Up to $5 million in legal fees have been approved by the BVI Government in the ongoing Commission of Inquiry (COI).
This was revealed by Premier Andrew Fahie at last Thursday’s media conference where he said that two law firms were selected to assist both the government and the House of Assembly in the COI.
“The Cabinet has approved that all the legal assistance would not surpass $5 million overall, not to say that we are anyway close to that, because there are two sets of legal teams,” Premier Fahie stated.
According to Fahie, representing the executive branch will be the Attorney General Dawn Smith, who will be leading a team of attorneys from United Kingdom law firm Withers, which is accompanied by Queens Council Sir Geoffrey Cox.
In addition, the House of Assembly will be represented by local law firm Silk Law, and Premier Fahie explained why two separate law firms was necessary.
“In terms of if matters come up in the House of Assembly’s side, solely that’s separate from government, then they cannot represent you other than the Attorney General, and the House of Assembly made a decision for I think it’s Silk Law. But Silk Law does not represent the executive arm of government, only on the House of Assembly side,” he explained.
AG Chambers under staffed
Premier Fahie also highlighted what he termed as long outstanding issues being faced in the Attorney General’s Office.
He said there was a deficiency in the necessary resources coupled with a failure to prioritize the AG’s Chambers.
“Now we have made it a priority and have made sure the resources are there for the Attorney General to seek and get more lawyers into the chambers and get it fully staffed so it can be up to date to function with the current demands of the territory. So, because of that, the Attorney General agreed there will be a need for some help,” the Premier stated.
BVI’s reputation worth more than $5 million
The leader of government business further justified why such a high budget for legal fees was needed, stating that the BVI’s reputation is at stake.
He said, “I would also like to tell you that other than the cost being no more than $5 million overall, the cost of your name not being defended is more than $5million, because the terms of reference of the inquiry is very broad and let’s face it, it’s not something positive being thrown throughout the world.”
“So we’re not just fighting to pay $5 million for legal fees, we’re fighting to make sure that we protect the name of the Virgin Islands for generations present and future” Fahie added.
The Premier noted that the total expenses up until the press conference did not yet exceed $2 million.