Formal complaint against BVI governor submitted to UK officials
Published:Friday | November 10, 2023 | 12:07 AM
TORTOLA (CMC):
The owner of a local shipping company, EZ Shipping, Clyde Chalwell, has submitted a formal complaint to the UK Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs concerning Governor John Rankin.
EZ Shipping is the company that the government led by disgraced former Premier Andrew Fahie hired to secure the territory with barges for a period during the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, an Auditor General’s report later concluded that there were several abnormalities with those contracts.
Rankin also asked law enforcers to determine whether any offences were committed when EZ Shipping was contracted to secure the territory with their barges.
The letter of complaint that was sent on October 13, through Chalwell’s legal representatives at Stokoe Partnership Solicitors, brought Governor Rankin’s integrity and impartiality into question as it relates to comments he made about at a press conference in March.
According to the letter, during the press conference on March 3, 2023, Governor Rankin referred to Andrew Fahie’s refusal to allow the UK Navy ship to secure the BVI and his preference for EZ Shipping saying, “I leave others to speculate as to why the former Premier might have been so opposed to what was deployment of the more effective method for deterring activity in the waters.”
The attorneys explained that the governor’s statement was “a deliberate attempt to insinuate misconduct on behalf of our client”. They say the phrase, “I will leave others to speculate” is a common way of saying something by pretending not to say it.
Chalwell’s attorneys also argued that at the time of Rankin’s comments, Fahie had been imprisoned in the United States on drug charges. They say using such a phrase linked EZ Shipping to the former Premier’s alleged motives.
The attorneys said the governor should not have given his opinion on the matter, especially since the audit report on the EZ Shipping contract had been sent to the police and the DPP’s office to assess whether any offences were committed.