Beacon can’t get Skelton-Cline’s ‘public’ contracts
The United Kingdom commission of inquiry has asked government consultant Claude Skelton-Cline to turn over all documents related to his contracts with the government, he said on an April 27 broadcast of his talk show “Honestly Speaking.”
In protesting the request, Mr. SkeltonCline insisted that the contracts are public information, but the Beacon has been unable to obtain them in spite of multiple requests over more than two years.
During the talk show last week, the consultant read what he said was the entire text of two letters he received from Commissioner Sir Gary Hickinbottom and Secretary Steven Chandler on April 7 and April 22. As he did so, Mr. Skelton-Cline attacked the inquiry as a remnant of colonialism and “a violation of basic fundamental human democratic rights.”
The first letter, he said, requested that he provide details of any arrangement between government and “you or any company and/or business with which you are connected, for example as employee, director, shareholder, investor, owner, [or] for whom you act or have acted as a consultant advisor whether paid or unpaid.”
The letter sought “voluntary disclosure of information,” but it also stated that the commissioner “has the powers of the judge of the High Court in respect of calling for the production of documents,” he said, referencing a power under Section 10 of the COI Act.
The letter, Mr. SkeltonCline added, also stated that the commissioner’s “hope is that you will be willing to comply with the request in this letter, but if you are unwilling to comply, could you please give your reasons for noncompliance.”
More specifics
The second letter, dated April 22, requested specific details of any arrangement between the government and Mr. Skelton-Cline’s company, Grace Consultants, over the past two years, he said.
For instance, the letter requested all correspondence related to such arrangements, including tender documents and electronic correspondence such as emails, texts and WhatsApp messages, according to the consultant. It also requested copies of all documents relating to any payments government made to the company.
If he no longer retained documents, the letter requested that he confirm what happened to that material — and if it was destroyed, when it was destroyed, he said.
He went on to say that the letter also asked him to confirm the nature and content of any documents no longer available, the date of the documents, who prepared or issued them, and to whom they were sent.
Additionally, the letter requested that he confirm the nature and content of any correspondence no longer available, including the dates, the identities of participants, and the means of the correspondence.
‘Public document’
After reading the letters aloud, Mr. Skelton-Cline expressed confusion over the request. “My contract is a public document registered at the High Court,” he said, adding, “Every piece of information regarding the scope of works [and] the delivery of services for that contract has been given to the government via the Ministry of Finance and/or the Premier’s Office. … What I find curious is why would the COI be corresponding with me regarding government’s documents, a contract issued by government, when in fact all of these items are in the possession of the government. I didn’t engage the government: The government engaged me. I am a private citizen with a private company.”
The Beacon, however, has been unable to obtain a copy of any of Mr. Skelton-Cline’s contracts with the current government. This reporter requested copies of the contracts from the High Court Registry on Monday, but staff there said no such contracts could be located, and
that the only document apparently in the registry under Mr. Skelton-Cline’s name was a 2020 “release from bill of sale” from the National Bank of the Virgin Islands for a 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee.
In recent years, the Beacon also has made other unsuccessful attempts to obtain copies of Mr. Skelton-Cline’s consultancy contracts from him as well as Premier Andrew Fahie, Communications Director Arliene Penn, and Chief Information Officer Desiree Smith. None of them has responded to the requests.
This week, Mr. Skelton-Cline did not respond to multiple messages requesting an interview and requesting copies of the COI letters and his contracts. The COI also did not immediately respond to a request from the Beacon to address Mr. Skelton-Cline’s remarks.
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