September 22, 1997
Commission of Inquiry
Opening Statement
by
Monica Joseph C.B.E. - Commissioner
1. By Instrument dated the 17th day of September, 1997, Her Excellency the
Governor General appointed me Commissioner of this Commission of Inquiry, by virtue of
Section 2 of the Commissions of Inquiry Ordinance Chapter 5 of the Revised Laws of St.
Lucia 1975. My appointment became effective on the 18th September 1997 on which date the
Commission was published in an extraordinary issue of the St. Lucia Gazette.
2. Counsel to the Commission is eminent senior counsel Mr. Alan Alexander who is assisted
by two junior counsel : Dexter Theodore and Clarence Rambally. Mr. Rambally will not be
assisting the Commission in any matter which is related to any topic in an Inquiry held in
1995 during which he appeared in another capacity. The Secretary of the Commission is
Attorney at Law, Miss. Veronica Cenac.
3. Section 7 of the Commission of Inquiry Ordinance prescribes the duty of the
Commissioner. Upon taking the oath which I did not the 19th of September, 1997, I am to
make full, faithful and impartial inquiry into the matter specified in the Commission and
to report in writing to the Governor General. I shall do - with the cooperation and
assistance of members of the public.
4. Section 10 of the Act empowers the Commission to issue summons requiring any person
named in the summons to appear before the Commission and give evidence on oath relative to
the matters to be inquired into.
5. By virtue of Section 18 of the Ordinance, any person whose conduct may be the subject
of this inquiry or who is in any ways implicated or concerned in a matter which is being
inquired into, is entitled to be represented by counsel. Any other person who considers it
desirable that he should be represented by counsel may, with the leave of the
Commissioner, be so represented. Applications for leave are to be made in writing to the
Secretary of the Commission.
6. Any person wishing to give evidence should communicate with the Secretary of the
Commission at the Office of the Commission of Inquiry, Parliament Building, Castries,
indicating in writing the substance of the material to be put before the Commission.
7. The role of the Commissioner is to ascertain the truth from the evidence given and
witnesses are invited to give evidence that is relevant to the matters under inquiry and
to refrain from introducing irrelevant matters. This is an inquiry and not a trial. I
refer to the report of the Royal Commission on Tribunals of Inquiry 1966 White Paper
Command 3121 chaired by the Rt. Hon. Lord Justice Salmon - paragraph 30.
"There are important distinctions between inquisitorial procedure and the procedure
in an ordinary civil or criminal case. It is inherent in the inquisitorial procedure that
there is no lies. The Tribunal directs the inquiry and the witnesses are necessarily the
Tribunal's witnesses. There is no plaintiff or defendant, no prosecutor or accused; there
are no pleadings defining issues to be tried, no charges, indictments, or
depositions."
So my role is abundantly clear : my role is that of fact finding. I invite all those
appearing at this Commission hearing - whether as witness or counsel - to keep that role
firmly in mind : fact finding and recommendations. I shall consider the evidence before me
and impartially, faithfully and fairly try to arrive at what the true facts are. Without
fear and without favour, I shall record my findings and recommendations in a report to Her
Excellency the Governor General.
8. Where a witness whom an allegation is made is to be called that witness will be
informed in writing of the allegation made and given the substance of evidence in support
of the allegation.
9. During the proceedings - where a witness is represented by counsel that witness may be
led through his evidence by his counsel followed by cross examination by counsel or the
Commission and re-examination by his counsel. Where a witness is not represented by
counsel then counsel for Commission would lead that witness through his evidence, followed
by cross examination by another counsel for the Commission and re-examination by the first
examining counsel. Witnesses are requested to submit statements of their evidence to the
Secretary of the Commission in advance of giving evidence.
10. The rules of evidence in a Court of Law are not applicable during this inquiry and the
Commission may admit hearsay evidence although the use that hearsay evidence may be put to
will be limited. The standard of proof will be the civil standard of proof on a balance of
probabilities.
11. Notices have been sent to the media inviting members of the public who have
information relative to the matters under inquiry to come forward and assist the
Commission. The Commission looks forward to help from members of the public in arriving at
the truth.
12. A number of persons by virtue of the posts they hold have been invited to be present
throughout the entire hearing as they would be in a position to assist the Commission.
They are the Director of Audit, the Director of Finance and the Accountant General. The
Director of Public Prosecutions will later read the letters of invitation addressed to
these public officers.
13. The Commission will sit in this Chamber from Monday to Friday. The house of sitting
will be 9:30 am to 2:00 pm or as indicated from time to time. In deciding on those hours
the Commission bore in mind a number of factors, one being the position of the public
offices who have been invited to attend the entire hearing and who daily, would have to
attend at their departments.
ROLE OF MEDIA
14. As to the role of the media during the inquiry, again I cite from the report referred
to earlier - at paragraph 119.
"It has been suggested to us that the Press should be prohibited from reporting the
proceedings day by day and that the evidence should be made public only after the
publication of the Tribunal's report. This would no doubt eliminate the pain sometimes
caused to innocent persons by the glare of publicity. On the other hand, we are satisfied
on the evidence that on balance it is in the interest of innocent persons against whom
allegations have been made or rumors circulated to have the opportunity of giving their
evidence and destroying the evidence against them in the full light of publicity."
and at paragraph 121
"We have also considered the suggestion that the Press tends to highlight sensational
aspects of the evidence without providing the other side of the picture. No doubt when
this occurs it is largely due to the difficulties which the newspaper has in giving an
accurate account of the proceedings because of the roving nature of the investigations and
the consequent problem of all concerned of distinguishing between what is important and
what is not. We wish to emphaise the extreme care which the Press should exercise in
reporting these matters. It should be made clear, particularly in the opening stages of an
inquiry, that only one side is then being published. This is especially important in an
inquisitorial inquiry when new facts may emerge suddenly during the proceedings. Care
should also be taken to give the same prominence to the evidence of persons denying
allegations or rumors made against them as was given to the allegations and rumors
themselves. We are confident that the Press in general can safety be relied upon to be
fair to all persons involved in an Inquiry."
The Commission adopts those comments. Guided by the principles enunciated in the text of
the excerpts from Lord Justice Salmon's report I have directed the Secretary of the
Commission to invite the electronic media to broadcast the entire proceedings. The
Secretary has communicated with the appropriate governmental authority to ascertain
whether or not this is feasible.
15. When I was requested to serve as Commissioner I indicated that I was involved in an
arbitration matter and the dates originally given for the commencement of hearing before
this commission took into account that matter in another country scheduled for 6th to 10th
October 1997. The Commission will therefore not be sitting on those dates. I regret any
inconvenience caused.
16. I am informed that this Chamber will be required for a sitting of parliament on
Tuesday 14 October 1997, so that hearing will commence on Wednesday 15 October 1997. The
adjournment to 15th October will give time to all persons who wish to assist the work of
the Commission. On the morning of the Friday 17 October 1997 the Secretary of the
Commission will be admitted to practice at the St. Lucia Bar. The hours of hearing on that
day will therefore be 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
17. Copies of this opening statement are available from the Secretary of the Commission
free of cast to any counsel representing witnesses; to un-represented witnesses and to the
media. I regret that the same indulgence cannot be extended to other persons.
18. The Secretary will now read the Terms of Reference of the Commission and the letters
of invitation to the Director of Audit, the Director of Finance, the Accountant General
and the Director of Public Prosecutions.
I wish to thank you all for attending today.
Monica T. Joseph
Commissioner
