Jan. 14, 2009 -- Full Transcript of First Day of Commission of Inquiry Hearings in TCI

Jan. 15, 16 2009 - Download documents below.

Opening Statement by SIR ROBIN AULD

SIR ROBIN AULD: Good morning, everybody. I think you all  know I am Robin Auld.  The Inquiry, of which these hearings are part has been prompted, there's no gainsaying, by an increasing volume over the last few years of allegations of corruption in relation to ministers and other elected members of the legislature in the conduct of their
public duties.

These allegations startled the UK House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee in July of 2007, as  is well known. Most of the allegations were and continue to be made anonymously for fear or claimed fear  of retribution from those against whom they were made.  The Foreign Affairs Committee described a palpable  climate of fear in its report to the House of Commons  a year later and recommended the appointment of a Commission of Inquiry "with full protection for witnesses".

As you know, I was appointed last July by the then Governor, His Excellency Richard Tauwhare, to conduct
this Inquiry under the Territory's Commissions of Inquiry Ordinance. The job given to me by my terms of reference has two parts. The first is to investigate the possibility of corruption or other serious dishonesty in recent years in relation to past and present elected members of the Territory's legislature.

There are, I suppose, three aspects
to that. The first is that I am concerned with the possibility, not with proof, of corruption. I have no power to determine issues of fact or to direct any particular outcome. It is not my job to make findings of guilt or to exonerate those against whom allegations have been made. The most I can do -- if I have
information of possible corruption or other dishonesty -- is to recommend further and more searching investigations, say, by the police and/or some other public enforcement body with a view to criminal prosecution, recovery of the proceeds of crime if proved and/or consideration of other sanctions.

Secondly, you will have noticed the wording of the term of reference -- "corruption or other serious dishonesty ... in relation to elected members of the legislature". It concerns possible criminality, both by the bribed and the bribers, if any.

Thirdly, the possible criminal conduct with which I am concerned is that, in the terms of reference words, "in recent years", in recent years in relation to both "past and present" elected members of the legislature. Sadly, there is nothing new about allegations of corruption in the Turks and Caicos Islands. Sir Louis Blom-Cooper QC, in his powerful reports in the 1980s lamented the widespread scope for it here. The Foreign Affairs Committee, in its investigation in 2007 and 2008, whilst expressing particular concern about alleged excesses of the present administration, acknowledged similar allegations about its predecessors.

However, practicality and time has led me not only to confine my inquiries to the last eight or ten years but also to focus particularly on the period of this administration.

DOWNLOAD FULL TRANSCRIPT BELOW (large document, 103 pages)