Turks & Caicos premier dispels rumours of arrest
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| Published on Wednesday, May 21, 2008 |
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PROVIDENCIALES, Turks and Caicos Islands: Premier Michael Misick has dispelled rumours that were circulating in the Turks & Caicos Islands on Tuesday of his arrest for one or more of a number of different offences.
In an exclusive telephone interview with Caribbean Net News late Tuesday evening, Misick said the rumours were “completely not a fact... not true.”
The Leader of the Opposition, Floyd Seymour, last month called on Misick to step down following allegations of rape against him by an American visitor.
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| Turks and Caicos Premier, Michael Misick |
According to Misick in a public statement at the time, an American female had made a false report to law enforcement officials in the United States that she had allegedly been sexually assaulted by him whilst visiting the Turks and Caicos Islands.
“I deny these false allegations,” he said in a televised address to the country last month.
Although Misick has strongly denied these charges, reports from other media sources, including internet sites and Bahamian newspapers, state that Misick admitted there was sexual contact but claims that it was consensual.
The rumours of Misick’s arrest also come at a time when the Opposition has accused the government of corruption and has appealed to Britain’s Foreign Commonwealth Office (FCO) for an investigation into the allegations.
However, Misick says that the Opposition is using news sites to sponsor their spin. “I am running the country, doing the people’s business. The country is doing very well and continues to grow,” he told Caribbean Net News.
Nevertheless, serious misgivings over the situation in the British Overseas Territory, including the reports of widespread government corruption, were also expressed last month by members of Britain’s Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC).
The appointment of a Commission of Enquiry to investigate and report on issues relating to the Turks and Caicos Islands that “shocked and appalled” British Member of Parliament Sir John Stanley, a member of the FAC, is a possibility that has been widely canvassed in London in recent weeks, although no announcement has yet been made in this respect by the British government.
The FAC is due to issue a report on Britain’s Overseas Territories, including the Turks and Caicos Islands, in late June or early July.
Unofficial reports also surfacing this week suggested that once the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association's conference is over, which is presently in session in the Turks and Caicos, an arrest is expected to take place. But officials are saying this is not so and it will not happen.
Further rumours that a team of officers from London’s Metropolitan Police, who are currently in the Cayman Islands pursuing an investigation into alleged police corruption there, have been asked to turn their attention to the situation in the Turks and Caicos Islands has also been denied.
The leader of the Met team in Grand Cayman, Senior Investigating Officer Martin Bridger, told Caribbean Net News that there was no truth whatsoever to such speculation. | | | | Reads : 4 |
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