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Jack’s culpability becomes focus of ex top cops
(CNS): Former RCIPS police commissioner Stuart Kernohan has joined with the lead investigator of Operation Tempura, Martin Bridger, calling for all of the facts surrounding the bungled police corruption investigation to be revealed. Kernohan, who was sacked by the previous Cayman Islands governor, Stuart Jack, and is still attempting to get some form of legal redress, has said there needs to be a full and open investigation into the controversial 2007-2009 probe and the role of Jack in particular, who, Kernohan claims, lied about a critical piece of information. Bridger has also stated in a complaint to Scotland Yard that, had the truth been told to him by Jack at the onset, Operation Tempura would have lasted no more than a few weeks.
Kernohan said theformer governor lied about authorizing the out of hours late night search by reporters at the Cayman Net News offices, where they worked, looking for evidence to support suspicions that a senior police officer was leaking information to the late Desmond Seales, Net News editor in chief at the time.
Following Bridger’s recent official complaint to the UK police, as reported in the British media last week, Kernohan has said he is fully supportive of a thorough Metropolitan Police investigation into the complaint of alleged criminal conduct during that period in the Cayman Islands. Bridger has made a direct allegation of criminality on the part of UK officials to the London police, as he was employed directly by Scotland Yard when he first came to Cayman undercover, posing as a real estate developer along with just one other UK officer.
Kernohan, who was once on the opposite side of the investigation to Bridger but is now backing the ex-Tempura boss in his calls for complete public exposure of the probe, said he has always been keen to see a full investigation and in particular the conduct of Jack.
“From the outset, and continuing until this day, I have called for a full investigation into the conduct of the Governor and member of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Stuart Jack, Samuel Bulgin the Attorney General, the Chief Secretary George McCarthy, and others involved in this fiasco,” Kernohan said in a statement released on Friday. “I continue to call for a full investigation to ensure all of the facts and documents are made public into the operations and circumstances surrounding Operation Tempura. At nearly every juncture, these probes have been resisted or, in some instances, significant reports concealed and covered up by those with the power to release them. This leads to the inevitable question: What are they hiding?” the former top cop asked rhetorically.
Kernohan said his position on the issues was simple and straightforward: “Let’s have a comprehensive investigation to expose the facts, as I am not seeing it at the moment. Open up the memos, reports, emails and documents so all the information relating to the original investigation, Operation Tempura, can be made public. Show us the truth, the whole truth, I have nothing to hide,” he added.
Kernohan has already submitted a statement to the metropolitan police in connection with Bridger’s official complaint.
After he was removed from the investigation it continued for almost two years but did not result in a single conviction for corruption – merely a very big tab for the Cayman tax payer of some CI$10 million, including a significant damage payment to a judge for a wrongful arrest. However , Bridger has slowly been raising complaints about the FCO authorities and their role in the controversial enquiry.
In his complaint to Scotland Yard Bridger says he was never told that the governor had given the nod to Kernohan to allow staff members to enter the Net News office and look for evidence and, as a result, he treated that as an illegal break-in and his investigation focused on that, which is why Kernohan and his chief superintendent, John Jones, were suspended and Net News reporter and former MLA, Lyndon Martin, was arrested for burglary.
In his redacted statement, Bridger says that his investigation proceeded on the basis “that Kernohan and Jones had gone on a ‘frolic of their own’ and had behaved unlawfully,” referring to both the commissioner and CS Jones, who coordinated the search of the office.
Although his statement released to the press has been redacted, it is clear that Bridger is referring to Stuart Jack when he states that he now has direct evidence in the form of witness statements that, despite what he was told by the governor at the time, not only was Jack fully aware of the search but had, in fact, authorised it.
“Had I had known this at the time the investigation would never have proceeded in the way which it did and all of the unfortunate events which have occurred since would not have taken place,” Bridger tells the Met in his complaint.
In his statement, Kernohan also says that the governor lied not only to Bridger but to the press as well when the news came out that he and two other senior police officers had been suspended and that a team of Scotland Yard officers were in Cayman conducting a police corruption investigation.
“I set up a meeting with Stuart Jack and the attorney general, Samuel Bulgin specifically to brief them on the allegations and to discuss the use of a witness/member of staff of the Cayman Net News to recover the evidence who had full access,” Kernohan writes in the statement. “I held three meetings with Stuart Jack on 27th, 28th and 29th August 2007. The purpose of these meetings was to fully brief him on all the available information and discuss how to protect evidence prior to the arrival of an outside team.”
Kernohan documented the meetings in his police book and notes that Jack later denied any knowledge of the entry, despite the well documented meetings.
“There can be no doubt that Governor Stuart Jack was fully briefed, authorised the operation and was fully aware of all the details. These details included the type of operation, whom it involved, when and where it as going totake place. His authorisation and direct knowledge derived from the meetings with myself on three occasions over three days and the meetings with Chief Superintendent John Jones in the presence of witness Simon Tonge on at least two occasions.”
Kernohan then states that David Legge, editor of Grand Caymanian Magazine, had asked the governor at a press briefing in March 2008 if he had any knowledge of the police operation to enter the Net News on 3 September 2007.
“Mr Jack in front of many witnesses stated that he had only become aware of the operation on being briefed on it by Chief Superintendent Bridger after his arrival on the island. Mr Jack’s answer gave the clear impression that he was without knowledge of the entry either prior to 3rd September 2007, or afterwards until the arrival of Chief Superintendent Bridger. This was clearly not the case.”
As documents regarding operation Tempura remain under wraps and the full story is still secret, Bridger’s complaint is now in the hands of the Metropolitan Police in London, as he has alleged criminality on the part of the former governor as well as various other officials involved.
See Kernohan and Bridger’s statements to the Metropolitan Police below.
Former Cayman governor silent on Tempura probe
(CNS): The British media has again picked up on the continuing controversy and secrecy surrounding Operation Tempura, the UK-led tarnished investigation into alleged corruption in the RCIPS. In an article published in Thursday’s edition of the UK daily, The Independent, former governor Stuart Jack has refused to answer questions that he knew all about the bungled but authorized so-called break-in to the offices of Cayman Net News by staff looking for incriminating evidence against the deputy police commissioner, who had been accused of leaking sensitive information to the late owner, Desmond Seales.
Martin Bridger now believes that his entire investigation, which has cost the Cayman Islands millions of dollars, was based from the very start on a false premise. Bridger, the senior investigating officer in Operation Tempura, says that it is now apparent that Jack did know that the former police commissioner, Stuart Kernohan, had authorized staff at the newspapers to gain entry to their workplace after hours to look for evidence to back up what were serious allegations.
Kernohan, who was later sacked. has always maintained that the decision to authorize the so-called break-in was done with the full support of the governor and the FCO’s regional security advisor, Larry Covington.
With the current governor and the FCO still trying to keep a lid on what really happened, both Martin Bridger and Stuart Kernohan, once on very opposite sides of the fall out of the investigation, appear to be converging in their efforts for the full truth about Operation Tempura to now be revealed. Both men told the Independent that they believe the truth must come out but it seems too many people have too much to hide.
$584k added to Tempura bill
(CNS): Although lead investigating officer Martin Bridger and most of his special police investigation team (SPIT) left the island well over three years ago, the discredited enquiry he led into alleged corruption within the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service is still costing the local tax payer money. According to information released by the Portfolio of Legal Affairs, since the last public trial relating to the investigation in October 2009, the attorney general has run up a bill of almost $600,000 dealing with other legal claims and battles that relate to both former police commissioner, Stuart Kernohan, and Bridger in an effort to prevent the former Scotland Yard cop from using documents to clear his own name in Kernohan’s law suit.
The investigation into the RCIPS, which was paid for by the Cayman tax payer, failed to uncover any wrongdoing. It began as an undercover operation in September 2007 and reached the height of notoriety when the team wrongfully arrested Grand Court Judge Alex Henderson. The arrest was found to be unlawful following a ruling by Sir Peter Cresswell, who now sits in Cayman’s financial services court.
Two more major courtroom dramas followed, the first involving former MLA and Cayman Net News reporter, Lyndon Martin, for breaking and entering into his own workplace, and the second in which former deputy commissioner ofpolice, Rudolph Dixon, was charged with misconduct in a public office. Both men were cleared and the investigation was eventually closed down.
Since then, however, Kernohan has filed a wrongful dismissal claim and Martin Bridger has gone to battle with the Cayman authorities over documents he holds regarding the corruption investigation, which he believes was prematurely halted.
In response to an FOI request by CNS, the Portfolio of Legal Affairs wrote to the news website stating that three separate matters relating to Operation Tempura were on-going since the Dixon trial, two of which are taking place in Cayman and one in the UK. The total cost to the public purse so far is $584,107.42 but these cases are far from over.
Although there has been no official confirmation regarding the status of thevarious on-going cases, it is understood that Burman Scott is still waiting on a settlement on damages he claimed from the Cayman government relating to his arrest in the Dixon case.
In addition, Kernohan is continuing his case against Bridger and the Cayman government over his dismissal, which he says was unlawful. The former top cop was dismissed by the then governor Stuart Jack when he refused to return to the island during his suspension in connection with the investigation.
Finally, Bridger is now engaged in a legal battle with the attorney general as the authorities here try to prevent him from using certain documents in his possession in the Kernohan case. The documents relate to the investigation and some believe they might prove embarrassing for the Cayman and UK authorities.
CNS understand that the documents may support Kernohan’s contention that both Stuart Jack and the overseas territories security advisor, Larry Covington, were well versed about the plan that Kernohan and his officers were following in connection with the trigger that resulted in Operation Tempura.
The investigation centred on claims made by Lyndon Martin to Rudolph Dixon that the Cayman Net News editor and proprietor, the late Desmond Seales, was engaged in a corrupt relationship with Deputy Commissioner Anthony Ennis. On hearing the accusations, Kernohan had informed the governor and Covington, telling them both that the police were working with Martin and his reporter colleague, John Evans, to try and find evidence for the very serious accusations before action was taken against Ennis.
Given the sensitivity of the accusations and the involvement of the media, Kernohan wanted to move with caution before issuing a warrant to search the offices of the newspaper, which could have easily have been misinterpreted as a threat to free speech.
As a result, Kernohan and Chief Inspector John Jones sanctioned a late night exploration by Martin and Evans of the newspaper offices where the men both worked before taking the step of issuing a warrant.
The bungled attempt by Evans and Martin to find corroborating evidence failed to recover any supporting documentation for the allegations but set off a train of bizarre events which resulted in the Operation Tempura investigation, which has already cost the Cayman public millions of dollars and is likely to cost it much more.
Visit the CNS Library for documents relating to Operations Tempura and Cealt.
Jack leaves with “fond memories” he says
(CNS): Arguably one of the most controversial governors ever to serve in the Cayman Islands, Stuart Jack left the Cayman Islands on Wednesday lunch time (2 December) as his tour of duty ended. Acknowledging that he and the elected officials did not always see eye to eye, Jack reportedly said he was leaving the Cayman Islands “with many fond memories” at a small reception at the airport. Following the governor’s departure, the politicians who attended the lunchtime departure reception returned to the Legislative Assembly and made no mention of the UK representative’s exit from Cayman.
Jack and his wife, Mariko, left on a Cayman Airways flight, but before they left an informal, but reportedly less than fond, farewell reception was held at the Owen Roberts International Airport VIP lounge. Premier McKeeva Bush did thank Jack and his family and told Mariko Jack, the governor’s wife, that she had made a difference during her time in Cayman. “You were always a gentle lady, and I appreciate your contributions,” Bushadded, though he did not say the same about her husband.
Jack came to Cayman in 2005 and within a short period was clashing with the country’s politicians, long before he established the Tucker Commission to enquire into the conduct of the former minister of tourism, Charles Clifford, and documents he had given to the media. Former government ministers all spoke recently about the governor’s attitude, which they said was one of derision towards them. The previous administration said that Jack had made it clear to them he had little time for the members elected by the people and considered them all potential crooks.
His mantra regarding good governance (which appears to have been very selective) and his presidingover the discredited special police operations Tempura and Cealt and the UK officers associated with the investigations, also saw politicians and the wider public question his judgement as he spent millions and millions of dollars on a failed corruption investigation.
The UK’s next choice for Cayman is Duncan Taylor, who is expected to arrive in January, and he has already used the situation in the Turks and Caicos as a warning signal to those he will be working with in his new posting when he arrives in the Cayman Islands.
Jack scorned Cabinet
(CNS): The questionable attitude of this and previous governors, including their lack of respect towards the elected officials in Cabinet, was revealed by at least four members of the Legislative Assembly last week. The most recent former Cabinet members, Anthony Eden, Arden McLean and Alden McLaughlin, all suggested that by virtue of their elected status the current governor viewed them with distrust. Ezzard Miller, who served in Ex-Co back in the 1990s, added that previous governors had also displayed arrogance and disdain towards those elected by the people.
During the debate following the North Side MLA’s proposed motion that the CI government sue the FCO and the governor, Stuart Jack, to recover the costs of Operations Tempura in the British courts, the way that the UK’s representatives had treated Cabinet members elected by the people of the Cayman Islands was raised in public for the first time. The MLAs told the House how they felt the governor had treated them as though they were criminals by the virtue of their elected position and that he made it obvious he did not trust them or consider their opinions to be of any value.
The current governor as well as previous holders of the office were criticised for their derision towards elected members and how the prevailing attitude was that ‘governor knows best’ and they knew nothing, the members said.
Anthony Eden, the former minister for health, spoke of how Cabinet members were summoned to the governor and told about Operation Tempura some six months or more after the fact, without any previous consultation. Eden said that the governor had not even shared the information that foreign police officers were in the Cayman Islands with leader of the country.
Arden McLean, the PPM member for East End who also served in the previous Cabinet, said that the governor had treated him and his fellow elected members as though they were a “bunch of thieves” just by virtue of the fact that they were elected to office. He said that during the progress of Operation Tempura, the Cabinet was never informed as had been promised and the elected officials were learning about the investigation through the media.
During a passionate speech, the East End MLA said that now he was no longer in government he could speak freely and wanted to get things off his chest. “In my opinion he was part of a conspiracy to destroy my country,” he declared. “This is the people’s house; it does not belong to the governor.”
McLean revealed how the governor would constantly tell Cabinet members about good governance over and over again and how he regarded the elected members as “the biggest bunch of thieves” who “didn’t know what was good for our own country”.
He said the problem was that the governors who were appointed to serve in Cayman came with preconceived ideas and regarded the local people as mere “natives”. He said they seemed unaware that the Cayman Islands is a sophisticated country and the world’s fifth largest financial centre. He said governor’s came “believing they had to lead us out of the wilderness”.
His George Town colleague, Alden McLaughlin, who during his time in Cabinet was a more open critic of the governor and in particular the overriding power of that office, revealed that evenhe was shocked when soon after this governor’s arrival he made it clear that he distrusted the elected officials.
“One of my greatest disappointments as a minster was when I understood that the governor had no trust in the elected members,” he said, adding that this was not the partnership he had believed it would be. McLaughlin said the governor was not entitled to disregard what elected members had to say in the way he had. “Just because you get elected to office you are not converted to a criminal,” McLaughlin observed. “How do we get to the point where the governor is without flaw, but because we are elected we cannot be trusted?” he asked.
He said the distrust was part of a much bigger picture, which was to do with Cayman’s relationship with the UK and the overall change in that relationship. As Cayman became increasingly sophisticated and a competitive nation on the international financial stage, the UK which had once looked out for Cayman was now in competition with it and worried far more about contingent liabilities to it than the welfare of Cayman and its people. McLaughlin said while the new Constitution restricted the governor in some areas, ultimately the overall picture had changed little and Cayman would have to face independence eventually if it wanted to control its own destiny as it was clear things were likely to get worse. McLaughlin said he believed independence would happen in his lifetime.
Miller, an open supporter of independence who had raised the motion in the first place, said that he too had “experienced the arrogance, disdain and condescension of Her Majesty’s representatives in Cabinet.” He described one as coming to cabinet “in a drunken stupor and drooling over cabinet papers”. Miller criticised another governor who the North Side MLA said had dismissed his suggestion to place five hundred names in Heroes Square for the centennial celebrations as he would not be able to find so many Caymanians worthy of the honour.
He said that governors come to the Cayman Islands believing they are experts in everything. “If one of us natives is brave enough to question them, we are ridiculed,” he said, describing the English manner in which the disdain was dished out.
Miller said his motion was about showing the UK and its representatives that the members were prepared to stand up for their country and the people. “We know what is best for Cayman," said Miller. “We are not idiots.”
Mac won’t sue Jack
(CNS): Despite impassioned pleas from the opposition benches, the government has rejected a private member’s motion to take legal action against the UK andGovernor Stuart Jack to recoup almost $7million spent on Operations Tempura and Cealt. Brought by North Side’s independent representative Ezzard Miller, the motion asked government to consider a lawsuit in the UK courts on the basis of misfeasance on the part of the governor to try and get at least some of the Cayman Tax payers’ money back.
However, even before the motion had been debated, Leader of Government Business McKeeva Bush made a statement to the House that government had taken legal advice and had concluded it would be too difficult to win in the English courts, too costly to risk and the wrong battle to fight.
However, undeterred the North Side member presented his motion, which was seconded by Anthony Eden the second elected member for Bodden Town and member of the People’s Progressive Movement opposition.
Miller told the Legislative Assembly that he believed there was enough evidence of misfeasance on the part of the governor for a court to make the decision. He explained that while he was not a great believer in conspiracy theories, when one “followed the twists and turns” of the investigations it was hard not to believe the “colonial masters are trying to shut this country down.”
Miller said that over recent years there had been a seismic shift in the roll of the governor in the Cayman Islands from one where the governor represented the interests of the Cayman people to the UK to one where the governor represented the interest of the UK in Cayman.
Passions ran high during the long debate, which saw Miller and opposition members discuss their outrage over the impact the investigations had on the country but also revealed the disdain and contempt with which the governor had held the elected officials, almost from the time he arrived on island. In an almost cathartic exercise, the opposition, which had worked with the governor for the best part of the last three years, expressed its frustrations over how the investigation was handled and the governor’s attitude toward them as elected members.
Following the government’s rejection of his motion, Miller expressed his disappointment. Hs said that it would have sent a clear message to the UK and its representative, demonstrating that the representatives of the people were prepared to stand together and no longer accept the condescending attitude of the ‘governor knows best’.
“It is not just about recovering the costs; it is about getting the story told and taking a stand,” said Miller. adding that getting the $7million back would have been nice, but the fact that the people’s representatives had taken a stand and looked for justice and asked for justice in the right place would have counted for a lot. He also said he believed the government had a very good chance of winning based on the legal advice he had sought. Miller said the court was the right place to get this clean bill of health that everyone was asking for , and it would not have been such a costly exercise as government had insisted.
With the government’s rejection of his motion, he called on the local legal fraternity to take up the cause and sue Bridger, the FCO and the governor for damage to the reputation of the jurisdiction in which they worked and made their living.
Miller also took the opportunity to point out the very pressing need for Cayman to begin the conversation about independence, as it was clear that the UK would force the issue eventually. He said it was time to “debunk the myths surrounding the independence debate".
With only Ellio Solomon and the LoGB speaking for government and rejecting the motion during the day’s intense debate, it was the opposition members and Miller who expressed the outrage felt by the entire country. An outrage over how the investigations were conducted, the costs, the damage to Cayman, as well as the individuals directly involved, the attitude of the governor and the outrage over Jack’s continued insistence that there was corruption in the jurisdiction, as well as the constant veiled threats dressed up in comparisons to the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Moses Kirkconnell, the first elected member for the Sister Islands, put the situation in stark terms when he said that Cayman could never calculate the true cost of the damage these investigations had caused to the country and its economy. “These investigations made us lose our competitive edge and I don’t know how you can ever put a value on that,” he said. Supporting Miller’s motion, Kirkconnell said he could not see any other way of clearing the country’s name but by taking it to the courts.
Having been on the receiving end of what they said was the governor’s derision and contempt as members of the last cabinet, both Arden McLean and Alden McLaughlin implored the government to support Miller’s motion and demonstrate unity among elected officials against the unilateral power of the governor and his misplaced notion that all elected officials were crooked. McLaughlin said the motion was not really about whether the lawsuit would succeed or throwing good money after bad but it presented an opportunity for elected officials to voice their concerns about the unilateral action of successive governors and the idea that the UK’ s representative was free of all human failings because he was the UK’s appointee.
“Let us not lose the opportunity to send a collective message that we are all Caymanians standing up for what is right,” McLaughlin said as he implored the government to support the motion.
McLean, unable to hide his outrage at what had happened, took the opportunity to remind everyone of how the events had unfolded and how the governor had kept the Cabinet members, elected by the people, in the dark. But above all, McLean was outraged by the governor’s constant messages regarding good governance which clearly did not apply to him, he said. “If I say I heard the phrase ‘good governance’ 9000 t,imes I would not be lying,” he said, adding that for some reason the governor decided that elected officials were the biggest bunch of thieves going and did not know what was right for their own country. Wishing the governor on his way, McLean said, “He is the worst thing that ever happened to us since Columbus landed.”
The motion was rejected by all members of government but supported by all the opposition members as well as Miller.
Cealt will continue says Jack
(CNS): In an effort to defend the discredited special police investigations in the face of widening public criticism and calls for an end to the investigations, Governor Stuart Jack has said the people are “deluding themselves” if they think there is no corruption in Cayman. He said that, though things were not as bad as in the Turks and Caicos Islands, it was wrong to think the country was free of “any corrupt or unethical behaviour in the police or elsewhere in public life” and Operation Cealt would press on. The governor claimed that his intention had only ever been to investigate any serious corruption in the police and to demonstrate determination to set high standards.
“I believe that is in the interests of good governance and ultimately, of the well-being of this community. That remains true of the ongoing Operation Cealt, which is looking into some allegations of very serious criminality.”
In a long statement the governor ponders why the public turned against Tempura and suggests that the length and cost have contributed to the “anti-Tempura atmosphere” as well as the impact on Cayman’s reputation. He suggests that people believe it is biased against Caymanians or a UK conspiracy, which he dismisses as ludicrous.
What the governor does not mention in his ruminations is the fact that SIO Martin Bridger unlawfully arrested a high court judge; that Bridger was paid more than $500,000 with no results; that within the first three days of the special police investigation team arriving they were accusing the police commissioner of being involved in a burglary that never happened; that they rejected rulings by the chief justice, the highest legal authority in Cayman; and that they took advice from lawyers who did not know Cayman law — among other things.
The governor said he believed some who were criticising Tempura were really seeking independence so they should come out and say so. He also indicated that the UK would not allow Caymanian politicians to control the police.
“The National Security Council under the new Constitution will give the people of the Cayman Islands more say over the strategies and policies adopted by the RCIPS. But the UK was rightly not prepared to give politicians in Cayman or in any other Overseas Territory, control over police operations or the appointment of senior police officers …”
Although Jack said he accepted overall responsibility for the police and the investigations, the governor does not have operational control and his role is to support the decisions, he claimed. "I supported the-then Commissioner of Police when he invited in the Metropolitan Police in 2007. I continue to support the ongoing efforts under the present Commissioner,” he said, but made no comment regarding his dismissal of Stuart Kernohan or the continued suspension of Rudolf Dixon, the deputy commissioner who was cleared of all charges by a jury in the third failed court case brought by Operation Tempura.
Not for the first time this week the governor sought to shift blame for the mistakes and the costs of these special police investigations. “Wherever I have had to take a decision linked to these investigations, I have sought local legal advice and consulted more widely. I have, on many occasions, queried why the investigations have taken so long and have urged care over the cost. However, I do not hold the purse strings,” he claimed. Conversely, the governor noted he had used his reserve powers to take money from the Cayman purse to pay when the government refused to vote the funds in the last budget appropriation for the special police investigation team (SPIT.
He denied deciding the contractual terms on which the government hired the services of the Tempura and Cealt investigators and suggested that he was not all powerful, as under the Public Management and Finance Law the governor has no spending powers. He said chief officers working with budgets approved by the Cabinet – which in practice means the elected Ministers – and ultimately by the Legislative Assembly hold government purse strings. It was not clear whether that comment was meant to convey that the elected arm of government was therefore responsible for the spending by SPIT.
“The governor is not in practice all-powerful,” he said. “On the contrary. He is generally expected under the Constitution to accept the advice of Cabinet whether or not he personally agrees with it.”
He said that the many twists and turns of Operation Tempura were not predictable, and while he acknowledged that some mistakes were made they were not as many as the critics have claimed.
“I remain unable to say as much as I would like about Operations Tempura and Cealt for legal reasons. I must not prejudice ongoing investigations into … some serious matters,” the governor claimed. “Nor must I prejudice ongoing legal proceedings. That is in part to protect the Cayman Islands from further expensive legal liabilities and in part to protect civic-minded people who have bravely come forward with information. I look forward to the day when the whole story can be told.”
In the meantime he said during his last few weeks as governor he would continue to carry out his constitutional responsibilities. He also stated that he had received some support from the individual members of the public who had come up to him and encouraged him not to be put off by certain politicians, or comments on the talk shows and in anonymous blogs.
Despite the growing calls from politicians and the public at large and the overwhelming sentiment that the investigations need to end and Cayman should be issued with a clean bill of health, Jack said to get to there the process had to be seen through to its conclusion.
In a recent announcement in the Legislative Assembly Ezzard Miller, the independent member for North Side, has vowed to bring a private members motion to the floor of the House to debate the possibility of the Cayman government suing the governor and the UK over the investigations. CNS understands that the motion has been accepted into the legislative business by the speaker and could be debated next Thursday.
Jack rejects responsibility
(CNS): In the wake of the auditor general’s special report on Operation Tempura that revealed, among other things, that the SIO was paid more than three times his police salary when he became a direct employee of the governor, the UK’s representative has said that he had urged those who were responsible to be as careful as possible with the costs of the investigation but rejected his own culpability. In a short statement following Dan Duguay’s shocking report, Stuart Jack also said that while things could have been handled differently civil servants supporting Operations Tempura and Cealt acted in good faith.
Although his office had ultimate responsibility for the discredited investigation following the suspension of then-police commissioner, Stuart Kernohan, in a short statement from his office the governor said he was not responsible for police-related budgets, but he had urged, at various points, those who were responsible “to be as careful as possible to keep down the costs of the investigations.”
The governor however does have ultimate responsibility for the official arm of government, which includes the Portfolio of Internal and External Affairs. Moreover, throughout the early stages of the overt operation Jack appeared alongside SIO Martin Bridger when making public comment about the progress of the investigation on numerous occassions.
The governor made no comment about the estimated cost of Operation Tempura and latterly Cealt, which has cost more than $6.8 million from the Cayman purse but has proved nothing other than the fact that Deputy Commissioner Anthony Ennis was not the police source of Desmond Seales (the publisher of Cayman Net News) .
Nor does Jack comment on Duguay’s findings that there was a fundamental lack of oversight of the financial management, leaving the SIO and the special police investigation team (SPIT) to essentially write their own checks. Duguay points out that there was no attempt to pursue the normal channels regarding government contracts and there was scant regard to value for money.
The governor said he believed the auditor general had a right to “look into any areas of public expenditure, including Operations Tempura and Cealt,” but that these were not routine project or purchase of services by government, and that to understand what transpired, he said, he encouraged people to read the management response at the end of the report, as well as the AG’s findings.
In his report Duguay noted how the SIO had begun working in Cayman as a member of the UK’s Metropolitan Police Service and therefore Cayman was reimbursing Scotland Yard for Bridger’s salary, at just over $8,000 per month plus paying him expenses.
Once he retired from the famous Scotland Yard and was asked to remain at the helm of Operation Tempura as a consultant, his salary was then increased to a whopping $27,400 per month.
CNS has sent questions to both the chief secretary and the governor’s offices asking who had negotiated the new rate with Bridger and how such an incredible increase was justified given that he had continued in the same post. The Governor’s Office has not yet responded. However, thechief secretary told CNS he would be happy to address questions about the auditor general’s report following the Public Account Committee’s consideration of the report. Donovan Ebanks explained that his primary responsibility is to be available to the PAC and assist by answering any questions that were likely to be in public.
Trial exposes Op Tempura
(CNS): The governor has been quick to defend his decision to support Operation Tempura and the special police investigation team (SPIT), despite the most recent court room revelations that the investigation was flawed from the very beginning. Late Friday afternoon the Governor’s Office issued a statement that Governor Stuart Jack had noted the outcome of the Lyndon Martin trial and respected the verdict of the jury, but he continued to back the investigation. During Martin’s trail, however, further serious weaknesses were exposed, especially the lack of supervision of the SPIT officers. (Photo: SPIT members at Rum Point).
While the governor said he believed it was “necessary to continue the pursuit of alleged police corruption", there was no indication of any intended investigation into the activities of Operation Tempura, no apologies to those that have been damaged by what was first described as nothing more than a “fishing expedition” by Chief Justice Anthony Smellie, then by Sir Peter Creswell as a “gross abuse of process” and, more recently, by Stuart Kernohan, the former commissioner, as “horribly wrong".
Despite all of these criticisms by experienced legal minds and a senior police officer with decades of experience regarding the conclusion that the officers jumped to within 72 hours of their arrival, the governor said that whatever may have “subsequently transpired in regard to Operation Tempura", he believes that it was important to get to the bottom of the original allegations. “It remains necessary to continue to pursue, under Operation Cealt, other allegations of police corruption,” he said.
The investigation, which has lasted more than two years and estimated to have cost the Cayman pursein excess of $10 million, has yet to prove corruption in either the police service or the judiciary. Deputy Commissioner Rudolph Dixon is the last person arrested and charged in connection with Operation Tempura yet to face trial, which is scheduled to begin on 28 September. Dixon faces misconduct charges relating to two arrests, one in June 2003 and another in April 2004, in which Dixon instructed officers to drop the cases for various reasons.
Back in May of this year both, former CoP Stuart Kernohan and Chief Superintendent John Jones were cleared of any criminal allegations, and on Friday 28 August, in what was suggested to be a deliberate and contrived move by Martin’s QC Trevor Burke in terms of timing, Jones was exonerated of all disciplinary proceedings regarding his part in the entry to Cayman Net News on 3 September to enable him to testify and bring an unsigned witness statement of Martin’s to the court as evidence.
Currently two civil actions remain outstanding — one from Burman Scott, who suffered a humiliating arrest at the hands of SPIT (allegedly to “make him talk”) with regards to the case against Dixon, and one from Kernohan, who has also filed suit against the governor, members of SPIT and the police commissioner for their collective role in his suspension and ultimately his dismissal. Neither Lyndon Martin nor John Jones have filed suit at this stage, although Martin made it clear last week in the wake of his not guilty verdict that he has not ruled it out if there was a way to make the SPIT and not the Cayman people pay.
Both SPIT and Operation Tempura are being increasingly held in contempt by the people of the Cayman Islands in the face of continuing revelations about the conduct of the officers and the cost to the tax payer without results. Further revelations are also expected when Auditor General Dan Duguay submits his Value for Money Aaudit of Operation Tempura.
Duguay said recently that the response from the parties involved has taken longer to canvas than his original investigation – a clear indication that they are not keen for its contents to be made public. Duguay said, however, despite their reluctance to return the preliminary report to him with their comments, that he was be prepared to release it without their contributions if necessary, as he said he would not allow them to continue to delay its publication.
The report is expected to reveal how much SPIT officers were earning, how much they have spent on the investigation from an operational standpoint, as well as the money wasted persuing failed legal cases, such as the Henderson judicial review. While Justice Alex Henderson was paid some CI$1.274 in damages and costs, CNS also discovered through an FOI request that Bridger had also spent more than $½ million on court costs to defend that unlawful arrest.
The integrity of Operation Tempura has been severely brought into question again by testimony from a number of witnesses who took the stand during Martin’s trial. The investigation not only seems to have been characterized by a catalogue of errors, from the covert operation being exposed through the alleged activity of one of the investigators to the unlawful arrest of a high court judge. For several months SPIT was unsupervised save for two fleeting visits by John Yates from Scotland Yard, who supposedly had oversight of the investigation.
The local strategic oversight committee was not formed until February of 2008, and even then the day to day activities of SIO Martin Bridger and what were as many as one dozen SPIT members were not directly supervised. Bridgerand others were often seen drinking in around a number of Cayman’s bars, in particular the Triple Crown and Bamboo — which sources have suggesed explains the investigation’s moniker.
Bridger has also been severely criticised by many for making the decision within a few days of arriving that Desmond Seales was a truthful and dependable witness, despite the fact that the recent trial revealed that Seales probably did have an inside police source, although it was not Anthony Ennis, and his testimony given under oath was contradicted by a number of Crown witnesses.
CNS also understands from sources that, following the result of the Henderson review, Bridger was, if not ‘leaking’, at least placing significant information about Operation Tempura with Seales in an attempt to justify the continuation of his floundering investigation. This resulted in a number of defensive stories and, in particular, editorials regarding the entry into Net News by John Evans and Justice Henderson. Despite Bridger’s decision in 2008 to stop talking to the press, one former employee of Cayman Net News told CNS that Bridger “was calling Seales on a daily basis".
The growing calls for an investigation into the actions of Tempura is based on concerns that Bridger and his team did very little actual investigating and based much of the case, as they perceived it, on documentation already in the public domain. The early assumption of the burglary was, according to Kernohan, Jones and Evans, based on information disclosed to Bridger and Ashwin on their arrival. The trial also revealed that the so-called “missing files” with regards the Dixon case were never covered up and came from information supplied by Martin.
The judgement that Seales was a reliable witness was based on his testimony given during the Charles Clifford enquiry and not the circumstances building up to Seales’ involvement in the case, according to Evans and other sources. Each of the decisions made to suspend, arrest and charge people involved were based on information that was in the documents handed to them in the first few weeks of their arrival.
The legal advice given to Operation Tempura has also been severely criticised. Martin’s trial revealed that Andre Mon Desir advised SPIT to arrest Martin for burglary despite the chief justice having already informed the team twice that no such crime had been committed. Later, based on English law and not the local penal code, Martin Polaine advised Bridger to arrest Justice Henderson. Polaine recently faced the UK Bar Standards Board and admitted fundamental errors regarding the advice he gave to SPIT and is awaiting a decision on his license.
From the beginning and until now the governor has continued to offer his full support, not just to the investigation, but to Martin Bridger as well. Even in the face of the UK’s refusal to approve more borrowing by the CI government to get through the current economic downturn, the governor’s office has given no indication that it will be bringing Operation Cealt to a close or seeking moneyfrom the UK to pay for what has become a catalogue of errors with no benefit to the people of the Cayman Islands.
Jack: ‘Glad’ Bridger came
In a statement issued on Wednesday morning, 11 March, the governor said that while mistakes had been made during Operation Tempura the investigation had succeeded in clearing the names of people who were unjustly accused of wrongdoing. “Many of us in the Cayman Islands – including myself – have acknowledged that some mistakes were made later on, as unfortunately sometimes happens with the best of intentions.”
He said he believed the Caymanian people wanted to see a better police force. "I am confident many people in the community will continue to support the actions taken by the acting commissioner of police to achieve that important national goal,” he said.
He noted that while Operation Tempura is winding down there was another report to consider and that the police operation would continue. “We must do so to provide justice for this community and for the RCIPS. The Cayman Islands’ reputation for integrity is even more important given the current economic pressures,” Governor Jack said.
“I want to reassure people who provided information to us, confidentially, that their claims have been carefully considered, and each one will be dealt with appropriately. In taking these investigations forward, I have also asked the acting commissioner and the Portfolio of Internal Affairs to look carefully at the financing arrangements to ensure that, in these difficult economic times, we are receiving the best possible value for money.”
He repeated Smith’s announcement that there will be a new senior investigating officer of this second phase investigation, known as Operation Cealt, but did not name anyone or state where the new SIO would be from.
However, he said there was a commitment to taking action against police officers who did not meet what were the high standards of the majority. “We equally remain determined to sort out key systems in the RCIPS that are not working well, so that the public can have greater confidence in their police service,” the governor added.