Attorney General Iver Stridiron denied that he and Inspector General Steven Van Beverhoudt are less than committed to following corruption trails wherever they lead.
Stridirion, attending the annual Sea Trade convention in Florida as a member of the V.I. Port Authority governing board, said he was responding to statements made earlier in the week in an exclusive Source interview with former lead corruption prosecutor Boyd Sphren.
"We have an excellent working relationship, and there is a commitment on the part of both my office and the Inspector General that we will do what we have to do ferret out corruption in government," Stridiron said.
Stridiron has said on several occasions that members of the Public Corruption Task Force sometimes struggle with personal conflicts which arise when a friend, relative or highly placed person is implicated during an investigation. But he insists the task force is left to work out such situations on its own, with no interference from Gov. Charles W. Turnbull.
"The governor has made it quite clear that he does not wish to be advised of any matter we are working on. He has avoided from day one any appearance of a political spin on any case we are doing," Stridiron said. Turnbull has backed up Stridiron's assertion that he does not attempt to influence the outcome of fraud investigations. Earlier this week, the governor said that "this administration has done more than any to assist in that area and the record will speak for itself."
Sprehn provided some insight in his Monday interview into his experience as lead prosecutor on the Public Corruption Task Force. He described the Virgin Islands "as a tough nut to crack," given what he described as a complete divorce between authority and responsibility in government. Because of that disconnect, Sprehn said, there is no accountability.
In the interview, he cited as one example the lack of authority of department heads to discipline subordinates without consent from the top, and the fact that subordinates are not required to report to their immediate superiors, but to someone above them.
Sphren also said that sometimes interference is so rampant that he had a hard time finding out what the chain of command is, and he questioned whether the government as a whole is really committed to rooting out public corruption.
Sprehn resigned from the fraud and public corruption task force in a contract dispute.