The case concerns the alleged abuse of power by the Premier, Michael Misick, and Cabinet members of the Government of the Turks and Caicos Islands between 2005 and 2009. It involves the alleged receipt of millions of dollars in bribes from commercial land developers and investors seeking to purchase prime areas of Crown land on terms favourable to them and disadvantageous to the broader economic and social development of the TCI. Mr Misick will be tried alongside a former government minister and a local attorney charged with laundering the proceeds of the alleged corruption.
In July 2008, a Commission of Inquiry was announced into possible corruption or other serious dishonesty on the part of elected members of the legislature in the TCI. The commissioner, Sir Robin Auld, recommended the partial suspension of the TCI constitution, the creation of a Special Investigation and Prosecution Team to investigate what appeared to him to be evidence of corruption and dishonesty, and the suspension of the absolute right to jury trial.
Mr Misick was previously tried between 2016 and 2021 when the trial was aborted following the untimely death of the trial judge. The case was subsequently severed into two trials, with Mr Misick’s to follow the first.
On 6 November 2024, Mr Justice Narine ruled that any delay in the re-trial of Mr Misick and his co-defendants did not amount to an abuse of process and dismissed a constitutional motion on behalf of Mr Misick’s co-defendant to stay the case on the basis that it offended the constitutional right to trial within a reasonable time. Finally, Mr Justice Narine granted the prosecution’s contested application for trial without a jury, recognising the prominence of the case in the press and the associated difficulty in recruiting and retaining jurors who had no pre-conceived notions as to the guilt or innocence of the defendants.
In light of Mr Justice Narine’s recent rulings, the judge-alone trial will start in December 2024 at the Supreme Court of Turks and Caicos, Providenciales.
Neelam Gomersall is led by Quinn Hawkins and Andrew Mitchell KC.
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