Last Thursday, hours after Elected Members of ExCo asked the Governor to revoke the appointment of key officials in the Euro Bank debacle it is now known that ...
Gibbs Gone, AG Silent
Director of the Financial Reporting Unit (FRU) Mr. Brian Gibbs left the Cayman Islands with his wife Lynda on a flight to Miami last Thursday evening.
H.E. the Governor, Mr. Bruce Dinwiddy, Chief Justice, Hon. Anthony Smellie, Attorney General, Hon. David Ballantyne, Mr. Brian Gibbs of the FRU
Standing firm together: The Elected Members of the Executive Council (left to right) Hon. Roy Bodden, Dr. the Hon. Frank McField, Hon. Gilbert McLean, Leader of Government Business Hon. McKeeva Bush and Deputy Leader of Government Business Hon. Linford Pierson.
He was one of two persons whose appointment Elected Members of the Executive Council (ExCo) requested His Excellency the Governor Mr. Bruce Dinwiddy to revoke in a letter dated Thursday January 16, 2003. The other person was Attorney General Mr. David Ballantyne whose appointment was asked to be terminated with "immediate effect".
Mr. Kevin Mowbray, Staff Officer to the Governor, told Cayman Net News that Mr. Gibbs informed the Governor, to whom he reports, that he was leaving the country on Thursday.
Mr. Mowbray said he could not confirm whether Mr. Gibbs has left the country temporarily or permanently or if he had resigned his post.
However, Cayman Net News was reliably informed that Mr. Gibbs' two adult children are still in the Cayman Islands.
Mr. Gibbs was a key figure in the Euro Bank money laundering trial which collapsed on January 14, 2003.
The four defendants, Mr. Donald Stewart, Mr. Brian Cunha, Mr. Ivan Burges and Ms. Judith Donegan, were acquitted by Chief Justice the Hon. Anthony Smellie, after the Attorney General offered no further evidence against them.
In a ruling delivered prior to the end of the trial, the Chief Justice said Mr. Gibbs told lies, deliberately failed to disclose and knowingly destroyed evidence which he was aware was highly relevant to the Euro Bank trial on the instructions of his controlling agent of the United Kingdom Government (UKG) when, on 2nd July 2002, he was telephoned and told by that agent that a search warrant was to be executed at the FRU and at his home by the Commissioner of Police.
Up to press time, Cayman Net News could
not confirm whether the Attorney General had resigned.
Several calls to his office were not returned.
After meeting with the Governor on Thursday and calling for the termination of the Attorney General's appointment with immediate effect, the Elected Members of ExCo also informed the Governor that they will no longer sit with the Attorney General in ExCo or the Legislative Assembly (LA).
The ExCo members (the Hon. McKeeva Bush, the Hon. Linford Pierson, the Hon. Gilbert McLean, Dr. the Hon. Frank McField and the Hon. Roy Bodden) have asked Mr. Dinwiddy to appoint Solicitor General Mr. Sam Bulgin as Attorney General so he would be able to attend ExCo meetings in that capacity.
In addition, the ExCo members, have asked the Governor to ensure that Mr. Gibbs has no further involvement in the FRU or law enforcement in the Cayman Islands.
In the strongly worded three-page letter, the ExCo members want Mr. Dinwiddy to request the Commissioner of Police to "take the appropriate actions to remove all persons who previously held positions in the FRU and also to take appropriate steps to begin the process of restructuring" the unit.
The letter also requested that the Governor requests a full accounting from the Attorney General of all costs and expenses to date of the Euro Bank trial, with appropriate information including full particulars of payments to attorneys and advisors.
"We request you to take appropriate steps to secure from the United Kingdom necessary arrangements for indemnifying the Cayman Islands Government for the costs and expenses borne to date by this Government in connection with the Euro Bank trial and the possible future liabilities of the Government of the Cayman Islands to the defendants and others who may have suffered damages arising out of matters related to the prosecution and investigation of the Euro Bank matter," the letter stated.
It continued: "As you are no doubt aware, Members of the Legislative Assembly and the public are increasingly calling upon the Government to give a full explanation of various matters which have come to light over the last week and the actions which the elected Members of Government propose to take as a result of the revelations.
"The elected Members of Government will have to deal with these matters as best as they can and to discharge in a democratic manner, the duties which have been entrusted to them by the public."
The ExCo members said they have had the opportunity to meet and consider at length the findings of fact based on the evidence given in court in relation to the Euro Bank matter.
"We have also had the opportunity to review the Attorney General's statements and submissions to the Court which gave rise to the collapse of the trial and the return of verdicts of not guilty against all defendants," the letter continued.
The Government Ministers said there could be no doubt from the startling events which took place that:
· There has been an abuse of the Court's process by the prosecution team lead by the Attorney General under whose responsibility the FRU fell.
· Doubt has been cast on the efficacy of the investigation and presentation by the prosecution team and its investigators, a matter which fell under the responsibility of the Attorney General.
· As a result of the above abuses, the defendants were denied a fair trial.
· At the very least, a grossly negligent approach by the prosecution to its duty of disclosure to the Defendants and to the Court has occurred.
· The Government, on the recommendation of Mr. Brian Gibbs and on the advice of Attorney General on information channeled through the Monetary Authority, took various actions to intercede and cause the liquidation of Euro Bank, a solvent entity.
· The U.K. Government Agency in London referred to in the Euro Bank case has quite obviously been in-volved in clandestine operations in the Cayman Islands with the goal of interfering with various aspects of the financial industry and causing irreversible damage to the same.
· Mr. Brian Gibbs was one of their main agents in the Cayman Islands.
· The Attorney General, it appears, had knowledge of the operations and quite clearly has assisted in the execution of that plan.
· At no time did the Attorney General find it appropriate to bring to the attention of Executive Council the events which appear to have been unfolding in the Euro Bank trial from late November.
· His actions in other matters of material importance to the financial industry, in particular his dealings with the interpretation of whether or not tax evasion was to be regarded as a predicate offence for the purposes of our anti-money laundering statutes, enforces our grave concerns.
The ExCo members have the support of the other five United Democratic Party (UDP) Members of the Legislative Assembly, and hence a majority of the 15 elected members.
Meanwhile, the UDP has called a public meeting to be held on the steps of the Legislative Assembly for Monday, 20 January at 7:30 p.m.