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Special prosecution costs likely to be high Published on Monday, February 8, 2010 Email To Friend    Print Version Public statements by Governor Gordon Wetherell, Interim Government CEO Mark Capes and Britain’s Director of Overseas Territories Colin Roberts, are beginning to provide some insight into the costs of the investigative process and potential prosecution of former premier Michael Misick, his cabinet and other parties implicated in possible illegal activities while the Progressive National Party (PNP) was ruling the TCI since the third quarter of 2003. A significant portion of the new $85 million loan has reportedly been allocated for this purpose. The governor made this known during a press conference when he announced the loan. Mark Capes CEO Capes indicated that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) funding had been meeting the costs to date but shortly a payment of $500,000 would have to be made. Capes also indicated this was an estimated amount and the actual costs will have to be borne by the Turks and Caicos starting in April, 60 days or less from now. Director Roberts has told the TCI that the process of investigation and potential prosecution will not have any effect on the scheduling of future elections. The total costs of the investigation and probable prosecutions are as yet unknown but, based on this first payment, they promise to be very high. Still to be revealed is the cost of the Commission of Inquiry, which must be paid by the people of the TCI. The terms and sources of the new $85 million loan, which will in part finance these legal efforts, have yet to be announced. However, the new loan will only address a portion of the reported current $150 million debt. Sources have told TCI Net News that guarantees by the UK government provided the security for this loan, as the TCI’s credit rating could not support borrowing of this size. Business people and knowledgeable residents are concerned that this loan will only prolong the eventual insolvency of the TCI government. They feel a serious upswing in income from development, tourist arrivals or new tax measures must come on-stream to prevent this eventuality. One other possible partial remedy would be more rounds of cutbacks in the numbers of civil service employees. It appears the former government added over 1,000 workers to government payrolls, while allowing private businesses to staff with foreign workers. The outflow of funds to the damaged country of Haiti from the numerous Haitian workers here has risen dramatically since the January 12 earthquake. April appears to be the beginning of a critical financial period for the TCI as budgets are due, the first health care and hospital projects payments are due, the costs of the special prosecutor are now due and potentially the first payment of the new $85 million loan. April is also the month where tourist arrivals begin to diminish. One positive note is that tourist arrivals currently are high. This may be due in part to severe winter weather in the northern United States. Another possible windfall may be the recovery of allegedly stolen assets, as the governor has announced that a law firm in the UK has been assigned to this task. Many here are concerned about the lapse of time between the calling of the Commission of Inquiry and the yet to be announced prosecutions having an effect on these recoveries. The cost of the efforts of the law firm concerned will come from recovery proceeds or the budget. The state of the economy of the western world may be the most serious factor in addressing the accumulated debt of the TCI. If unemployment numbers continue to rise in the USA and budget deficits in the USA, Britain and the TCI continue, it will clearly affect government finances and operations here.   Reads : 354 Back... Comments: No comments on this topic yet. Be the first one to submit a comment. Back... Send us your comments!   Send us your comments on this article for publication in our Readers' Forum or as a Letter to the Editor. All fields are required and in the interest of openness and transparency we will no longer accept anonymous submissions. We therefore request that all submissions include a name for publication, regardless of content. We will in special circumstances protect a writer's identity only after we have established good cause for anonymity, otherwise we will not be able to publish the submission. For your contribution to reach us, you must (a) provide a valid e-mail address and (b) click on the validation link that will be sent to the e-mail address you provide.  If the address is not valid or you don't click on the validation link, it will be a waste of your time typing your submission because we will never see it! Your Name: Your Email: (Validation required) Comments: Enter Validation Code *