Ex-premier Turks and Caicos Islands gets four-year prison sentence for corruption

Michael Misick, former premier of Turks and Caicos, sentenced to four years in prison after bribery convictions. Two co-defendants received similar sentences.

Former premier Michael Misick jailed in landmark corruption case

A court in the Turks and Caicos Islands has sentenced former premier Michael Misick to four years and 26 days in prison, kdhnews.com reports, following his conviction on three counts of bribery in a case that has stretched on for well over a decade.

Misick was arrested in December 2012 in Brazil after authorities there rejected his application for political asylum. Prosecutors accused him of corruption, misusing public funds, and personally profiting from the sale of government-owned land to private developers. The verdict was handed down on Friday.

Two co-defendants were sentenced in the same proceedings. Former Cabinet minister McAllister Hanchell received three years in prison, while attorney Thomas Misick — the former premier's brother — was sentenced to four years. All three were taken into custody immediately after sentencing and are expected to appeal.

Misick has maintained that all charges against him were politically motivated.

He stepped down as premier in 2009, shortly after Britain temporarily assumed direct control of the territory and suspended its constitution in response to widespread allegations of corruption. Direct rule ended in November 2012, when the territory held new elections.

The case is widely regarded as a landmark in the territory's legal history, given the seniority of those convicted and the length of the proceedings.

Source: Google News TC — Crime