And Now, Back To Mafoliegate
Sen. N. James says he's "had enough"; Ready to take action on "unfortunate" Government scandal
Sen. Neville James
During last week’s Monday Senate session, Sen. Neville James made it clear that the Mafoliegate issue is still a priority.
Speaking as the Chairman of the Committee on Financial Services, Infrastructure and Consumer Affairs, James gave a recap of the events related to the public funds scandal since the first hearing on the matter was held on October 20, 2009. A second hearing on the matter was held January 19, 2010.
The scandal revolves around the use of some $490,000 in public funds to install security enhancements at Virgin Islands Governor John P. deJongh, Jr.’s, private residence at 23-8 Estate Mafolie on St. Thomas. The funds were diverted from road repair projects authorized in Act 6917. The United States Inspector General issued a report in January concluding that the use of the funds by the Governor was unauthorized, and recommended that he repay them in full. The Governor responded by questioning the competency and integrity of the report, and has said he will repay funds only by order of the Court.
James described his approach to the matter and the circumstances surrounding the situation.
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The civil suit he is referring to was filed by Lawrence Olive, of St. Thomas, on behalf of the people of the Virgin Islands, and seeks repayment of the disputed funds. The suit is pending in the Superior Court. Several members of the Governor’s staff and government agencies are named as parties in the suit and, as such, have not been required by James to testify at either of the hearings.
Instead, he requested that the agencies in question send representatives to testify who were not named as parties in the suit. And while the Departments of Property and Procurement and Public works complied with his request, the outcome was different with the representative from the Public Finance Authority, Cherrie Wallace-Cole who, although not a party to the Olive suit, refused to testify on advice of her personal attorney.
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James then discussed the issuance of the IG report and the Governor’s response, which argued in part that the language of the Act 6917 gave him the authority to use the contested funds. James disagreed.
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The final hearing will be scheduled sometime soon, James said, and he will determine whether or not his committee will entertain additional testimony on the matter. He said that at the January 19 hearing, a successful motion by Senator Terrence “Positive” Nelson to forward any committee findings to the US Attorney General will be carried out once the final meeting is completed.
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Ho!Hum! Yaaaaaaaawn!
@ Phantom
…and that attitude is exactly what they want from everyone in the VI. Hoping that we can all forget about it, and they can make it magically go away.
Nothing will get done until Neville is safely elected this year for another two year’s of doing nothing the people want. He is Hill’s boy through and through good Dem-o-crats all.
What exactly are Neville’s qualifications to ‘serve’ as a senator? Nothing in his bio on the legit website says anything about what he has done in the past (assuming he was working)???????
Bottom line, this has dragged out far longer than it should have. James should have had this nailed last summer.
Did the feds back down on the response to the IG report?
Are they in the tank too?
As far as I’m concerned, this is now a legal matter. The legislature has zero enforcement capabilities and we now need the feds to indict the governor and all those involved.
People the MOTHER LODE herself, Marian Prescod,who has been secretly deeply rooted in the MAFOLIEGATE scandal has been subpoena along with Julito Francis of the PFA to give testimony before the committee of a hole on Monday at 10 am.
http://www.legvi.org/LEGVI2008/calendar/LegislativeCalendar.pdf
Marian Prescod is at the center of the MAFOLIEGATE scandal through her contract to handle financial matters for the PFA. She is also connected to Delegated Christian and her company P3 Consulting operated in the Virgin Islands without a VI business license.
CIF you are sleeping on the job!
The material is sitting right on this site to enlighten the public of the importance of who is about to walk into the Legislature in St. Thomas on Monday.
Research SMOKING GUN / RED FLAG investigations into Marian Prescod 3P Consulting.
de Wolf and his administration/PFA are all running for cover now that this blog has been released!
Finish the job CIF and put the story together. This could be the final show down if the senators did their research on Marian Prescod connection to MAFOLIGATE. I’m sure Nellie is ready and waiting.
The session will be carried “live” on 1620 am on Monday, according to Mario.
@Mother Lode -
Can u please tell us the web address of the blog to which you are referring? Smoking gun/Red flag?
Ms. Prescod seems to be smooth and impressive. However, there is a connection between her, the VI Lottery, Waste Management, and the PFC. What do all these agencies have in common?
The senate failed to unveil anything substantial regarding Ms. Prescod and our currupt government in the hearing today. What’s next?
What all of these agencies have in common is Omni Systems. Look into it, it’s so corrupt.
Do you think that they wanted to know? they all know that she is as big a Thift as the GOV, she has been helping him take and cover up his wrong for a long time, as for Omni Systems they are getting all the IT work and noting that they do every work as Dept of Labor and DMV all that money and the systems do not work the one in labor the st.thomas office can’t even talk to the st.croix office, what a mess.and they keep paying them.
Most of you are the problem why are you all making such statement when you know that you are the problem.
I guess the idiots will vote for Sen.James if he promises to deliver deJongh’s head on a platter. deJongh was given an increase by Act 6905. Sen.James could have stop this, but he was too chicken to take a position.And you really believe he is going to bring down the Governor? Do not forget that his brother will continue to be the administrator of St.Croix if deJongh is re-elected. Think about it! Dodson James and his friends & family will support deJongh. That is hundreds of vote! If Sen.James is not re-elected, he could get a big job with the deJongh/Francis Administration.
Anonymouse @ 2:43, just whom exactly are you calling idiots?
Senator James has more than proven himself.
Back stabbing James has proven himself alright. What a joke of a man that suppose to be from Doc James stock.
Neville is a punk!
Who did he backstab, Foncie? No I believe he and the rest of the senators woke up and realized that Donastorg was a waste of time as Senate President. Here’s a little nugget for you Foncie believers. There’s a possibility he might be expelled from the legislature if his legal issues with the teenager result in a conviction. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to this because God only knows that our precious Virgin Islands can’t suffer any more embarassment.
Yes. What dejongh has done is very embarassing to us all.