Beautiful Virgin Islands

Monday, Sep 01, 2025

Governor slams leak of assistance grants audit report

Governor slams leak of assistance grants audit report

Governor John Rankin has condemned the release of a leaked version of the audit report into the Public Assistance Grants issued by lawmakers and government ministries between January 2019 and May 2022.
The audit was commissioned in the wake of the Commission of Inquiry (COI) report which found that assistance grants distributed by members of the House of Assembly were done in a legally arbitrary and unlawful manner.

The report, issued by the Internal Audit Department (IAD) in December 2022, had been tabled in Cabinet and was expected to be released at a later date in redacted format — with the names of individual grant recipients removed — at some point after it had been laid in the House of Assembly (HOA).

But an unredacted version of the document seen by BVI News has been circulated through social media platforms and makes a number of revelations, including a disclosure about the indiscriminate issuance of grants to the families and friends of elected and other public officials.

In a statement issued by the governor late yesterday, he noted that Cabinet confidentiality is paramount, and said steps will now be taken to address the leak.

“I have accordingly ordered the Cabinet Secretary to carry out a leak inquiry in relation to this matter,” Governor Rankin said. “Should any criminal offence have occurred in relation to the leak that will also be a matter for the Police and the Director of Public Prosecutions to consider and take forward as appropriate.”

Program lacked transparency

In the meantime, the IAD pointed out the poor controls in place for HOA Assistance Grants, likening the scheme to an “unorganised welfare programme” which was missing basic tenant of good governance .

The IAD found that for the most part, operations of these programmes did not serve to resolve any socio-economic deficiencies in any communities as the programmes were largely utilised to satisfy individual wants and desires.

“It was largely controlled by elected officials who had little to no oversight and limitations to their discretion. We have concluded that the programmes lack appropriate objectives, control and structure that would promote transparency and accountability,” the IAD said in its report.

The audit report also concluded that the grants programme as operated by the government lacked the basic tenets of good governance, such as accountability, equity and transparency.

“All the programmes lacked clearly defined policy objectives and rules that would guide their functioning,” the report stated. “These programmes operated outside any financial rules for public expenditure on the fallacious belief that elected members exercised unconstrained authority over these funds.”

According to the IAD, the programmes were operated at that level simply because it has always been the argument that elected officials are more in tune with the needs of their constituency.

But the report concluded that even though that argument may hold some validity, that knowledge should have been utilised to inform and formulate policy to meet those needs in a holistic and transparent manner.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Chinese and Indian Leaders Pursue Amity Amid Global Shifts
European Union Plans for Ukraine Deployment
ECB Warns Against Inflation Complacency
Concerns Over North Cyprus Casino Development
Shipping Companies Look Beyond Chinese Finance
Rural Exodus Fueling European Wildfires
China Hosts Major Security Meeting
Chinese Police Successfully Recover Family's Savings from Livestream Purchases
Germany Marks a Decade Since Migrant Wave with Divisions, Success Stories, and Political Shifts
Liverpool Defeat Arsenal 1–0 with Szoboszlai Free-Kick to Stay Top of Premier League
Prince Harry and King Charles to Meet in First Reunion After 20 Months
Chinese Stock Market Rally Fueled by Domestic Investors
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
Ukrainian Nationalist Politician Andriy Parubiy Assassinated in Lviv
Corporate America Cuts Middle Management as Bosses Take On Triple the Workload
Parents Sue OpenAI After Teen’s Death, Alleging ChatGPT Encouraged Suicide
Amazon Faces Lawsuit Over 'Buy' Label on Digital Streaming Content
Federal Reserve Independence Questioned Amid Trump’s Push to Reshape Central Bank
British Politics Faces Tumultuous Autumn After Summer of Rebellions and Rising Farage Momentum
US Appeals Court Rules Against Most Trump-Era Tariffs
UK Sought Broad Access to Apple Users’ Data, Court Filing Reveals
UK Bank Shares Dive Over Potential Tax on Sector
Germany’s Auto Industry Sheds 51,500 Jobs in First Half of 2025 Amid Deepening Crisis
Bruce Willis Relocated Due to Advanced Dementia
French and Korean Nuclear Majors Clash As EU Launches Foreign Subsidy Probe
EU Stands Firm on Digital Rules as Trump Warns of Retaliation
Getting Ready for the 3rd Time in Its History, Germany Approves Voluntary Military Service for Teenagers
Argentine President Javier Milei Evacuated After Stones Thrown During Campaign Event
Denmark Confronts U.S. Diplomat Over Covert Trump-Linked Influence in Greenland
Starmer Should Back Away from ECHR, Says Jack Straw
Trump Demands RICO Charges Against George Soros and Son for Funding Violent Protests
Taylor Swift Announces Engagement to NFL Star Travis Kelce
France May Need IMF Bailout, Warns Finance Minister
Chinese AI Chipmaker Cambricon Posts Record Profit as Beijing Pushes Pivot from Nvidia
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
Ukraine Finally Allows Young Men Aged Eighteen to Twenty-Two to Leave the Country
The Porn Remains, Privacy Disappears: How Britain Broke the Internet in Ten Days
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Welcome to The Definition of Insanity: Germany Edition
Just a reminder, this is Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris.
Spotify’s Strange Move: The Feature Nobody Asked For – Returns
Manhunt in Australia: Armed Anti-Government Suspect Kills Police Officers Sent to Arrest Him
China Launches World’s Most Powerful Neutrino Detector
How Beijing-Linked Networks Shape Elections in New York City
Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska Fled War To US, Stabbed To Death
Elon Musk Sues Apple and OpenAI Over Alleged App Store Monopoly
2 Australian Police Shot Dead In Encounter In Rural Victoria State
Vietnam Evacuates Hundreds of Thousands as Typhoon Kajiki Strikes; China’s Sanya Shuts Down
UK Government Delays Decision on China’s Proposed London Embassy Amid Concerns Over Redacted Plans
A 150-Year Tradition to Be Abolished? Uproar Over the Popular Central Park Attraction
×