Interim Report of Task Force Investigation of John Allen Williams
a.k.a John Allen Mohammad. (31st October 2002)

This is the Interim Report requested by the Attorney General in her letter of the 28th day of October 2002 when she appointed the Task Force to investigate inter alia the circumstances surrounding the application and issuance of an Antigua and Barbuda passport to John Allen Williams.

Because of the restriction of time imposed upon us we have limited this Interim Report as stated above. We have however already made extensive investigations regarding our other terms of reference and we respectfully suggest that these matters be deferred for the Final Report as premature disclosure of the material at our disposal may jeopardize our ability to investigate thoroughly and may thwart any possible criminal prosecution which may be required to be undertaken in the intervening period.

To date we have interviewed several persons including Lady Ena Thomas Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ms Violet Josiah, Passport clerk in the said Ministry, Mrs. Janet Harris Principal of Greenville Primary School and Mrs. Murial Bennet Lee Allen, former teacher at the said school. We have also perused all necessary files and documents at the passport office and several documents from the Immigration Department. We have also obtained other documents which we believe originated from John Allen Williams and which give rise to great concern regarding Williams’ activities in Antigua and Barbuda and the report of which will be included in the Final Report.

Regarding the Antigua and Barbuda passport number 0118115 issued on the 4th July 2000 to Williams we have determined that the following events and facts are certain:

1. Williams and his three children arrived at V.C. Bird International Airport on the 28th of March 2000. He possessed documentation describing himself as Thomas Alan Lee with a Wyoming USA driving license no. 451891495. He filled in a disembarkation card for himself as above and for his three children naming them Fred Allen Lee, Teresa Lee and Lisa Lee. He stated that he was going to stay with “Jeanette Reed of Longfords Estate, phone number 463-6610.” It seems clear to us that (a) he used false names for himself and his children (b) used a false driving license and (c) falsely stated that he was going to stay with Jeanette Reed. He well knew he was going to stay with Janet Greer at Golden Grove as he had before his arrival spoken to her on the telephone. We has ascertained this from Ms. Greer who actually picked him and his children up at the airport on the 28th March 2000.

2. Williams and his family stayed at Ms. Greer’s home for 4 to 5 weeks after his arrival until she asked him to leave on account of her suspicions that he had kidnapped his children in spite of the fact that Williams showed her a document purporting to be signed by the children’s mother giving Williams authority to leave the United States with the children.

3. Shortly afterwards he and his children moved into a house on Rose Street, Ottos next to the Greenville Primary School owned by Mrs. Janet Harris who was also the principal of the school.

4. In April 2000 he enrolled his children at the said school using the surname Lee with Christian names different than those with which they entered Antigua.

5. During April, May and June 2000 he inveigled his way into the good graces of principal Janet Harris at the school.

6. During the same period he spoke on one occasion to Mrs. Muriel Allen, a teacher at the said school, to whom he suggested that they were related by virtue of the mutual name of “Allen.” During the conversation he asked her for her mother’s name and she told them it was Eva Ferris.

7. On the 19th June 2000 Williams applied for an Antigua and Barbuda passport. In support of his application he presented a Louisiana birth certificate purporting to be his and an Antigua and Barbuda birth certificate of one Eva Ferris. We have been unable to ascertain how Williams obtained Eva Ferris’ birth certificate.

8. On the 4th July 2000 a passport was issued in the name of John Allen Williams, which Williams apparently collected on the 18th July 2000.

9. Upon a perusal of the said Louisiana birth certificate presented by Williams in support of this passport application, his mother’s name is stated as Eva Feris aged 39. The certificate however plainly shows that the informant of the birth of John Williams was the “parent” whose signature is shown as “Mrs. Myrtie Williams” and not Eva Feris. This alone is a blatant contradiction on the face of the document and should have been seen. Additionally the mother’s age at the time of Williams’ birth is stated as 39 on the 31st December 1960 resulting in the mother being born in 1921. The accompanying birth certificate of Eva Ferris shows her year of birth in Antigua as 1929. This also should have been a red flag to the staff at the passport office. The spelling of Ferris differs on both documents, another reason to be concerned about the application. Finally, the typeface used for “Eva Feris” and “Antigua St. John’s” in Williams’ birth certificate are different in style to the balance of typeface used in the other words typed in the certificate and are off angle to the other lines typed on the certificate.

10. The identity of Williams was certified in paragraph 9 of the application by Mrs. Janet Harris described above. On the 19th June 2000 she certified that she knew Williams for 1 year and 6 months. She admitted to the chairman that this was untrue and that she had known the Williams family for 4 months only but that she wanted to help them as Williams had told her his mother was Antiguan. Further he had been so helpful at school and seemed very honest.

11. It seems clear to us that had Williams’ documentation been examined carefully his application would have been rejected and his documents may have been referred to the police and become the subject of criminal prosecution for forgery and/or making a false statement under section 6 of the Forgery Act Cap 181. These charges are still possible.

12. We conclude that save for Williams’ deliberate falsification of his passport application and his birth certificate and Mrs. Harris’ false statement, there is no evidence of any criminal collusion with anyone in the passport office. However, we have to conclude that there was negligence in the issuing of the passport. Three persons in the office perused his application and supporting documents namely, Ms. Jasmine Stewart counter clerk, MS. Violet Josiah passport clerk and Lady Ena Thomas Permanent Secretary. We emphasize that the various discrepancies listed above should have been observed. We learned that Ms. Jasmine Stewart left the Civil Service at the end of July 2000. We have found nothing to suggest that she was involved in any impropriety in connection with the issuing of Williams’ passport.

13. We also conclude that there is no evidence to link Williams to Richard Reid.

14. We are satisfied that Williams is not a citizen of Antigua and Barbuda.

Recommendations in this report are limited to the passport office and are as follows:

The passport office issues over 5000 passports annually. In fact on the 4th July 2000 over 60 passports were issued. The careful perusal and examination of supporting documents is vital to ensure that forgeries and falsifications do not succeed. We strongly recommend that the examination and vetting of applications and supporting documents are done by staff who are trained to detect forgeries and false documents. The final approval should be a formality given with the solid and unshakeable knowledge that all is in order. Clearly this is not the case now and urgent steps must be taken to ensure that our recommendations are implemented.

Dated: 31st October 2002

John Fuller – Chairman
Ralph A. Francis – Member
Father Arnold Francis – Member
Cosmos Marcelle - Member