Britain took the first step towards seizing control of a number of Caribbean islands yesterday despite international criticism of a “return to colonialism”.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said that the Governor of the Turks & Caicos Islands was appointing a series of experts to help him to run the territory and to prosecute its corrupt politicians.
The Governor Gordon Wetherell was expected to seize control of the islands last month after the planned publication of a final report into allegations of corruption. A navy frigate on patrol in the Caribbean, HMS Iron Duke, would have been on stand-by to offer support as British investigators, lawyers and administrators arrived to replace the elected Parliament.
However, although the takeover plan has been approved formally by the Queen it has now been delayed until at least October because of legal challenges from some of those facing criticism after an investigation into corruption. After weeks of limbo the Government announced yesterday that it was determined to push forward with some of the recommendations in the still unpublished corruption report by Sir Robin Auld, a former Lord Justice of Appeal.
Chris Bryant, a Foreign Office minister, revealed that the report recommends criminal investigations into the islands’ former Premier, Michael Misick, and four former Cabinet members. Mr Bryant said that the Governor has selected a special prosecutor and senior investigating officer to begin the criminal inquiry into the corruption.
He is also appointing advisers to oversee the reform of the islands’ public services, financial management, economy and the management of Crown land at the centre of the corruption investigation. In a written statement Mr Bryant said the British Government “was determined to do everything in our power, as swiftly as possible, to tackle systematic corruption and to restore good governance in the TCI”. In an interim report Sir Robin had said that he had found “clear signs of political amorality and immaturity and of general administrative incompetence”.
Mr Misick, who is alleged to have built up a multimillion-dollar fortune between his election in 2003 and resignation in March, was at the centre of the corruption allegations. The lawyer, who trained in Britain, had overseen the economic transformation of the islands but his ability to fund a celebrity lifestyle with his now estranged wife, LisaRaye McCoy Misick, the American actress, was to become a focus of the investigation.
During a stormy debate in the islands’ Parliament last month Mr Misick condemned the Governor as a “racist dictator” and called for national unity “to fight the British common enemy”. There has been fierce resistance from leading figures in the Caribbean to Britain’s plans to suspend partially the islands’ constitution and to end the right of jury trials for those accused of political corruption. There are also fears that the controversy will drive away investors in its economically crucial tourism and offshore financial sectors.
Galmo Williams, the current Premier, has described the British proposals as a “return to imperialism”. He has called a general election for October, even though it was not due until 2011, to demonstrate the public opposition to the plans.
The Caribbean Community, an influential regional body, has already criticised the planned takeover and the issue is likely to be raised again at its Heads of Government conference which started in Guyana yesterday.
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