Cops investigate Bridger
(CNS): In yet another twist in the increasingly costly, discredited Operation Tempura police corruption probe, the RCIPS has stated that Martin Bridger, the lead investigator on the still secret debacle, is now under investigation himself. A spokesperson for the RCIPS said that because Bridger made allegations, which the local cops have dismissed, against the attorney general, the former governor and the FCO's OT security advisor, counter accusations have been made against him over the publication of those allegations and the police are now investigating him. But Bridger has hit back, stating that his concerns have never been fully addressed because he never been interviewed and because there is evidence that the RCIPS has never seen that supports the claims.
In the continuing fallout over the ill-fated internal police investigation that related to allegations of corruption in the RCIPS, the latest twist comes at a time when the Metropolitan police have returned their support to Bridger and will be financing his continued legal battles relating to Tempura. This dismissal of his complaint also comes as the clock is ticking for the governor's office to release the details of an earlier complaint filed by Bridger and the subsequent investigation and dismissal of that by the former governor, Duncan Taylor.
However, Bridger's concerns that the governor at the time Stuart Jack, the UK's overseas territories' security advisor Larry Covington and Cayman Islands Attorney General Samuel Bulgin had known all along about the alleged illegal entry into a newspaper office by two employees under the supervision of the then police commissioner, Stuart Kernohan, and his chief superintendent, John Jones, have now become a key factor in the discredited probe.
Bridger recently stated that had he known that those officials were all aware of the search at the offices of the late Desmond Seales', he and his men would have packed up and left Cayman in a matter of weeks, saving the local taxpayer literally millions of dollars. However, he said, if they knew but had not told him, allowing him to believe Kernohan and Jones were "on a frolic of their own" when it was, in fact, approved, that was a serious matter. Bridger has said that if that was the case, and he cannot be certain, that would have meant not only was he, his team and the Cayman public mislead but so were the UK cops.
But since Bridger revealed that both Kernohan and Jones have indicated that their direction to staff at the newspaper to explore the Cayman Net News officers out of hours to look for evidence of police corruption was given the nod from the governor's office, and they have evidence to prove it, the RCIPS has now turned on Bridger. They say his allegations have been investigated and are unfounded and the commissioner has already contacted Bulgin, Jack and Covington to say the investigation is over with no offences revealed. The RCIPS accuse Bridger of dropping his accusations and not turning up to an interview.
"Whilst the criminal allegations made by Mr Bridger failed, were unsupported and unproved after analysis of all of the available evidence, his account and publishing of data within the media led to counter allegations of criminal conduct being made in relation to his conduct. Those allegations remain under investigation and are subject to continued inquiry," the police stated.
However, Bridger disagrees and has said that matters cannot have been fully investigated as neither he nor the evidence that he says exists has never been examined by the RCIPS.
"I acknowledge that after nine months of trying to see the commissioner arrangements were eventually made to meet with me," Bridger admitted in a statement Sunday, but he explained why that was: "On two occasions prior to the proposed meeting I wrote to the commissioner telling him that I would not be attending the meeting. He did not acknowledge either of those communications. The impression he has now created is that I simply did not turn up to the meeting, that is incorrect."
Bridger said he has withdrawn his allegation but for good reason, not least because of his lack of faith in the authorities regarding Tempura.
"At the heart of my reasoning to withdraw my criminal allegation is that due to circumstances which have occurred over the last year, my (legal) advisors and I were left in a position where we had no confidence in the RCIPS investigating these difficult and complex issues in the spirit of openness and transparency whereby the search for the truth, wherever it may lay, would be uppermost in the mind of any investigator," he added.
Bridger stated that he made the allegation of crime in good faith after being supported by the Metropolitan Police — a position that, now the funding has been turned back, on appears to have merit.
"The purpose of a criminal investigation is the search for the truth. An investigation does not and should not make judgments of guilt or innocence. I have never sought to do that in respect of Mr Jack, Mr Covington or the Attorney General. That is the responsibility of an investigation and those who may consider prosecution in the future. Each and every week across the world police commence and conduct investigations. This is the cornerstone of the judicial system. Many of those investigations result in the matters not being pursued further," Bridger said.
"The commissioner has indicated that the allegation against me made by those I have alleged against remains outstanding. Of course there will come a time when the commissioner will have to interview me about these matters and that is the right and proper course that he should follow. I wish to make it clear to the commissioner and to the people of the Cayman Islands that I would be prepared to surrender myself for interview in the Cayman Islands, at a mutually agreed time, because that would then allow me to share some of the evidence which the commissioner has not seen in making his assessment and justify why I originally made the allegation of crime to the MPS, supported by statements from Mr Kernohan and Mr Jones," he said, implying that the commissioner's dismissal of this issue may have premature.
Check back to CNS later this week for more on the outstanding documents that the governor's office has been directed to release and the support Bridger now has from Scotland Yard.
Category: Crime
The Met and CIB3.Martin Bridger was a senior officer in the Mets shambolic crusade against alleged corruption in the 1990's as was the head of this farce-one John Yates.The majority of the Met officers selected to serve in the Caymans were either serving or ex-members of CIB3.In reality they considered themselves above the law and felt free to do whatever it took to achieve their objectives.It comes as no surprise that they made the most of this secondment- XXXXX,it was no-more than a jolly for the boys and girls of CIB3 and when the whole charade is examined in detail what a complete shambles and at what cost?If anyone is in any doubt have a look at the Untouchables by Michael Gillard and Laurie Flynn.As cases rightly collapse in the UK and serious questions are beginning to be asked about the whole set-up,remit and methodology of CIB3 I think Mr Bridger has much to ponder!!
Amen to that, with the current anti-corruption drive in the Met looking back at a period when CIB3 were running riot and locking up fellow officers pretty much at random most of the people who worked on Tempura (including the private contactors) must be feeling a bit nervous right now.
like the song
omg
LET IT GO, LET IT GO ,
MOVE ON PEOPLE , THERE ARE MORE PRESSING ISSUES IN OUR COUNTRY THAN THIS STUPID TEMPURA CASE.
One thing I know: the public will never understand the twists and turns of this Tempura debacle.
The winners in this madness are the lawyers, everyone loses.
Tempura will remain a total mystery and it will never have an agreed conclusion.
And here we go again. Show us the report so we can make our own opininion. We can handle it and come to our own conclusion. After we paid for it dearly not only by the cost of Operation Tempura but the many lawsuits that resulted from it. We are not a bunch of Donkeys. Michel Lemay
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2707090/The-great-Sunshine-Squad-fiasco-Taxpayers-face-500k-legal-bill-Met-s-bungled-probe-Cayman-Islands.html
Now that the UK people are going to be paying for some of the associated costs with this fiasco it may soon come to an end!
What's interesting about this story is the fact that details of the payments were leaked to the press. Clearly someone wasn't very happy about it.
From this story and that carried in the Compass, I deduce that Mr. Bridger opted not to attend the meeting to present his evidence — the Compass reported that it was because he no longer wished to pursue the complaints he had made in January, which had set in motion the said RCIPS investigation.
If I am correct, then I can't see why Bridger has any basis for complaint about the outcome.
Nevertheless, I would think it is highly unlikely that Kernohan would not have indicated to the Governor what he planned to do. That is not how administrators at that level behave. Commissioners of police report to the Governor — it is not unusual to have a weekly briefing. No one will convince me that the Governor of the day did not know what was going down. Things just do not work that way!
The RCIPS cannot pick up bullets from a crime scene never mind investigate anything above the level of dog doodoo. The truth is burried and will not resurface – "justice" can easily be bought by those who have the money and the power.
"justice" can easily be bought…
No, "justice" can never be bought, "legality" is the thing that can be bought.
Justice and legality are two, very different things.
How naive. Justice is bought on a daily basis by corporations, the rich, the powerful, and those with influence. The aforementioned use armies of lawyers to ensure that laws are created and enforced to their advantage. They not only buy the politicians but they also buy the judiciaries. Monsanto is a prime example. The American Constitution Society for Law and Policy have determined that there "is a significant relationship between business group contributions to state supreme court justices and the voting of those justices in cases involving business matters". For additional reading, see the following link:
http://www.acslaw.org/Justice%20at%20Risk%20One-Pager%20Final.pdf
You may argue that it is not "justice" that they buy, but that's exactly what it is. They are buying "justice" because what they buy is supported by law, and the law is upheld by the courts. It's not fair and it's not right, but that's the way it is.
Then it is all settled then. If all this Tempura upheaval is a figment of Bridger's Imagination Please release OUR documents so the Caymanian Public can see what they paid over 10 million dollars for That's pretty Simple now is it! I tell u what, i won't be holding my breath waiting on that one!!
Bridger was sat up.lets go back to the the inception of this fiasco.
lyndon Martin and a co -worker came across documents that showed someone in the police department was feeding Seals sensitive information. Which Seals, in turned, published it in his local news paper.
Kernahan, being our Commissioner of police was notified, he sent in Lyndon Martin and another person who was familiar with the location of Seals office. Apparently the Judge got envolved somehow, which is not unusual for a judge to give warrant to a search any property for evidence, in these sercumstances.
Apparently, Kernahan by now had notified UK with this serious problem ( the cohertness of Seals and the Police coverted , sensitive passing of information)
Now, pay close attention, when the UK sent Mr. Bridger to investigate this alledged crime. As soon as he landed on Cayman, he did a complete 180 degree turn and arrested the messangers.( Judge, Lyndon, Jones and who ever was involved in reporting this alledged espionage
Did the other investigating officers ever come to a conclution that there were corrupted cops in cayman…no, they were not really after that, you see!
Did the investigation ever come to a conclusion of corruptoion cops ? no ! .
Bridger realised he was set up by the FCO to carry out investigations that the UK been sitting idle for years, just waiting for the right timing.
That is what pissed him off, he was used as a scape goat. It was never about corrupted cops. we will soon find out what the investigation was all about.
Sorry, but the corruption you speak of is not home bred but imported from the UK. Everyone who has a grain of common sense knows this. Just look at the media releases there and you can see what these islands can expect here.
While I know there is good and bad everywhere, a logical person has to understand that these islands have only been populated for a short time while the UK has been overpopulated for a much longer period of time.
So it stands to reason that the type of corruption we are now experiencing is of a more complicated nature, imported from a country, that has been a victim of this type of corruption for a much longer period and is therefore more complex and extreme because of the skill that has been attained over such a long period of time.
My only fear is that while this one incident has been brought out into the light, only God knows what else has and is still is going on.
In my humble opinion I think it is time for Caymanians to stop allowing these imports to dictate to us how we must operate as a country, especially in light of the complete failures of their own countries. We must stop following in their footsteps and make our own path.
Just look at Bermuda did and what Scotland is getting ready to do, becausethey have experienced the horrors of allowing imports to dictate to them in their own country.
Caymanian
oh dear…oh dear oh dear oh dear…22.57..have you seen the corruption cases going through the courts and a very high profile one just about to involving a former very senior politician? Is they all imports too ? Not true Caymanians? Hush your mouth- and your dreamy rose tinted racism
Oh, sorry, I threw the stone in the pig pen and the one that got hit squealed.
squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
ooppppps. Truth hurts and those that are trying hard to hide their own dirt, ALWAYS try to show everyone else's, it's called misinformation.
And by the way the poster did say that there are good and bad everywhere you twit.
Tell you what, go onto airport road and near the end of the road just jump on anyone of those big planes out there. Doesn't really matter which one, any one will do. Just so long as your kind ain't here anymore raping the country.
Caymanian by birth and name, not by plane.
Unfortunately despite the ill fated operation tempura and the failed results it produced that cost the caymanians and the other people in this islands millions of dollars and is still costing us up until earlier this year with the 6 figure payout to former police commissioner Stuart Kernohan. However there is still one issue here, where the majority of the sunshine squad as long left this island there is still two of them that are still on this island, both working in the RCIPS, One who is a Detective Inspector @ the Anti Corruption Unit and then the other is of a very high rank in the RCIPS. The whole operation tempura were purely and simply put, sent here to attack the financial institutions in this island and secondly to test the judicial system. Nothing more, the UK's strategy is focus your attention on X while there main focus is on Y. The true art of war is this divide and conquer. The metropolitan police has and I stand corrected if I am wrong one of the highest rates of corruption in the uk. Yet we have them here tellingus about corruption, and how do they fight corruption, with corruption that's how.
22:57, next time you get a bain fart, keep it to yourself.
At least trial it for a couple of years. If it all goes south the Islands can be put on an internet auction for sale to the highest bidder.
Quite right it wasn't about corrupt cops in the Cayman Islands it was about corrupt cops in the Met.
An investigation that should have taken two months was stretched out to more than two years – why?
Well great weather and a £787-a-day retirement job might have something to do with it.
Nobody got set up by the FCO, the investigation team saw a chance to make a lot of money and got greedy.
Jones was a Crown witness and got re-instated into RCIPS. Get your facts right.
Most of Brridger was sat (sic) up" is garbled speculation. And, please, as someone noted, get facts correct. No judge was involved in anyway, by issuing a. Search warrant or otherwise.
Nope…
No corruption here…
Could turn the islands upside down and shake it till kingdom com – and not a grain of corruption will fall out…
That's right the grains of corruption are too big and too cemented in place to ever come out.
Hmmmm, sounds kinda like constipation.
08:30 Don't try to deflect the attention away from where it belongs.The real corruption was not in the RCIPS.
So how come we read on an almost weekly basis of cops getting arrested, suspended, on trial or sacked? Is that all part of the conspiracy too? I guess the Philippine victim was in on it too?
Knot S Smart.
There are more corruption here than in any banana republic country.
The UK are not interested in our corrupt cops. They are more interested in our financial instituations.
September is next month, the fireworks are coming.
Speaking of fireworks, whatever happened to the dynamite confiscated from Midland Acres? I hope Customs didn't store it someplace and can't remember where.
I support whatever the UK considers in the national interest.
What a pile of bull, Pit.
I call this special treatment only because when i complain about wrongs they ae ignored
perhaps its because there would be no one left
That said the OCC is a waste of time I have filed complaints and where did it go?
I gave them names date time and those involved Perhaps because it was so detailed there was no need to investigate
We will never know what actually happened but the way that our Governor(s) and the UK have taken painstaking moves to keep it under covers you can certaily believe that it was something ultra-vires the law and a lot of people would fall from grace if the cat is let out of the bag.
For the best summary just read the AIna Report (the first version, not the second one).
It's Aina report and you've clearly been reading John Evans comments. He's the only person who has so far claimed there are two versions.
I typed Aina, but the second letter was capitalised. See AIna, you happy?
OK, now show us a copy of this mythical first version of the 'AIna' report and I'll be impressed.
When will this end? So many twists and turns, nothing is now based on the original investigation? It was a real shame last year when a loyal cop was brought back to testify about a DUI (which involved a higher ranking police official) and the UK young gun was painted as a racist and operation tempura motive!? Huh? So now any dirty hands and our local lads cry foul and blame operation tempura. A shambles. That situation made me stop looking for tempura answers. Please stick to the original case- this is not an open opportunity to move blame
The case you speak of was rather different to the Tempura issue, but significant all the same, and yes the whole issue was made to go away whilst there were people involved at the time and subsequently that knew the "higher ranking Caymanian officer" had done all the things he was accused of.
Oddly enough, the same loyal cop was also asked his advice on Tempura at a stage long before the wrong was done, but those that asked his advice didnt like his opinion so ignored it, and the request for the advice was airbrushed out. Yes, it isnt likely that the truth let alone the whole truth will out here!