First, a statement issued this morning by the Governor’s Office in relation to the former Premier Michael Misick. He is in prison in Brazil pending the outcome of extradition proceedings instigated by the British Government in association with TCIG.
The statement says that reports of the release of Mr Misick on bail are not true and he remains in custody. A check was made this morning through the British Consulate who contacted the prison where Mr Misick is confined.
The Senior Officer there confirmed that Mr Misick remains in custody.
The Governor’s senior spokesman Neil Smith said the position remained that Mr Misick was provisionally arrested under the authority of the Supreme Court in Brazil on the basis of a lawful request – and the formal request for his extradition had been made through the proper channels.
This matter remained in the hands of the Brazilian authorities.
The Attorney General issued a statement claiming Michael Misick’s continuing assertion that he is being held in Brazil illegally was not true.
Huw Shepheard says the provisional arrest was authorized by the Supreme Court in Brazil on the basis of a lawful request. The formal request for Mr Misicks’s extradition had now been made through the proper channels. The AG said there had been continued statements, comments and speculation about the Michael Misick case.
He and others were free to make any public statements they wished, subject to the laws of contempt of court. The SIPT and he did not have the same freedom. Neither intended to use the media as a forum to explain or dispute Mr Misick’s version of the SIPT’s contacts with his solicitors, or to comment on the evidence against him.
No prosecuting body in any properly conducted jurisdiction would do this. He added:” We are accountable to the court of trial and until then, we will not make any public statements that could prejudice those proceedings.”
Meanwhile, since RTC broke the story in the AM newscast, the Governor & the AG as stated above, that RTC carried in the story in error which was on the contrary; RTC’s Anchor and News manager Lynnette Thomas stood by her sources who stated that the story was factual & accurate.
Following that story the Press has been calling on the AG to apologize to team RTC, the following is an excerpt from TCI Sun: The post of Attorney General carries awesome responsibilities and tremendous power. Above all else, it also comes with an inherent and solemn obligation to be truthful and to execute the duties of that office fairly and without fear or favour.
However, in what appeared to have been unbridled anxiety, a seemingly overzealous rush to judgment and apparent disappointment with the news that Mr. Misick was indeed released from jail, Mr. Shepheard told a silly and reckless untruth which essentially discredited the state-owned Radio Turks and Caicos and veteran broadcaster Lyn Thomas, who first broke the story. Moreover, his lie amounted to conduct which fell exceedingly short of what is well expected from his high office.
