RTC News received the following statement from H.E Gordon Wetherell on the grant to the TCI Government.
H.E statements reads:
I am pleased to confirm that the British Foreign Secretary has today announced that he has approved a discretionary grant of £6.6m to the Turks and Caicos
Islands Government (TCIG). This exceptional grant will reimburse TCIG for money spent during this past financial year (2010/2011) in dealing with corruption and violent crime.
This one-off grant will cover the full costs incurred by the Special Investigation and Prosecution Team (SIPT) and by EAPD, the firm of lawyers engaged on civil recovery work; as well as costs incurred by the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force (RTCIPF) for their work to tackle violent crime.
The RTCIPF have worked hard to combat last yearʼs spike in violent crime. I am grateful to them for their hard work and dedication in difficult circumstances. The grant provides a significant contribution towards the costs of the two operations mounted by the police force to clamp down on crime, and gun crime in particular.
Though it is an integral part of good governance for any Territory government to ensure that its criminal justice system is properly funded, the UK Governmentʼs grant recognises that the burden in the TCI this past year has been exceptional. It will supplement the financial support package put in place by the UKʼs Department for International Development to enable future costs in this and other areas to be met from the Turks and Caicos Islands Government budget.
GORDON WETHERELL
