ST. THOMAS — Governor John P. de Jongh pleaded not guilty to charges of government corruption alleged by the Department of Justice in Superior Court today. Following the plea, de Jongh issued a press release emphatically stating that he is innocent.<\/p>\n
\u201cI appeared this morning to enter my plea of not guilty in Superior Court to the charges of embezzlement of public accounts and neglecting to pay over public monies because I am, in fact, not guilty,” the former governor said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith respect to the security measures that were undertaken at my property at the beginning of my first term as governor, each and every step taken was taken with full transparency and in adherence to standard government procedures on procurement. Moreover, I provided the Government with a Bank Manager\u2019s Check equal to the current market value of those security measures that would remain on my property. I kept my commitment, but the check was returned,” he added.<\/p>\n
De Jongh took office in 2007, but instead of living at the Governor\u2019s mansion in Estate Catherineberg, he chose to\u00a0reside at his private residence \u2014 where Public Works spent over $490,000 erecting a fence, building a guard house and installing a camera system. The project was given the\u00a0green light after Public Works sought and received an opinion from the V.I. Attorney General\u2019s office, stating it was permissible to move ahead with the work once public interest was served and was the main reason for the expense.<\/p>\n
But in 2010, the U.S. Interior Department inspector general\u2019s office concluded in a report that the renovations of de Jongh\u2019s private home with public funds, \u201cusurped the Legislature\u2019s authority to determine how to spend public funds\u201d and should be returned.<\/p>\n
In April of this year, de Jongh attempted to pay the Government of the Virgin Islands, via Property and Procurement, the sum of\u00a0 $202,832.60 for the property,\u00a0less than half of the $500,000 of government monies used. De Jongh argued that\u00a0the $202,831.60 was the appraised, fair market value of the guard house and fence built for security measures at his private residence, located in Estate Mafolie.<\/p>\n