Mr Jaspert was labeled as being racist and immature and violating the Virgin Islands Constitution in wanting to stop the local democratically elected Government from carrying out its constitutional mandate.

Sources close to the matter informed our news centre that up until December 2021 and January of this year, the CoI was still requesting information from Government Department Heads.

Info requested long after investigation finished!

It now has raised suspicion among the local and regionally intellectual class that the CoI is looking for specific information to fit its script that the Virgin Islands (VI) is corrupt and needs the colonial power, the United Kingdom (UK), to intervene.

A former Foreign Secretary now Deputy Prime Minister of the UK, Dominic R. Raab, went on the floor of the House of Commons (Parliament) in January of 2021 with a statement repeating slander, libelous and unsubstantiated accusation that the VI was vulnerable to organised crime.

Mr Raab, speaking from a text provided to him by Mr Jaspert, further stated that the issues in the British Overseas Territory “are beyond the local capacity to address”.

Many residents saw that as the code word for UK nationals to come in and displace Virgin Islanders from their jobs, starting first with the police force and other public sector jobs.

We still need more information-CoI

However, months before the report is due (April of 2022, second extension), Department Heads are still being asked for more information. This request for information comes months after the CoI investigations have closed and the public is awaiting the long-overdue report.

The Premier and Minister of Finance Honourable Andrew A. Fahie ((R1) and Attorney General Dawn J. Smith have already debunked the CoI’s claims that information requested by the Commission was not forthcoming.

It is unclear at this stage what the CoI has not found. There are widespread speculations that the report will be made-up to place the VI in a negative light and that many of the items raised by the Auditor General will be the focus of the report.

The UK for years has made many attempts to recolonise the VI; however successive governments have resisted.

Premier and Minister of Finance Honourable Andrew A. Fahie ((R1), right, and Attorney General Dawn J. Smith, left, have already debunked the CoI’s claims that information requested by the Commission was not forthcoming.

Hypocrites & double standards?

The CoI was also embroiled in controversy when the Attorney General agreed that three of its lawyers Bilal M. Rawat, Rhea Harrikisoon, and Andrew King were working illegally in the Territory, as they were in violation of the Legal and Professions Act 2015 during the CoI.

Speaker of the House of Assembly (HoA) Hon Julian Willock filed on behalf of the HoA an injunction to stop the three Attorneys from working illegally, but later withdrew it.

A British Judge Adrian Jack, who some claimed is a friend of Governor John J. Rankin and Mr Gary R. Hickenbottom, ruled that the Speaker must pay for costs out of pocket, a decision condemned by many in the legal and political class.

While Hon Willock has been ordered to pay court costs out of pocket, the UK Parliament exempt/indemnified all UK nationals directly involved in the CoI from being sued in their personal capacity or having to pay costs in their private capacity of anything relating to the UK imposed CoI.

While Speaker of the House of Assembly Hon Julian Willock has been ordered to pay court costs out of pocket, the UK Parliament exempt/indemnified all UK nationals directly involved in the CoI from being sued in their personal capacity or having to pay costs in their private capacity of anything relating to the UK imposed CoI.