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Charlotte Amalie
Friday, March 29, 2024
HomeNewsArchivesSPREHN: LITTLE SUPPORT IN ANTI-CORRUPTION FIGHT

SPREHN: LITTLE SUPPORT IN ANTI-CORRUPTION FIGHT

Attorney Boyd Sprehn's departure from the position of chief prosecutor on public corruption in the Virgin Islands was less about payment and more about lack of support for his efforts, according to Sprehn.
Last week Attorney General Iver Stridiron and Inspector General Steven van Beverhoudt, whose agencies oversee the Joint Task Force on Public Corruption, said Sprehn left because of problems in being paid on time and other red tape. He was hired on a $75,000 contract that was funded through a federal grant channeled through local government.
"The issue certainly began and ended with the contract," Sprehn said Monday. But he expressed "real concerns" over whether the Virgin Islands government as a whole is really committed to rooting out corruption.
"I think the inspector general is waging a lonely battle," he said.
When he was hired a little more than a year ago, Sprehn said he was told that he would have at least one, and probably two investigators assigned to work with him. "Neither of those investigators has ever been hired," he said.
Moreover, he said the Virgin Islands is an especially hard nut to crack.
"I've now worked for four governments" in a similar capacity. The other three are the state of California, the city of Oakland and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
Until the Virgin Islands, "I've never seen a government where there is such a complete divorce between authority and responsibility," he said. "And because of that divorce, there is no accountability."
For instance, if you are the head of tax collections, the people who work in your office should report to you, and if you dismiss someone, that dismissal should be subject only to one review. "It shouldn't be something that goes all the way to the top, being second-guessed all the way," Sprehn said.
The interference is sometimes so rampant, Sprehn said, "I have a hard time finding out what the chain of authority is."
While he has been frustrated, Sprehn said, "I did not feel I was personally threatened."
He concurred with the task force's decision to look outside the territory for the next prosecutor in order to limit potential conflicts of interest.
And he said, "I've spent many hours over the last several days" working on reports to help bring his replacement up to speed on pending cases. The task force already has brought charges against Lucien Moolenaar, former acting commissioner of Health, and Susanna Hodge Riddle, former director of the Tourism Department office in Chicago. He also has been conducting investigations of the unemployment insurance system.
"There are other things," Sprehn said, but he would not elaborate since they have not been made public yet.
Switching prosecutors midstream will be a setback, he said. "Some cases I think are very straightforward," but others are the type that require delving through layers and layers of knowledge.
Would he reconsider his decision to leave?
"I have a hard time answering," he said. "There hasn't been a new offer made."

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