PM – Former Registrar left before Immigration measures were set up

The former Registrar of the High Court, Vanessa Tamara Gibson-Marks, managed to leave St Vincent and the Grenadines before arrangements could be put in place with immigration authorities to prevent her from doing so.{{more}}

This disclosure was made by Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, in a 26-page letter sent to Leader of the Opposition Arnhim Eustace earlier this week.

Gonsalves said that on the afternoon of Wednesday, May 21, following a meeting between Gibson-Marks and Attorney General Judith Jones-Morgan, it arranged for the Attorney General, the Director of Audit and the Commissioner of Police to meet the next morning, “to discuss the matter for appropriate action.”

“On the very Wednesday afternoon, the Commissioner of Police was advised to make arrangements with the Chief Immigration Officer to ensure that Mrs. Gibson-Marks did not leave St. Vincent and the Grenadines during the pendency of the relevant investigations. However, I have been advised that before these arrangements were properly effected, Mrs. Gibson-Marks left St. Vincent and the Grenadines for St. Lucia around 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 21, 2014.”

Gonsalves however said that he has been advised that the relevant authorities in St. Vincent and the Grenadines have been “in regular contact with the relevant authorities in St. Lucia in pursuance of justice in this matter.”

He said that the Attorney General and the Commissioner of Police have advised him that they have briefed the DPP on the matter.

Gibson-Marks resigned as High Court Registrar on May 21, 2014, after being asked to do so by the Attorney General. The former registrar is at the centre of investigations being carried out by the Commissioner of Police, the Attorney General and the Director of Audit into the alleged misappropriation of funds from a trust account, among other things.