Governor Adrian Davis stands by the Premier’s continued, obvious misleading information.
At his recent July press conference the Governor was asked about the absence of or his inability to supply a Cabinet decision that he eventually said he was mistaken about. He said he had nothing further to say on the matter and referred to the Premier’s comments on a ZJB morning show. “so for those who wish to now go out there to say I had no authority to sign the agreement to allow persons to go in Government of Montserrat give concessions to those persons for bringing in a range of equipment on the basis of that letter so yes there was from a Cabinet standpoint a decisions in relation to that paper and that documentation is in an SR&O in the Legislative Assembly and can be found, it is not for me to go and find SR&O’s for the Leader of the Opposition.“
In this instance is it on that the Governor stands when he told the Opposition Leader and the press that he has nothing further to say and stands on the Premier’s explanation?
The SR&O the Premier seems to refer to has much to do with the initial granting of concessions to the SKN (St. Kitts) company to bring equipment in to deal with the derelict vehicles that the GoM paid to pick up and dispose. (There have been times these vehicles had been dumped around our waters to build reefs for fishing and other purposes).
SR&O NO. 3 and 4 OF 2010 provided exemption from payment of service tax (SRO No.3 2010) and Customs consumption tax, and duty (SRO 4 2010): “SKN Investment Group Ltd. is exempted from the payment of Customs Service Tax on the importation of the following items—
(a) one (1) Truck;
(b) one (1) Excavator;
(c) one (1) flat bed;
(d) one (1) Storage container;
(e) cutting equipment to include tanks of oxygen.
Conditions
3. The items imported under paragraph 2 by SKN Investment Group Ltd. for the purposes of removing stock piles of scrap metal from Montserrat shall be repatriated after the project and if not repatriated will be liable for the payment of Customs and Port Charges as laid out in the guidance documents.
These SROs derive from Cabinet decisions and are part of the process that authorizes the appropriate departments and Ministries to carry out. Part of those processes requires write-offs of public property.
Premier R T Meade
The Premier refers to Cabinet decisions for an Agreement he may well have to respond to legally along with the Governor on investigation which took place in December 2011 and then draws attention to SROs above passed in the Legislative Council in December 2009 which have nothing to do with Caribbean Metal Pro.
Reportedly the Governor has said there is no illegality in the scrap metal dealings. He has not told local media that. He is misleading himself or allowing himself to be misled. He quickly responded to the question, the accusation that the Premier secretly and without authority signed an Agreement giving rights to a company to harvest and export scrap metal from Montserrat at no revenue, certainly not to the Government treasury. The Governor was first to say that the Premier acted ‘properly’ on Cabinet decisions, which neither he nor the Premier have been able to provide. (See newspaper of June 20, 2014 – www.themontserratreporter.com – Scrap metal scandal continues to unfold.)
