Malone, who yesterday announced a switch from the ruling Unity Government over to the parliamentary Opposition, has been in staunch opposition to the inquiry from its inception, calling its recent findings a pre-ordained conclusion.

When questioned on the issue of corruption during a press conference he held to make his defection announcement, Malone said despite allegations made against previous governments about corruption, his views on the matter were immaterial.

“What I think doesn’t matter at this point because whatever areas of corruption that may have been alleged, they have to be taken before the particular court and they have to be proven,” Malone stated.

And despite agreeing that there have been areas where the BVI has “misstepped“, he argued that aspersions shouldn’t be thrown at persons based on such alleged corruption.

“It’s easy to call someone corrupt, a crook, a thief – these are some serious wordings. And whatever missteps that we’ve had in the Virgin Islands, they have to be corrected. Whatever areas of concern that we have in the territory, they must be addressed,” Malone added.

Investigating projects over $100K senseless

In the meantime, the former Health Minister has charged that investigating all projects that were valued at more than $100,000 and executed under the previous Fahie administration makes no sense.

Commissioner Sir Gary Hickinbottom had made that recommendation in the COI report.

“Do I feel that every project over $100,000 needs to be investigated? The answer is no, it makes no sense as far as I’m concerned,” Malone argued.

Where will auditors come from?

The legislator contended that there are areas where the system will be overwhelmed as a result of the investigations.

He suggested instead that there should be a sampling of projects that should be looked at. He argued that this is the way audits are done.

“To come and say that you are going to look at every project over $100,000, it means then that you intend to bring about 40 or 50 persons in to join the staff to do this,” Malone said.

“Where are these people going to come from? Are they already here? Are they on the planes waiting to be flown in? We’ll just have to look in terms of what is intended,” he added.