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The Commission of Inquiry to investigate the sale of Government assets between the period of October 2019 to November 2020.Submitted its report to GOB on January 11th 2022.
Five public hearings were held in which 22 people were questioned. The commission presented six key findings which ranged from fraud to mismanagement, accusing several former ministers of corruption. Former Prime Minister Dean Barrow and Former Minister of Lands Hugo Patt sued the commission and were awarded damages of hundred thousands following its submission, on the grounds that they were not given a chance to defend themselves against the commission. Last night on UNCUT the Chairman Andrew Marshalleck was asked whether he took responsibility for what had happened, here's what he had to say.
Andrew Marshalleck, President of the Bar Association
"You know what? I've been disappointed in the experience altogether, and I do take the responsibility I must for what happened. But the overemphasizing of a simple notice has been blown completely out of proportion. And the fact that the court system has treated it the way it has is a demonstration that we don't really care about dealing with the corruption."
"We care to focus on the process and blame the messenger when the evidence pointed to corruption. And we all ignore it and none of it has been addressed and still hasn't been addressed."
Jules Vasquez:
"So change has been made in Law?
Andrew Marshalleck, President of the Bar Association
"None"
Jules Vasquez:
"It's the same, and PUP will do the same thing. Which UDP did, which PUP did, which UDP did."
Andrew Marshalleck, President of the Bar Association
"And as far as I know, there has been no investigations into the matters that were on our side that deserved investigation. So at the end of the day, the way how that turned out, I think is a disincentive to using that tool for exposing commissions of inquiry, for exposing corruption altogether. It's a it's a reflection, and I've given it some thought."
"It's a reflection of the fact that we're more interested in talking about corruption and complaining about corruption than actually doing anything about it."
