and to secure its international respectability
by making proper provision for the constitutional good governance
and welfare of the Turks and Caicos Islands before ending interim
direct rule.
Because of its similar concerns, I copy this
letter to the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, which,
I believe, is shortly to report.
23 March 2010
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