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MOSKITO ISLAND, British Virgin Islands, Mar 31 2016 – Sir Richard Branson issued the following statement on Thursday.
“It has come to my attention that a video has been circulating on the internet that appears to show yours truly helping to dig up what could potentially be a treasure chest.
Somehow the above video has been leaked online. It has since been shared by renowned treasure hunters the Fisher family, who tweeted: “Interesting. Just found this video leak of @richardbranson & what appears to be buried treasure in the Caribbean…”
Now the British Virgin Islands government has released a statement. Dr. Kedrick Pickering, Deputy Premier of the Virgin Islands, said: “This could be probably the largest find of treasure in the BVI, probably throughout the entire Caribbean, ever! I can only hope that the treasure will be used to support the people of the British Virgin Islands and their overall development and the betterment of the country. But of course, knowing Sir Richard as I do, I would expect nothing less. I would expect he will do all in his power to ensure this is used for the benefit of the British Virgin Islands.”
Governor of the BVI John Duncan has now also posted his video response to the find.
I can confirm that the team on Moskito Island were doing some development work and came across a chest. I was doing an interview at the time nearby and went over to have a look. I then assisted in digging up what they had found. Initially I thought that I was being pranked. But having opened it, I realised that this was perhaps the most exciting find of my life and maybe the biggest ever treasure find in the Caribbean. We know pirates visited Moskito Island in the distant past and can only assume that they buried this treasure while spending time on our island.
Recently we’ve set up the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship accelerator programme in the British Virgin Islands to support BVI entrepreneurs. We’re now in discussion with the BVI Government about how the proceeds of the treasure should be spent – perhaps it could be used to create some sustainable BVI businesses that improve livelihoods, bolster communities and grow economies. We’ll keep you posted on our find, watch this space.”
