Turks & Caicos Popular Democratic Movement Prepares for return to Elected Government

British have yet to announce election date for its Caribbean dependency

People's Democratic Movement (PDM) ready to rule

Turks and Caicos Islands

Turks & Caicos Sun

The People’s Democratic Movement (PDM) kicked off its political campaign...April 11, with a high-energy rally at its headquarters down town Providenciales, to drum up support among its base and the wider public in anticipation for elections this year, also using the event to express its readiness to take the reins of government once again. 

Distributing party campaign T-shirts with a call for elections this year emblazoned across the front, many of the speakers, including party leader Derek Taylor, announced that a PDM Government would reverse majority of the laws now being implemented by the Interim Administration, while easing the current economic and social burden now being faced by the populace.

Taylor announced that the 10-year vision that the PDM crafted for the country sometime ago, which would bring prosperity for all the people of the country, was still relevant, and would be used as a vehicle in the party’s pursuit for political office.

He said that the PDM would reopen the civil service for employment, while balancing the budget without putting the people under duress, a feat he said was accomplished in the past by that party. Taylor said also that he would introduce legislation to create a development bank so that local businesses would be able to access loans at cheaper interest rates, while seek to introduce an equal pay law, so as to create income parity in the respective categories within the job market.

Party members said the PDM would also revisit the InterHealth Canada contract, which they said was not serving the best interest of Turks and Caicos Islanders, especially those who had lost their jobs. They said also that the Immigration and Labour laws would also be put under the microscope so as to safeguard the borders, while giving Turks and Caicos Islanders a fair shake in the job market.

“We envision a Turks and Caicos Islands with long term economic stability, and that can only happen under a People’s Democratic Movement government. We are not going to have this nonsense again,” Taylor said, referring to the economic abyss in which the country has found itself. “And we are going to engage each other every step of the way. You are going to have a government that is open, that you can challenge, that you can honestly sit down and talk to.”

“We envision a vibrant economy of Turks and Caicos Islanders that are able to sustain and exceed the growth of the past. And we envision a Turks and Caicos Islands where a strong economy and social empowerment are the order of the day for all Turks and Caicos Islanders.

“We will introduce equal pay legislation, to ensure that all workers are paid based on the work performed rather than on race, colour, gender or national origin. This will give further emphasis to what have already been expressed in the Constitution of the Turks and Caicos Islands,” Taylor said.

Addressing the issue of setting up a financial institution that would provide Turks and Caicos Islanders, especially those who would be able to access loans from commercial banks, with loans at cheap interest rates, Taylor declared: “In 2003, we had already engaged the Caribbean Development Bank; we had already engaged European investment bank, with the intention of making sure that Turks and Caicos Islanders and Turks and Caicos Small businesses are able to access loans at lower interest rate. 

“We are going back and we are going to engage those two financial institutions – one in the Caribbean and the other in Europe with the intention of lowering the interest rate, and we are going to again legislation for a development bank.”

In the meantime, the PDM Leader lashed TC Invest for not serving the interest of small businesses, stressing that the interest rate that it was imposing was higher than that of commercial banks.

“TC Invest was not put in place to make a profit at the expense of our people. Yes, we have to take care of administration overheads, but there should be no reason why the interest rate from TC Invest should have been higher than the commercial banks.

Taylor said also that a PDM government would utilize the Small Business Enterprise Development Centre to provide training for small business entrepreneurs and those facing problems in their businesses.

On the matter of education, Taylor pointed out that monies collected from the private sector for scholarships would be placed in a special fund by his administration, that would go solely towards its intended purpose, instead of funneling into the consolidated fund, which he said was the current practice.

“We are going to make sure that the private sector contribution towards scholarships would be placed in a special fund as we had it before, in order that you can know exactly the contribution from the private sector towards scholarships, and we are going to make sure that the private sector businesses benefit from the same also.

“Under a Derek Taylor administration, you can go sleep and wake up in the morning knowing that the public purse is intact, and it would not be attacked. You can rest assured that there will be responsibility and accountability,” he said.

Among the other speakers at the event were National Chairman, Reuben Hall; National Treasurer, Dwayne Taylor; National; Secretary General, Euwonka Selver; her father and former deputy leader of the party Clarence Selver; Cheryl Astwood-Tull; O’Neil Delancy; and Samuel Harvey.

Martinique's Contribution to the National Basketball Association

Miami Heat center Ronny Turiaf, a native of the Caribbean, enjoying his new life in South Florida

By Ethan J. Skolnick 

Palm Beach Post 

It is always the same, and never an argument.

"We have a routine," Ronny Turiaf says. "Every time I come home to Martinique, my dad already knows, we're not going anywhere until I go back where I grew up."

Georges Louis knows he might need to wait for hours while his oldest child pays respects to friends and mentors he left half a life ago.

"There's no such thing as a celebrity, because they knew me before I was the Ronny Turiaf that you know," says Turiaf, the Heat's new center. 

"You don't know the real Ronny Turiaf. They do. So whenever I go back home, I allow myself to be the Ronny that I truly am, with no boundaries, no walls, the one walking around barefooted and not worrying about being photographed, not worried about being bothered.

"Because those guys know what I am, and who I am. It's just pure joy whenever I go home, because I can be home."

Read the full article here.

Northern Marianas wants renegotiation with U.S. on military land use

CNMI GOVERNOR WANTS TO RENEGOTIATE 

TINIAN MILITARY LEASE

Fitial claims no ‘promised developments’ took place

By Haidee V. Eugenio

Saipan Tribune

Gov. Benigno R. Fitial asked U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to initiate "direct discussions" on the future uses of U.S. military land on Tinian and "renegotiation" of the existing lease agreement between the CNMI and U.S. Department of Defense because none of the promised developments on the island has materialized for 35 years.

"Sadly, not a single element of the United States Department of Defense plan was ever implemented on the island and all of the United States land has been sitting idle for 35 years which has caused direct and significant harm to the community in four areas," Fitial told Panetta.

The removal of land from private use has inhibited economic development, Fitial said.

The other are: limitation of economic development has undermined the ability of Tinian's economy to be self-sustaining; uncertainty over possible military use has inhibited development of private land; and abandonment of the military infrastructure has caused a health and safety concern.

Fitial wrote the letter to Panetta on Feb. 27, but such letter was discussed with CNMI mayors only on Thursday afternoon, Tinian Mayor Ramon Dela Cruz told Saipan Tribune.

Two-thirds of Tinian land is leased by the U.S. Department of Defense.

Fitial said the U.S. made promises of development to Tinian 37 years ago in exchange for land rights, "and as of yet not a single element of development has occurred."

"These unfulfilled commitments have undermined the continued existence of this small insular community, and this requires restructuring of this agreement," Fitial told Panetta.

As of yesterday, there's been no response yet from Panetta to Fitial.

Tinian played a crucial role during World War II due to its strategic location.

Fitial said recognizing the importance of Tinian, the U.S. Defense Department wanted to maintain a right to use the island for future needs after the war and entered into a 100-year lease for some 65 percent of land on Tinian.

When the lease was initially established, it presumed the establishment of a large military presence as it provided for civilian and military cooperation in medical and education facilities, harbor and airport development, construction of a fuel deport and public utilities, base-exchange and commissary privileges, and economic opportunities, Fitial said.

"For these reasons, it is time to have a realistic and good-faith discussion on the future use of the island of Tinian by the United States. History has shown that the people of the Mariana Islands have a deep respect for the United States military, and we have always accommodated requests for our assistance," Fitial told Panetta in his two-page letter, a copy of which was obtained yesterday.

Back in September, the Tinian mayor-as a member of the CNMI Military Integrated Management Committee-asked the governor to provide support for negotiations on a new land development management agreement on U.S. Department of Defense leased lands on Tinian, for maintenance of roadways and historic sites.

But Tinian is bracing for roughly 175 U.S. Marines who could start training on Tinian as early as May 8 if the ongoing development of a scope of work goes as planned.

Saipan Tribune: http://www.saipantribune.com

Por qué el Secretario General de la ONU no incluyó a Puerto Rico?

Why didn’t the UN Secretary General include Puerto Rico?

                          

por  Compañeros Unidos para la Descolonización 

de Puerto Rico

http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2012/sgsm14122.doc.htm

The United Nations and Decolonization - Committee of 24 - Non-Self-Governing 

http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2011/gacol3224.doc.htm

En una reunión reciente con el Comité de Descolonización de la Organización de Naciones Unidas (ONU), el Secretario Generaldijo que, “La creación de nuevas naciones soberanas fue una vez descrito como uno de los gran movimientos libertadores de la historia”. 

 Luego continuó diciendo que hay 2 millones de gentes que no gozan de esa oportunidad. ¡El Secretario general se equivocó! El territorio que tiene 2 veces más que los 16 territorios que él se refería, no esta en la lista de la ONU. ¡Por tal razón, el numero real esta más cerca a 6 millones!

Puerto Rico (PR) es una colonia de Estados Unidos (EEUU) con una población de aproximadamente 4 millones. PR no aparece en la lista de colonias porque la ONU la sacó en 1953. EEUU le pidió que la remueva porque PR había alcanzado gobierno propio por motivo de la creación del “Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico” en el 1952. Aunque la ONU ya reconoce que PR nunca dejo de ser una colonia, nunca la volvió a incluir en su lista de colonias. 

No podemos descolonizar las últimas colonias que quedan en el mundo si no hablamos francamente sobre éste tema. Por lo tanto, le pido a toda persona que cree que el coloniaje representa una amenaza a la paz mundial, y que la única manera para lograr la descolonización es a través de un dialogo honesto y respetuoso entre todas las partes, que asista a la vista de la ONU (junio, 2012) sobre la descolonización de Puerto Rico.

Aunque usted no sufra de la injusticia, usted debe interesarse sobre la descolonización si cree en la justicia para todos. El Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. lo explica mejor cuando dijo, “La injusticia donde sea es una amenaza a la justicia donde quiera.”

¡Será un placer verte allá!

In a recent meeting with the United Nation’s (UN) Decolonization Committee, the Secretary General said that: “The creation of new sovereign nations was once described as one of the great liberating movements of history”. Then, he went on to say that still there are two million people deprived of that very opportunity. 

 The Secretary General was mistaken! The territory with two times more population than the total population of the 16 territories he was referring to is not on the UN list. Therefore,the real number is closer to six million!

Puerto Rico is a colony of the United States (US), with a population of about 4 million. The reason why she is not on the UN’s list of colonies is because PR was taken off it through deception. In 1953, the US asked the UN for her removal on the grounds that PR had obtained self government in 1952 via the establishment of the "Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ”. 

 Although the UN has since recognized that PR never stopped being a colony, the UN has never put her back its list.

We can not decolonize the remaining colonies unless we speak frankly about the topic. That is why I am asking that everyone who believes that colonialism is a threat to world peace, and that the only way to achieve it is through an honest and respectful dialogue among all concerned parties, to attend the June 2012 hearing on Puerto Rico decolonization. 

Even if you are untouched by injustice, you should be concerned about decolonization if you believe in justice for all. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. explained it best when he said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

 

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Turks & Caicos ousted ruling party discuss future plans

Dr. Rufus Ewing says he has a vision for an independent 

Turks and Caicos Islands

                                     Turks and Caicos Sun

                                         By Vivian Tyson

                                 TCI SUN Senior Editor

Former head of the Civil Service Association Dr. Rufus Ewing delivered what many people, who attended the Progressive National Party (PNP) rally last Friday, March 30, at the party headquarters on Airport Road in Providenciales, described as a speech that would be normally be delivered by someone who is a party leader.

Not only did Ewing blast the Interim Administration for what he insinuated was its ineptitude towards advancing the TCI, but unreeled a raft of plans that he said should return the Turks and Caicos Islands to prosperity and enhance the well-being for its people.

Ewing, who told The SUN last week that if and when current leader Clayton Greene stepped down he would join the leadership race, left no doubt in anybody’s mind at the meeting that he was campaigning for leadership of the party, and that total independence was his ultimate goal.

“I have 20/20 vision for an independent Turks and Caicos Islands. And we have achieved much in realizing this vision, but there is much left to be done to achieve our goals,” Ewing said, while warning that the road ahead would not be easy, but he was committed to preparing the people for the unforeseen challenges.

“I have a vision for our youth, who are well developed mentally, physically, spiritually and in good health, who have attained their true educational potential and are ready to accept the role of being model citizens of our country. I have a vision for a booming TCI economy that is environmentally friendly and sustainable with the majority, if not all Turks and Caicos Islanders employed and are holders of the majority of the top management and middle management jobs, and successful business owners in this country of ours,” Ewing asserted.

Ewing noted too, that under his watch, senior citizens would enjoy their twilight years in the comfort of their wealth and not under distress, saying also that his plan was to make the Turks and Caicos Islands a melting pot for the present nationalities, while preserving the culture.

“I have a vision for a nation that would be truly out of many one people, one in which our culture and heritage and national pride are magnified as we live in harmony and unity. I have a vision of a politically independent, prosperous and stable Turks and Caicos Islands, with democracy, justice, integrity and good governance are the order of the day,” Ewing affirmed.

Ewing warned however, that the road to independence would not be placed on the fast lane; since the people would have to be prepared for such milestone, stressing that education would be the forerunner.

“We need to expand on early childhood education; that is where it begins - from the cradle. We need to develop our programmes whereby we can have our preschools where children can be properly assessed, to achieve their true potential; where our kids would not be pushed aside and told that they are mentally retarded. We need to encourage them to achieve and attain their true potential. We would expand and continue to practice our ‘no child left behind’ policy, which honorable Lillian Boyce was famous for. We truly believe that every child that is a legal resident in this country should have access to an education because you never know what they are going to become,” Ewing said.

On the matter of crime, Ewing stressed that one way of minimizing such ill was to ensuring that as many Turks and Caicos Islanders as possible were equipped with a college education.

“One of the programmes that we have failed to implement in the past is our vocational training programme. Different people have different abilities. Different people have different interest, and we have to ensure that no one is lost along the way.

“We have to expand our programme so that we can take those students who have different interest in the practical areas that they can go straight from high school into college and get a degree in whatever field they want, be it carpentry, be it electronics, be it plumbing, they can get a degree in that field if they want to,” Ewing stressed.

Ewing also decried that the existing situation where it is said that a number of Turks and Caicos Islands were jobless while work permit holders were allowed to stay employed. He said that such a practice should be stopped.

Ewing also batted for the diversification of the economy, so as to create far more employment.

“This economy needs to be diversified. We need diversification in the tourism sector. We need to see health tourism, ecotourism, educational tourism, sports tourism and events tourism. It is not just well enough to see people come to this country, come off American Airlines, go to their hotels, sleep in their bed, eat at the hotel, do whatever activities the hotels do, and then back on the plane and away.

“We need to create services that bring the money from the hotel and bring out into the community, and put money in the pockets of Turks and Caicos Islanders, because full hotel doesn’t mean we are making any money,” Ewing stated.

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BISHOP BLASTS BRITS

Derek Browne says Interim Government ‘sinking’ 

Turks and Caicos Islands 

                                        Turks and Caicos Sun

                                             By Vivian Tyson

                                     TCI SUN Senior Editor

At least one clergyman is calling for the return of former Governor of the Turks and Caicos Islands Richard Tauwhare, to face questioning and possibly charges in the ongoing Special Investigation and Prosecution Team (SIPT) corruption probe, since he was the chief overseer for government affairs during the Michael Misick administration.

Bishop Derek Browne, President for the Methodist Conference of the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands and Pastor for the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Blue Hills, said that former governor Tauwhare was equally responsible for anything found to be untoward during the former Misick administration, and should be asked to answer to charges similar to those that his former cabinet colleagues were facing, which included corruption and money laundering.

“I have shared in the past, and I continue to share now that the situation that we are in now has not started with the British folk. For me, it started with the former administration, which included the Governor Richard Tauwhare. Richard Tauwhare needs to come back here or wherever to and answer in the same manner in which the local leaders are being called to respond to whatever charges.

“He should be here because much of what went on went on either with his approval, or if it was any matter of being set up, he set up for others to do the dirty work. But he was a part of what was going on, and we should not look at justice as being something which is one-sided. Whatever is good for the local leaders must also be good for the leaders of Britain who are part of the administration here,” Browne charged.

Unimpressed by the leadership of the Interim Administration, Bishop Browne said that the church could not sit idly by and watch injustices run amok. He also called on the current leadership to change its style of governance from an autocratic one to one of plurality, since the people have a part to play in deciding how they should be governed.

“The Church is the conscience of the society; the church has to speak out against the dictatorship, and that kind of style. The church has to also speak out against things that would happen that are not in-keeping with the law. It is the church’s responsibility to speak out against injustice. But for me, we do not speak on hearsay.

“I have said that the current administration which is led by the governor, in many instances, they do what they feel like doing. They don’t consult, and much of what is happening, as far as I am concerned, is not for the benefit and the betterment of the Turks and Caicos Islands. As far as I am concerned, when I looked at certain things being done, it seems to be done with the intention of sinking the Turks and Caicos Islands,” Browne argued.

Bishop Browne pointed out that the people of the Turks and Caicos Islands would come away with a different point of view of the Interim Administration, if, when considering to implement certain measures, they would garner the input of the people, coupled with their ideas, to arrive at a bipartisan decision, instead of arbitrarily implementing their plans.

“What can give persons a different perspective is, if they would sit more frequently and discuss in an open way, and not come with preconceived ideas, because the Turks and Caicos Islands economy is not the economy of Britain, and you cannot run it in the same way.

“The whole matter of increasing taxes; you may have to increase taxes, but you must do it wisely and sensibly. And when you look at it, there has been an exodus outside of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and so, things have changed in many ways. Things are getting worst; persons are being laid off; and taxes are increasing in many instances. And so, where you would have had more people involved – for example, national health – now there is less. It was not sufficient when you had more people, what about now?” Browne asserted.

He added: The governor and his team, who seemed to have come having all the answers; I think they need to work with people; here their concerns and be objective. But they have come with a subjective view. They already know what they are going to do, and it is sad. They have issues (in the UK) the same as we have here; they can’t fix them, but somehow, they have this bright idea that they can fix the things in the Turks and Caicos.

British Interim Government wants to demolish headquarters of deposed governing political party in the Turks & Caicos Islands

Government threatens to demolish PNP headquarters        TCI News Now
The PNP headquarters building in Providenciales that the  government claims was constructed illegally on Crown land

Last week, the Turks and Caicos Islands government served civil proceedings on the Progressive National Party (PNP) seeking the recovery of the land upon which the PNP headquarters building is constructed, together with damages, including an order to pull down and destroy the structure. 

The claim arises from the PNP's alleged trespass following its construction of its headquarters on Airport Road, Providenciales, on Crown land to which, the government claims, it had, and has no title. 

According to a government press release on Tuesday, after construction of its headquarters in 2005/6, the PNP subsequently appointed a management agent, Provident Management Services Ltd, to manage the property. During the last elected administration prior to the imposition of direct rule by Britain, Provident is said to have sub-leased six offices in the headquarters to PNP MPs for a total of $465,083.61 over approximately three years, which was paid by the government. The government seeks the return of that sum, to which Provident was not entitled together with other damages.

The government said it is seeking a number of remedies for the alleged trespass:

• damages for the PNP's trespass on the land, based on a reasonable annual rent until possession of the land is returned to the Crown;

• the repayment of the $465,083.61;

• an order that the headquarters are pulled down and destroyed;

• damages for returning the land to its former state; and

• interest and costs

(Interim) Attorney General Huw Shepheard commented: "When the current administration first became aware last year that the PNP's headquarters had been built on Crown land to which the PNP had no title, my Chambers wrote to the PNP setting out the claim that the government had. It had been our hope that matters could be settled amicably without the need for proceedings. Unfortunately, discussions with the PNP have not been successful. In those circumstances, the government has been left with no choice but to bring these proceedings for trespass and damages to recover this plot of Crown land and what is properly owed to the government". 

Carlos Simons QC, attorney for the PNP, said in response that he does not consider that the government has as yet “served civil proceedings on the Progressive National Party” as the press statement asserts. 

“I believe that their method of service does not meet the requirements of TCI procedural law and until the mistake is corrected, the party has no formal notice of the proceedings and does not have to respond. That issue has been brought to the attention of the Attorney General’s Chambers, but might in the end require the attention of the Court,” he said.

Simons went on to say that the trespass claim is entirely misconceived. 

“The party has been in open possession of the Airport Road property since at least 2005 with the full knowledge of the leaders of every government department concerned with dealings in Crown land and with their acquiescence, if not consent,” he explained.

Simons also rejected the assertion that Provident Management Services Ltd sub-leased six offices in the headquarters building to PNP MPs, but instead leased the offices to the government, with those leases being signed off on behalf of the government by the head of department having control of the relevant vote. 

Furthermore, he said, those leases were identical to leases entered into by the government in Grand Turk, South Caicos and North and Middle Caicos for the constituency offices of Members of Parliament, including constituency offices for PDM [Peoples Democratic Movement] Members of Parliament. 

“That assertion is therefore false,” Simons reiterated.

He also said that the PNP has never disputed the government’s right to a reasonable annual rent, nor payment of the market value of the land. 

“That is therefore a non-issue,” he said.

As regards the claim for damages for trespass, Simons asserted that any reasonable person would agree that the land has been developed and improved rather than injured. 

“I would also be surprised if anyone, regardless of their political allegiance would agree that pulling down and destroying a perfectly good building makes any kind of sense,” he said.

Simons said he had been instructed to invite the attorney general and the governor to return to the negotiation table and make a good faith attempt to reach a reasonable settlement of these issues.

In any case, he said, the PNP is committed to rigorously defending and defeating these spurious claims brought by the interim government, purportedly on behalf of the people. 

'Depentocracy' in the Turks and Caicos Islands is Under Siege

Turks & Caicos Weekly News

Vanessa Narine

Leader of the PNP Clayton Greene told the Weekly News that democracy in the TCI is under siege.

He said: “This latest attempt by the Governor to rid the PNP of its party headquarters is yet another blow to democracy. 

“If parliament is to work, then political parties must send people there. If we do not have at least two political parties, we can have no opposition. 

“The implications of this latest act and the negative effect it will have on our country demands that we all, including the leadership and supporters of both political parties, rise in unison and send a clear and united message to Waterloo that we will no longer sit back and allow our institutions of democracy to be dismantled, not least by the very people who claim that further institutional building is necessary.”

According to him, the recent issue of the proceedings by the Attorney General against the PNP is unnecessary and ill conceived. 

“The reality is that the bringing of this claim is another attempt by the Governor to break the will of the Progressive National Party.

“The Governor is hell bent on silencing to voice of the Progressive National Party and by extension the voice of a significant number of people in this country,” he said. 

Greene contends that the Governor is determined to destroy the PNP that he will see the party’s headquarters, which stands as one of the symbols of our democracy as much as parliament does, bulldozed before he allows the people of this country to express a real choice at the next elections.

“I say that with particular regret,” he said.

Greene pointed out that the TCI has been without representative government for almost three years and there have been no date set for elections.

He added that in the absence of any form of representation the people are being saddled with unbearable taxes; while the administration is at the same time legislating for the removal of large sums of money from the peoples pension fund. 

“The pseudo representative bodies namely the Advisory Council and the Consultative Forum are appointed by an unelected Governor,” Greene posited.

He stated that in carrying out his functions the Governor is not required, as a matter of law, to accept the advice of either body. 

“In the past the Governor, by way of example only, has acted so as to deny the Consultative Forum the opportunity to debate the Budget,” Greene said.

He pointed out too that what was, before the suspension of representative government, a constitutional right to a jury trial has been removed from the constitution with the result that citizens and residents are no longer guaranteed the protection from the might of the state that jury trials provided.

The PNP leader said: “History requires us now to come together as leaders and officers of political parties and as Turks and Caicos Islanders to fight for the common good of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

“Our forefathers did not make the sacrifices that they did only to have us, who are by and large better educated and better resourced, allow the promise and potential of the Turks and Caicos Islands to be ripped from us because we are too politically entrenched to come together for the common good.”

UK Lord Ascroft under pressure over dealings in Turks & Caicos

• News
• Politics
• Lord Ashcroft

New queries for Lord Ashcroft over link to collapsed Caribbean firm

Leaked faxes suggest Tory donor 'was briefed' on bid to win controversial state contracts in Turks and Caicos

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• Jamie Doward
• guardian.co.uk 
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Lord Ashcroft has denied any links to the firm that built a $6m mansion for the Turks and Caicos’s former leader. Photograph: Martin Argles for the Guardian

Tory donor Lord Ashcroft is facing fresh questions about his involvement with a collapsed construction company linked to an alleged political corruption scandal.

Ashcroft, the former deputy chairman of the Conservative party, has denied having any interest in Johnston International, which built a $6m mansion for the former premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands, Michael Misick, who is now the subject of an international arrest warrant after fleeing the Caribbean archipelago, having been accused of corruption.

Johnston was a significant employer in the Caribbean before it went under in 2010, as the property boom turned to bust. The company was responsible for some of the region's largest developments, building marinas, airports, hotels and resorts.

Ashcroft told the London Stock Exchange in 1999 that he had sold Johnston, and has said he has "had no economic beneficial or legal interest" in the company since.

But a series of faxes to Ashcroft from the chief executive of Johnston, Allan Forrest, seen by the Observer, show that he was regularly updated on the company's pitch to win contracts to build two new hospitals and an airport in the islands. The faxes, from 2004 and 2005, and headed with the Johnston International logo, spell out how Forrest proposed to structure its bid and inform Ashcroft of the costs.

The revelations come as the role of political donors in Britain dominates the headlines, after a newspaper sting led to the resignation of Peter Cruddas, the Tory co-treasurer, in a cash-for-access scandal. Ashcroft has been the party's biggest donor in recent years, giving, along with his wife, Susan Anstey, almost £6m over the past decade.

In one of the faxes, sent in April 2004, Forrest tells Ashcroft, who was apparently planning to visit the Turks and Caicos: "We also understand that other people have been chasing the government with hospital proposals and I was told last week that the government had been presented with a 'first-class proposal from a Canadian group'."

Forrest concludes: "If you want me to get involved with setting up the visit, let me know. I am just concerned that unless we nail the appropriate people well in advance, there is a high risk that this visit might be unfruitful." Forrest told Ashcroft that he had been briefed by government officials that one idea was to pay for the hospitals by adding $10 to airport departure tax. "We should take the time… if your programme suits to discuss these issues with FH [Floyd Hall, the deputy premier] and MM [Misick]."

The hospitals' contract was controversial in the Turks and Caicos. The previous government had planned to build a hospital at a cost of between $40m and $50m. The Misick government instead commissioned the construction of a 20-bed hospital in Providenciales – the largest of the islands – and a 10-bed hospital in Grand Turk, using a private finance deal that led to the two new health centres opening in 2010.

Under the terms of the agreement, the islanders pay about $22m a year for the next 25 years – almost $600m – for the $124m invested by a Canadian health company and its financial backers who awarded the $65m hospitals construction contract to Johnston.

An official report into systemic fraud allegations on the islands, a British overseas territory, by Sir Robin Auld, a British judge, suggested there may be merit in investigating the awarding of the contracts to "Johnston International for two new TCI hospitals, said to have been overpriced and awarded without any appropriate tender process".

Concerned islanders have asked to see the details of the contract, but their requests have been blocked by British officials. The Liberal Democrat peer Lord Oakeshott has pledged to table parliamentary questions to establish whether a copy of the contract can be released to parliament.

A UK team investigating the fraud allegations has been interviewing former members of Misick's government. The politicians have signed affidavits shining light on discussions between Misick, his deputies and business leaders, that are expected to form key parts in any resulting criminal prosecutions.

In a libel case against the former owners of the Independent newspaper earlier this year, it was alleged that Ashcroft profited from a construction boom in the islands. A court was told that he "funded this boom, he constructed this boom, through Johnston, knowing this boom was being created through systematic corruption". Ashcroft denies the claims.

Johnston's parent company, a business called Oxford Ventures based in the British Virgin Islands tax haven, has also collapsed, leaving creditors out of pocket. Chris Johnson, a Cayman Islands-based liquidator charged with winding up Oxford's affairs, has been in contact with Ashcroft's son, Andrew, the head of the BCB Bank in the Caribbean that was one of Oxford's creditors, to see if he can help shed light on its collapse.

Johnson said that, while he had been assembling the history of Oxford, he had been hampered by the fact that "substantial documentation has strangely gone missing and computer servers seemingly have been tampered with".

He said that the reconstructed records showed that Oxford's losses went back as far as 2006, when the company was in effect insolvent due to large losses on construction projects in St Lucia and Barbados. "Why the company was permitted to continue to trade is beyond my wildest imagination," Johnson said.

A spokesman for Ashcroft declined to comment.