Philipsburg:--- During an interview with SMN News on Tuesday, former Minister of Justice Roland Duncan brought more clarity on how the negotiations for the Justice Park took place and what exactly transpired before he sent the letter of intent to the Prime Minister for approval.
The former Minister of Justice who was in the hot seat because of the Justice Park he wanted to construct explained that the negotiations started in November 2011 when the UP/DP/Illidge Government was in office. He said he started to negotiate with Sameer Andrwos to rent the BOX in order to create more cell space for prisoners. He said on November 26th, 2011 a plan was drafted where Andrwos would have reconstructed the BOX and turn it into a prison facility. "At that time, the words "Justice Park" were nowhere in the picture, Andrwos would have constructed 40 cells within four months while payments for the BOX would have started one year after but Andrwos never lived up to the contract which stated that he had to start the construction of the prison cells within a four months time frame. The plan was presented to the Council of Ministers and the council had no objections including the Prime Minister." Duncan said in 2012 as he was confronted with more issues regarding prison space and other prison facilities and the idea came up for the Justice Park. He said Andrwos was again contacted for the two unfinished buildings he had in Cay Hill, one being the BOX and the other six story building.
Duncan said he took all the plans he started back to the Council of Ministers and again it was approved. He said the Prime Minister also approved his ideas and at no time did she recuse herself from the decision making even though she knew the negotiators were members of her family. Duncan made clear that the Prime Minister who is the chairman of the Council of Ministers knew that her relatives were involved in the negotiations and he did not have to tell her how to act or what to do.
He said the Deputy Prime Minister at the time Theodore Heyliger was very vocal and supportive of the project because one of his ideas was to move the Court House from Front Street and put it in Cay Hill. Duncan said while it is estimated that the Justice Park would cost $100,000,000.00 no actual figure was finalized.
Duncan also addressed the email and discussion the Prime Minister brought up about the controls and inspections that were conducted by the Department of VSA, Inspectorate of Health, Labor, and Immigration. Duncan said that the Prime Minister's concerns were about the time the controls were being conducted, another point she raised is amount of time it takes for business people to obtain a business license. He said while he agrees that government has to speed up the process, that does not give anyone the right to open up shop and start a business without a business license.
SMN News asked Duncan if he ever stopped or interfered in the judicial process in order to protect politicians because there are numerous cases involving politicians that are sitting on the desks of the Landrecherche and they are not being investigated or prosecuted. Duncan said at no time did he interfere with the judicial process and since he has been in office, the only report he received from the Landsrecherche is the case of the Tortola Boat mishap that claimed the lives of nine persons. Duncan said on the contrary he cooperated in every sense of way when it came to the departments of Justice. He said when requests reached his desk he would sign them off the same day if possible.
