A judge ruled Tuesday that a government committee specially formed to investigate allegations of wrongdoing by Permanent Secretary Julian Willock was illegally appointed, and she threw out its findings. However, the Public Service Commission may start from scratch with a new investigation, Justice Rita-Joseph Olivetti said.

In a judicial review proceeding held in March, Mr. Willock’s attorney, Gerard Farara, QC, argued his client’s case on grounds of “illegality” and “procedural irregularity,” alleging that the PSC wrongfully delegated its investigatory function to the committee. Baba Aziz, the acting attorney general, countered that argument, claiming that the committee merely performed a “preliminary investigation,” and would have left the final decision for the PSC.

In a 19-page judgment issued Tuesday, Ms. Joseph-Olivetti stated that neither the 2007 Constitution nor the Public Service Commission Regulations, which govern the conduct of public servants, give the governor the legal authority to appoint an investigating committee. Thus, she ruled, the committee’s report was “invalid.”

Mr. Willock, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Communication and Works, has been on compulsory leave since last July.

Acting on the advice of the PSC, then-Governor David Pearey announced on July 28 that he had sent Mr. Willock on leave to enable an investigation into “as yet unsubstantiated but serious allegations in the print media,” according to Government Information Services.

That announcement came the week after The BVI Beacon published an article about Mr. Willock’s involvement with the website Virgin Islands News Online. The article reported expatriate journalists’ claims that they worked for VINO without work permits and received pay from Advance Marketing & Professional Services, the VINO parent company co-owned by Mr. Willock and Angela Burns, a marketing executive for Digicel-BVI.

See the May 26, 2011 edition for full coverage.