Two days before the missed Saturday deadline for completing the sweeping reforms recommended by the Commission of Inquiry, the House of Assembly suspended its usual rules to introduce 12 bills.
Six are designed to meet COI recommendations, including five proposed amendments that address statutory bodies and a proposed new law that would set new integrity standards for HOA members. The other six bills are financial services amendments that address recommendations from the recent Mutual Evaluation Report by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force, officials said.
“We are amending the order paper to add first readings to the order paper given some of our tight timelines, most of them associated with the Commission of Inquiry,” Premier Dr. Natalio “Sowande” Wheatley told the HOA last Thursday. “But we also have some, of course, which are necessary for our response to the recommendations of the Mutual Evaluation Report. And we are seeking to consider these bills next week.”
Statutory boards
The five bills designed to strengthen governance of statutory boards are the National Parks Trust Amendment Bill, the Tourist Board Amendment Bill, the BVI Ports Authority Amendment Bill, the BVI Health Services Authority Amendment Bill, and the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College Amendment Bill.
Among other provisions, the proposed laws outline procedures for appointing and removing statutory board members. Additionally, they would require boards to follow financial governance guidelines when keeping accounts and records.
All the statutory-body bills except the HLSCC amendment also include a provision to give the subject minister power to conduct “special audits” where they have “reasonable cause” to believe one is needed, according to the “objects and reasons” sections of the proposed bills, which were Gazetted on Friday.
The reforms are in keeping with the April 2022 COI report, which blasted the way the statutory boards had been operating.
“As in other areas of government which the COI has looked at, the executive government appears to take the view that it can treat statutory boards as it wishes,” Commissioner of Inquiry Sir Gary Hickinbottom wrote in the report. “In my view, it is imperative that that interference ceases, and steps are taken to protect statutory boards as important, autonomous arms of government.”
Press conference
The first readings of the 12 bills came a day before Dr. Wheatley — who introduced four of the bills — held a joint press conference with Governor Daniel Pruce and acknowledged that they would not meet the Saturday deadline to implement all the COI recommendations but said they would aim to complete them this week instead.
During the press conference, Mr. Pruce stressed the importance of the statutory board reforms.
“Statutory boards is a key priority area, and we have had a number of reviews and a new policy,” Mr. Pruce said. “We discussed at Cabinet, and legislation is coming into the House.”
In a printed version of Mr. Pruce’s statement circulated after the press conference, he elaborated further on the issue.
“We are yet to see any changes to the way statutory boards operate following the three reviews commissioned because of the COI,” the governor stated. “There is a new statutory boards policy, and just this week [Cabinet] approved revised legislation for five key boards. There is still a huge amount to do.”
Other bills
During the HOA meeting last Thursday, Deputy Premier Lorna Smith introduced five of the six financial services amendments: the Banks and Trust Companies Amendment Bill, the BVI Business Companies Amendment Bill, the Insolvency Amendment Bill, the Insurance Amendment Bill and the Trust Amendment Bill.
The premier introduced the sixth, the Proliferation Financing Prohibition Amendment Bill.
Ms. Smith told the Beacon that all six bills are designed to meet recommendations made in the CFATF’s February Mutual Evaluation Report. On Tuesday afternoon, the HOA started work on the list of 12 bills by tackling the BVI Business Companies Amendment Bill, which Ms. Smith read a second time.
“The primary goal of this bill is to strengthen corporate governance and compliance in the BVI,” Ms. Smith said when explaining the proposed legislation. “By introducing robust measures to improve transparency, accountability and regulatory oversight, we aim to reinforce the BVI’s position as a leading international financial centre.”
She added that the bill is designed specifically to address the CFATF’s 24th recommendation to the territory.
“This recommendation mandates that all countries ensure accurate, adequate and up-to-date information on the beneficial owners of legal entities,” Ms. Smith said. “It requires jurisdictions to implement measures that allow for the clear identification of individuals who ultimately own or control entities such as companies and trusts. The recommendation stresses the need for comprehensive, accessible and centralised registers or systems to record and verify this information.”
The bill, she said, will help increase transparency and prevent the abuse of corporate structures for illicit activities. Opposition Leader Ronnie Skelton and opposition member Julian Fraser also contributed to the brief debate, with Mr. Skelton airing concerns about how the bill would affect local businesses.
The HOA then went into a closed-door committee session to discuss the bill in private. The meeting was scheduled to resume at 4:30 p.m. yesterday.
HOA standards bill
Only one bill introduced during the sitting last Thursday was not an amendment: the Parliamentary Commission for Standards Bill, which the premier introduced. This bill aims to establish a framework for integrity in public life for HOA members in accordance with COI recommendations.
It follows the July passage of the Integrity in Public Life (Amendment) Bill 2024, which sets similar guidelines for public officers.
While discussing that move during the July 26 HOA meeting, Dr. Wheatley explained the reason for bringing separate legislation to address the integrity framework for HOA members.
“We wanted to respect the universally accepted principle of separation of powers, and so the House of Assembly should be governed by an institution specifically set up for the legislative branch,” Dr. Wheatley said at the time.
“And we sought the advice, we sought the direction from the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, which clearly stated that it is best practice for House of Assembly members and the members of the executive to be governed by separate institutions to hold them accountable to standards of integrity.”
