"Members of our committee who visited were quite shocked by the climate of fear that they discovered. "People were not willing often to be seen to be talking to British Members of Parliament in a British overseas territory because of concerns they had about what might happen to them." |
The report also states that Premier Michael Misick is 'under investigation by US authorities over the alleged rape of an American citizen' and that he has somehow managed to acquire a property worth around GBP1.2mio whilst having declared assets of only GBP25k when he came into office in 2003. The committee found that people were afraid to talk to, or to be seen talking to, members of the committee, for fear of the repercussions which would follow.
A parallel report in the Telegraph highlights the fact that the Turks and Caicos has become a favoured holiday destination for upmarket tourists, mainly from the US and Canada, although there are also British tourists - as can be seen from advertisements in the weekend travel supplements of most of the British broadsheet press over the past several years.
Corruption allegations are that Crown Land has been sold to hotel developers and for luxury villa developers for the personal gain of Mr Misick and his family and cronies. He is reported to have denied corruption when he appeared before MPs in London last December. However, since the MP delegates' visit to the islands, they have been given a DVD taken at a meeting of the Premier's party in which he:
denounced the opposition as "traitors" for speaking to them |
and the committee '... strongly condemned the failure of the Foreign Office or the islands' British-appointed Governor, Richard Tauwhare, to take action over the allegations.'
Unlike Zimbabwe, the UK still has responsibility for the administration of this territory. So, what is the Government going to do about this situation?
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