UK judge to hear ex-CoP case
(CNS): A law suit filed by former police commissioner Stuart Kernohan (near left) two years ago will be argued in front of a UK based judge in Cayman's Grand Court on Thursday. The attorney general, who is one of four defendants mentioned in the original writ filed by the ex-top cop in connection with his dismissal, has applied to strike out the suit. The hearing is currently listed in chambers and it is not clear if it will remain behind closed doors or if the case will be aired in the open. Kernohan has applied for damages against former governor Stuart Jack (far left), Martin Bridger, the former SIO of the discredited Operation Tempura investigation, as well as the police commissioner and the AG.
The tab for the cost of defending the suit filed by Kernohan will be paid for out of the public coffers if the application to strike out the writ is unsuccessful and any damages are also likely to come from public coffers. With more than $6 milllion of tax payers money already spent on the controversial investigation which included three failed legal cases, this latest court room battle could add significantly to that sum if Kernohan, who was a senior officer at the peak of his police career, proves he was unlawfully dismissed.
The original writ against Martin Bridger, Stuart Jack, Samuel Bulgin and acting commissioner David George was filed by Kernohan on 25 May 2009 by local attorneys Campbells following the dismissal of Kernohan when he was on suspension during the notorious UK police investigation into alleged corruption in the RCIPS. Although no charges were ever brought against him during Operation Tempura, which was led by Bridger, the then commissioner was suspended in March 2008 along with the deputy commissioner, Rudy Dixon (who remains on paid leave three years later), and John Jones, who was eventually returned to his post as chief superintendent some 18 months after the investigation began.
During the time that Kernohan was on what was described by officials at the time as “required leave” he left the Cayman Islands to be with his sick father. While he was dealing with his father’s illness and eventual death, the ex-top cop was called back to Cayman by the then governor Stuart Jack but he did not return. As a result of what Jack said at the time was the ex-commissioner's “refusal to return” as he needed permission to leave the islands during the investigation, he was sacked.
At the time of filing the law suit Kernohan had said that there would be “extraordinary revelations” about the governor and high-ranking officials when he had his day in court to seek damages for what he said was his wrongful dismissal. He said that Bridger, the governor, the commissioner and the attorney general would “answer for their actions”. However, there is no guarantee that the hearing will now be played out in the public domain.
The investigation regarding Kernohan was officially declared to be over in April 2009 by the then acting commissioner, Jim Smith, who revealed that no criminal charges would be filed against him. It was in the wake of that announcement that Kernohan filed his legal action.
In a public statement at the time the former commissioner said he had received a belated confirmation there was no wrong-doing on his part.
“I have waited too long a period to be exonerated and subjected to a process and actions from individuals who have severely damaged my reputation internationally and unfortunately that of the Cayman Islands. The individuals responsible for this fiasco will not walk away without being held rightfully accountable for what they have done,” he said in the statement at the time, adding that this would be done through a transparent judicial process.
As yet there has been no confirmation about the proceedings and whether they will be behind closed doors. The application by the AG's office to have the suit dismissed will be heard by Lord Justice Moses (Sir Alan Moses), a UK court of appeal judge who has been commissioned as an independent judge, and the hearing is listed for two days.
Category: Local News
Yee-haw! It is about time some people get a serious kick in their groin area and have to feel the consequence for their action. We constantly bring in these people and hail them as the best thing every, just to turn around and kick them out later if they dare have their own opinion on matters or are actually doing what they have been employed to do!
At least Kernohan was a firm believer in the "get-tough" policy (similar to what Guiliani did in the 90s in NY city). What the hell has Baines done so far????
What has Baines done so far? How many murders have their been this year so far? Crime is DOWN despite what all the trogalydte statistics- deniers (unless they are BAD statistics) say, and he's been elected 2nd Vice President of the Association of Caribbean Commissioners of Police – so his peers obviously rate him.
What did Kernoghan do? Oh yeah… he decided RCIPS needed a helicopter and so bought one. Mr Kernoghan is also a qualified helicopter pilot, not that I suggest this had any influence on his decision.
If Kernoghan had stayed as Commissioner everyone would be complaining about what he had done and the way he had done it. However, it does beat me how he can sue the Governor and the current CoP when neither of them had even set foot on the Cayman Islands when he was dismissed.
At the time of Mr Kernohan requesting a helicopter for the Cayman Islands ,he was NOT a qualified Pilot . Get your facts right !!
This whole helicopter pilot thing was generated by one person, now deceased, and by trying to resurrect it you only drag yourself down to their level.
Kernohan restored RCIPS confidence after Hurricane Ivan, he was making serious inroads into crime before Tempura hit the islands and was not wasting time poncing around the Caribbean picking up meaningless titles at equally meaningless conferences.
And this attitude is entirely the problem with Cayman. We are so insular that we believe no one else can have anything worthwhile to say, so why listen to them? Crime is a problem throughout the Carribbean, but guess what folks? Most people in the world have no idea where Cayman is. Our population is tiny, and certainly not worth shipping hard drugs to. The Carribbean (and therefore Cayman) is a through-post for drugs shipments to North America and Europe, and arms shipments from those areas (and increasingly Russia) to those countries producing drugs.
Only by working as part of a wider organisation (Interpol sound familiar to anyone?) can these big problems be solved – Cayman on it's own doesn't stand a chance. If the Americans are willing to invest time, money and personnel (FBI & CIA) in these conferences and organisations, that would suggest that neither the roles of the people within those organisations are meaningless, nor are the organisations pointless.
So Cayman, let's get out of our isolationist, insular, holier-than-thou attitude, and work with our neighbours to solve our problems.
By the way 16:37, I note you do not argue against my assertion that Baines has brought crime down and reduced the number of murders, so is it only bile and vitriol that you are able to peddle?
Good luck Stuart – it would be great to see you take money off Martin Bridger – the more the better!
“I have waited too long a period to be exonerated and subjected to a process and actions from individuals who have severely damaged my reputation internationally and unfortunately that of the Cayman Islands. The individuals responsible for this fiasco will not walk away without being held rightfully accountable for what they have done,” he said in the statement at the time, adding that this would be done through a transparent judicial process.
The fact that the resulting reports from Operation Tempura have been covered up by by the current CoP, David Baines, the current governor, Duncan Taylor and the Foreign Commonwealth Office should alert readers that this is indeed a very serious conspiracy at work here.
The Attorney General seeking to have the lawsuit thrown out, again should speak volumes.
If there was nothing to hide, these reports would have been released long ago and most of the suspects either exonerated, as Kernohan has been, or brought to justice for any crimes committed.
If this case is dismissed or heard behind closed doors, it will add even more mystery to the matter and remember, there is still the little matter of Mssrs Dixon and Scott's matters to be finally settled, either in or out of court.
Whatever is in those reports must be extremely damaging to some very high-level people.
I'm surprised this lawsuit was not brought in the courts of the UK, where the appeal will certainly go if it fails in Cayman and I guarantee…
No person in the British or Caymanian Governments will be able to keep anything hidden once this case gets before a British judge in Britain…
I can't wait….
Moses could be a interesting choice.
Check out –
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/10/bae.armstrade2
Yup….
Spot on, mate.
You've got an honest judge here who specialises in exposing government corruption at the very highest level…
Him don't romp with them !
The British judiciary fully intends to crack open the cover-ups that's been going on ever since Operation Tempura came to an end.
And they've sent the right judge for the job.
And Britain ain't Cayman…these judges will rule against the Caymanian and British governements in a heartbeat and recommend prosecution for anyone found to have broken the law…
If this case reveals the level of corruption that I suspect it will.
If it doesn't, then it should put all speculation to bed, once and for all.
This is another negative result from Stuart Jack's messy Governorship. I knew something wasn't right with Stuart Jack from the time he ordered the Commission of Inquiry into Charles Clifford exposing the corruption in government but refused to inquire into the corruption itself. That should have raised many more eyebrows at the time but unfortunately it didn't. Today Cayman is suffering again because Stuart Jack's action facilitated the return of the UDP. The question is was this all a part of the FCO's plan to destablise Cayman and undermine our financial services industry for the benefit of the London Financial Center ? Hmmmmm………for those who say this is an incredible suggestion, I suggest you do some research about British history and how they have conspired on many occasions over the past several hundred years for different reasons against their territories and their people. It is in fact quite revealing !!!
Funny how neither Dan Duguay nor the police could find any evidence of the "corruption" Clifford was trying to hang on Bush, just to advance his own political ambitions. Political patronage and the stuffing of boards with his tame appointees, yes, but every single government has done and still does that. It's wrong but let's not single out Bush for it.
The Commission focussed where it should and exposed Clifford as a self serving wannabe politician on the make, willing to abuse his civil servant obligations just to advance his cause. That's what raised the eyebrows – and rightly so.
Look who Chuckie was feeding the info to.
Do you think he did it on his own initiative or to further someone else's ambitions?
This is like Operation Tempura and the Levers' tribunal – one person(strictly speaking probably two people – one In Cayman the other in Miami) playing games to try and settle old scores.
I agree and The Chuckster gave all of the information from the public platform during the 2005 campaign. Nothing was hidden. Governor Dinwiddy wrote telling The Chuckster that he had done nothing wrong and then comes Stuart Jacko who ordered the Commission of Inquiry into the exposure of the corruption. Go figure ! Its called British political engineering !!!!!!!!!…………and now Cayman must again suffer at the hands of the UDP.
Perhaps the UK should send down an entire replacement government.
I guess they will make you the head of the photo-copying department.
Shredding. I'll do the shredding.
Or, perhaps, they should replace your own "corrupt" government and sweep house.
Understand President Barak Obama will be visiting Parliament this morning to give a speech. Maybe it will do them well to learn from the U.S. on what it means by "democratic representation."
This has to be the joke of the day. The United States is far from a democracy. The two stooges who stand against each other every 4 years are carefully picked by the power-brokers (the rich that is). These puppets are then made to sell their souls as they implement one policy after another that gradually squeezes the everyday folk into submission.
The United States is a ruthless dictatorship ruled by wealthy despots hopelessly corrupted by absolute power. Remember Obamas pre-election promise to remove the troops, and what did he do immediately after? Right, he sent more. Even it's own soldiers are handing back their dog tags refusing to fight for big corporations hiding behind the illusion of democracy. There are many videos on YouTube of soldiers who said there was nothing brave about intimidating women and children and they were ashamed of what they did.
Day by day, it's true colors are revealed. I just hope thatwe wise up before it's too late.
Hear Hear! So much for Amerika being the policeman of the world, more like the chief terrorists. Who's after Libya, Hmm let me guess…Iran?
These folk are raving nuts. There are no terrorists, only mad people funded by the CIA to create the illusion of a threat so they can make us afraid and wage war at the drop of a hat.
Well, we are no longer afraid.
I don't know about you, but I am tired of it. If the American folk weren't so hungry for drugs, they would not even be in Afghanistan. I don't remember Afghanistan invading anyone? I'm wondering if Amerika is protecting it's drugs or trying to stop the flow of drugs. Oh, yes, I forgot money is involved. Say no more.
I wish our politicians would wake up and advise us on sound policy. Stop turning on the news and believing everything you see just because its on CNN, BBC or whatever.
I think you will find the total costs of this whole fiasco are more like CI$16million than CI$6million.
Or $56million….or $69million….or….????
Who really knows?
Nobody, because our Government doesn't keep accounts or balance budgets.
Is that where the CI$81million deficit for 2008-2009 FY came from??
It appeared Stuart Kernohan was treated apallingly badly. Just thinking about the injustices he was apparently subjected to makes my blood boil on his behalf. But then Cayman has kicked out many people who have done an honest a job, for just that precise reason: the job done was honest, and thus was unacceptable to those who might have been embarassed by it.
I have never met nor had any interaction of any kind with Stuart Kernohan, so I cannot pass judgment on his character. Accepting the fact that he is the man that you describe, who exactly is this "Cayman" that kicked him out?
I certainly wasn't asked for any opinions about him, but I do recall that there were reports in the press stating that the Governor ordered him to return to Cayman and he refused. Isn't that the exact opposite of kicking someone out?
09.08. Fair point, but he was dismissed from his job, and being dismissed means you have to leave the island, presumably. I should have been more precise in my choice of words. I'm sure Stuart Kernohan had very good reasons not to return, and we can only hope that the anticipated court proceedings will reveal some interestings truths. The problem, as always, is trying to form an opinion from the outside. Like Gekko said in the film Wall Street, "you're either on the inside or you're on the outside." And if you're on the outside, you have to work with what you can get, which often means looking to see where the smoke is rising, and avoiding the Marl Road.
Ladies and gentlemen (of of any origin) of the Cayman Islands.. This is indeed a very common type of case. So many good expatriate police officers and other professions I imagine) have been 'run out' of the Cayman Islands, myself included, precisely for doing what they were hired to do. Why doesn't Cayman save itself some trouble and just tell potential recruits the truth in the interview, i.e. 'there are certain people you can't prosecute, and the criminal justice system is a shambles?
Most of the displaced officers simply wanted to do a good job, as required WITHOUT fear or favour. I would suspect that, knowing the man, Stuart Kernohan simply wants the liers and cheats brought to account, and to prove that 'dats not da way it done ere' is not an acceptable explanation for corrupt and dishonest performance in any 21st century jurisdiction.
More actions will follow, I assure you, and the main drive of them, I surmise, will be to 'out' the cancer that affects your islands, the corruption, greed, and too-high self opinions.
Good luck Mr. K, for the good of the cayman Islands, and your professional reputation. I'm right with you.
Mav
The real story here, is actually quite sad.
This is not an isolated case, but there are so many cases working their way through the Courts (involving both Caymanians treated like dirt by fellow Caymanians, and Expats experiencing the same thing) that will cost us a fortune.
We need to get our house in order and learn how to deal with complex issues more effectively.
Slowpoke I totally agree with you
I agree. "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
I sense you have so much words to say but nil effective solution. Why don't you wake up! We are outnumbered and the UN does not care about what happens to us. Neither does UK/local government!
Okay, you have one more chance to say something sensible.
Hopefully Sir Peter Cresswell will hear the case. He is very experienced in this.
I guess you didn't actually read the article.
I think that the poster was making a quietly ironic little joke.
I wonder if Burmon Scott will have his matter heard in court, in the not too distant future as well ??
Why do people keep saying this drivel? What "case" are they talking about?
Here we go again. Another one venting online. Peep, Peep! Pomp! Pomp!
I have never seen a set of pitiful englishmen in my life! What an embarrassment!
Hahhh (hand over mouth)
I can'tt believe you would call these great men of royalty, "pitiful"! What an insult!!!
OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!!!
Kernohan isn't an Englishman, he is from Scotland.
Yes Stuart Kernohan is from Scotland and was the perfect person to sort out this XXXX island ,he was made a victim because the "Caymanian Police,and Government are corrupt" and his no nonsense Scottish ways of policing would never do here ….now would they ,never mind the fact the island probably would never have gotten to where we are now with Crime almost daily ,they should remember they are here to serve the people of the island ..NOT themselves! We need a force made up of mainly British Police and then the "Good Decent Cops " will see how it is really done .
Maybe it's time they had a newforce put in place.
As for as Mr Stuart Kernohan good luck to you ,i hope you get what you deserve for yourself and your family ,who have also been the victims !!
This XXXX island???
Well this XXXX Britian needs to wake up and rule properly!
Same story withh Derek Haines.
Before you jump on Mr. Kernohan's band wagon you should remember that the whole Tempura debacle started with him requesting investigation of one of his few honest officers. Deputy Commissioner Ennis was quickly absolved of any wrong doing and maybe that is where you should look for your new head of the revamped police department.
I recalled before he left, Governor Jack made some prophetic statements about the Cayman Islands. In his own words, he mentioned that "independence" is just around the corner.
This after they made themselves such a bad name.
It also reminded me of the prophetic statement of May 21….. but there is always October's prophecy…. ah f%ck, I'm confused!!
Wow…. hypocrisy at its best!
Governor Taylor (symbol of the Crown) speaks about us not handling our financial affairs aright; and at the same time, much to what contributed to our financial loss, and using our monies for their foolishness, was from Governor Jack's days. It tells ya something about the Crown – doesn't it?
Thanks to the Governor and their successors, Cayman has wasted millions of dollars on corruption-probed investigations – not one case has been successful in the Cayman Islands. But when successful like in Turks and Cacois, these dictators raided the country's bank dry!
And now today, the Governor speaks at the LA about "painful process"! You tell me, what do they know?
Cayman if not the local government being our enemy, it is the colonial one! I am sick of them both! When will "we" the people come first!!
This needs to be heard in the ears of the public as the snakes that have held sway over us need to be exposed in plain view of the people.
I truly hope that our media, especially CNS, are there to tell us the truth as they have done so dilligently over the years.
My only hope over this affair is that truth be revealed that enlightens the Caymanian people to the power that really controls these islands.
You talkin' 'bout da Lodge bro?
The power that control these islands, is not an outward manifestation, but:- Greed, Self-centeredness, Ego, Hate, Discrimination, Political Division, Inflated Pride, False Societal Beliefs, False Religious Beliefs, Irrational Thinking, Expats versus the Locals mentality, Neglecting Family, and all manner of Ignorance that has turned us into negative reactive animals, slaves to passions, and controlling emotions/ fears. All such things will one day see its karmic results – just like all good things.
But recall it being said, "father, forgive them for they know not what they do"
Salvation is all about "seeing" the light.