WAS BVI COMMISSION INQUIRY REPORT ON CORRUPTION EFFECTIVELY BLOCKED ON BOGUS "NATIONAL SECURITY" GROUNDS ?

 

Whilst we await the much-anticipated April release of the Commission of Inquiry into corruption in the British Overseas Territory that is know to be the favoured jurisdiction for Russian Oligarchs seeking to hide their ill-gotten assets, there is still no public answer regarding precisely what government documents were redacted on purported National Security grounds. There were two extensions granted to the Commission to complete its work and issue a comprehensive report, reportedly mainly due to dilatory action by government agencies, what material was belatedly produced is said to have been of poor quality, with missing segments, or out of order, and obviously put together in a confusing manner, as if to make the job of the Commission difficult, if not impossible, to properly discharge timely.  

 Given that both foreign affairs and defense of the islands is specifically reserved by law to the United Kingdom as the sovereign, the excuse of "National Security"can have no factual basis to justify redaction of material. The BWI has no history of external national security threats, but there have been multiple accusations of a relationship between senior and career government officials and organized crime groups. Whether the actions by government to obscure that alleged relationship deserves investigation by an outside law  enforcement agency, which could be conduced by the United Kingdom.

Second, given the massive amount of BVI companies known to be owned by Russian oligarchs, due to a complicated multi-part scheme orchestrated by local solicitors that guarantees beneficial ownership remains completely opaque, the question on the minds of compliance officers abroad is whether evidence of bribes and kickbacks, from the Oligarchs, might be revealed in financial documents detailing the assets, meaning Unexplained Wealth. 

Whatever the reason that the Commission's efforts met with a roadblock on National Security, it definitely was propounded by Government to interfere with its search for the truth. We trust that its findings of fact will expose corruption wherever it exists in the British Virgin Islands,  and result in much needed reform of a beautiful country with dark secrets.