D.F.C. co-chair to file separate report

It’s been out of the headlines for months, but tonight the Commission of Inquiry investigating the financial affairs of the Development Finance Corporation is back in the spotlight as the Musa administration is demanding a final report. Two weeks ago, Cabinet Secretary Robert Leslie wrote to the Commission’s secretariat informing co-chairs Merlene Bailey Martinez and Herbert Lord that their report was months overdue. The letter also asked the Commission to forward all findings and recommendations so far to the Prime Minister. And while that move was hardly surprising given the P.U.P.’s contention that the report was being delayed as part of a political tactic, what happened next was. Just days after the Cab Sec’s letter, Justice Herbert Lord committed a defection of sorts by penning his own letter to Martinez indicating that he would write and submit his own report to the P.M. The Lord letter apparently also encouraged Martinez to do a separate report on her own. When News Five contacted Martinez this morning she declined an on-camera interview, but said that she has written to both the Prime Minister and Justice Lord and will defer comment until she has received a response. Martinez did maintain however that she is concerned about the prospect of two reports and contends she is only trying to do things properly.