fp Turks and Caicos

Mr. Michael Brassington, who originates from Guyana, who also flew The Premier, The Hon. Dr. Michael E. Misick, MP frequently on private jets chartered by the TCI government, was arrested in Florida on charges of conspiring to violate regulatory practices. He was arrested along with fellow co-founder Paul Brassington, manager Andre Budhan, and maintenance director Brien McKenzie and charged with conspiracy to purposely violate regulatory requirements for operating commercial aircraft. According to ABC news and Caribbean Net News, arrest warrants have also been issued for charter director Joseph Singh, and pilot Francis Vieira.

Mr. Brassington's name was given in evidence to the Commission of Inquiry during the testimony of The Premier on Friday, January 16. Counsel to the Inquiry, Mr. Alex Milne asked Misick about certain passengers accompanying him on a, much-mentioned flight by chartered jet to Portugal on April 18, 2007. Milne put the Premier to the question about Mr. Brassington asking him: "Was Mr. Brassington someone who flew you on a regular basis?" Milne asked again: "Mr. Brassington is the pilot?" The Premier answered: "…while he is a pilot, he is also a broker, and I think he was the part owner of Aerojet,"
 "Is he a regular pilot for you though? Has he flown you on other occasions?" Milne asked. "He has flown me on other occasions," Misick answered.

Platinum Jet Management LLC stands accused of routinely over-fueling aircraft to cut costs and falsifying records required by the Federal Aviation Administration. According to investigators, fuel loading contributed to 20 people being injured in the 2005 crash at New Jersey's Teterboro Airport.

Ralph Marra, New Jersey's chief federal prosecutor, said Platinum Jet played a "dangerous game with passengers and airplanes loaded to the brim with jet fuel."

The intrigue surrounding Mr. Brassington may yet reflect on The Premier and his relationships with certain Russians. Such things in the context of a Commission of Inquiry often seem more than they are and create further negative impressions, to the disadvantage of those appearing before such tribunals. For instance, it is compelling knowledge that Mr. Brassington's father, for whom Mr. Brassington is named Michael also, is a business associate with the wealthiest of the Russian Oligarchs Mr. Oleg Deripaska, who owns United Company Rusal, a privately held company that shook the commodities world when it announced that it will cut its aluminum output by 11%, or 500,000 tons annually, by April 2009. The reduction includes a cut of 180,000 tons announced in December. Mr. Deripaska was also at the centre of a row in Britain involving solicitation of funding for the conservative party, when Conservative Shadow Chancellor Peter Osborne breached confidences of a meeting on board the yacht of Mr. Nat Rothschild and involving Lord Mandelson; who had been fired previously from the British cabinet for conduct in question currently at the Turks and Caicos Commission of Inquiry.

More ominously for those associated with him, Mr. Brassington's name also surfaced in connection with the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, because he had been the co-pilot on the drug-running Lear jet (N351WB) owned by Wallace Hilliard. Hilliard also owned the Venice, Florida flight school where Mohamed Atta and Marwan Al-Shehhi were at the time learning to fly.