CONTROVERSIAL COMMONWEALTH SECRETARY-GENERAL PATRICIA SCOTLAND MAY NOT SERVE ANOTHER TERM

Scotland

UK attorney, Baroness Patricia Scotland of Asthal,  the beleaguered Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Nations,whose term of office is now at an end, may lose her office, due to rampant allegations of conflict of interest, out-of-control spending, and other misconduct.  Several Commonwealth members have withheld funding to express their dissatisfaction with her professional conduct, and a candidate from Kenya has been mentioned as a qualified replacement.

Her dark role in the acquisition, in London of a Dominica diplomatic passport, by Nigeria's former Minister of Transportation, Diezani, Alison-Madueke, when Madueke was implicated in a multi-million theft from government funds, remains an unresolved issue currently under investigation. She allegedly instructed Dominica PM Roosevelt Skerrit to hand-deliver it to London; thereafter Madueke improperly attempted to assert diplomatic immunity when UK law enforcement officers sought to arrest her for corruption in Nigeria. It is not known who, if any, received direct or indirect illegal compensation for the sale of passport.

Alison-Madueke

Scotland, who was improperly nominated for the job from the Commonwealth of Dominica, although she left her native country at the age of two for the UK, defeated frontrunner, the diplomat Sir Ronald Sanders of Antigua, who was thought to be more qualified. After taking office, Scotland, her excessive spending habits, using official Commonwealth funds, especially for her residence, have been the subject of major UK media attention.

Additionally, the Secretary' General award of a lucrative £250,000 contract to a fellow Labour Party member alleged to be insolvent, without competitive bids, has drawn attention to Scotland's reputed mismanagement of her office.

PM Roosevelt Skerrit

Scotland's role, together with Skerrit, in the Madueke diplomatic passport scandal, focused global attention upon a covert program in Dominica, which issues diplomatic passports to foreign white-collar and career criminals, in violation of the Vienna Convention, adopted by the UN, without any oversight or control.