Overseas Territories

Letter to the Chair of the Committee from His Excellency Mr Gordon Wetherell, Governor, Turks and Caicos Islands

When I called on the FAC on 18 November, Sir John Stanley asked whether decisions to prosecute individuals being investigated by the Special Investigation and Prosecution Team would be taken by the Governor, the Attorney General or the Special Prosecutor.  I said it would be the Attorney General; but undertook to check.  Having consulted the Attorney General and FCO legal advisers, I can now confirm that, while the Special Prosecutor will recommend prosecutions, the final decisions on whether to prosecute persons under investigation by the SIPT will rest with the Attorney General.

Mr Gapes asked whether the TCI had an extradition agreement with the Dominican Republic. I can confirm that it does not.

1 December 2010