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Faced with calls for his resignation and a barrage of criticisms locally and internationally due to the collapse of the controversial Euro Bank trail, the ...

Attorney General Firm

Under intense criticism, pressure and scrutiny from the Cayman Islands and the international media, Attorney General Mr. David Ballantyne is on the defensive, saying he did nothing wrong in the Euro Bank trial and indicating that he will not be resigning.

Attorney General,
Hon. David Ballantyne

Mr. Ballantyne issued two separate statements on Monday January 20, saying he "cannot and do not accept the complaints of the (Elected) Members of the Executive Council in their letter" to Governor Mr. Bruce Dinwiddy, and the other in relation to an article which appeared in the Sunday London Times on January 19, 2003.

"Having been made aware of what has been said by the elected Members of Executive Council, I do not accept what they say as representing the truth of the matter nor as fairly reflecting the judgement of the Chief Justice, in which he expressly declined to find that I and indeed the prosecution team acted in bad faith," Mr. Ballantyne said.

The Attorney General said that throughout the case he acted in what he believed to be in the best interests of the Cayman Islands, adding that his primary concern was to ensure that the defendants received a fair trial.

After meeting with the Governor on Thursday January 16, 2003 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).

"In so far as the conduct and presentation of the case is concerned including the question of disclosure I instructed and relied upon the advice of experienced senior counsel," Mr. Ballantyne added.

"If with regard to disclosure I was party to any error of judgement that is a matter of regret. But I want to repeat that all times I was acting in what I understood to be the best interests of the Cayman Islands and in the best interests of justice."

On January 14, the four defendants in the Euro Bank money laundering trial, 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 his press statement, Mr. Ballantyne added: "I would like to emphasise that I took no part nor was I in any way responsible for the destruction of documents by Mr. Brian Gibbs which took place without my knowledge, as he has already confirmed and as appears from the judgement of the Chief Justice. Nor was I party to any intention or any attempt to deceive the court or the defence. At no time was I concerned to act otherwise than with absolute fairness.

"I do not accept that the Government had not been informed. The Leader of Government Business (the Hon. McKeeva Bush) and his Deputy (the Hon. Linford Pierson) were informed in December 2002 by me that the case was in difficulties.

"In so far as the elected Members' letter suggests that I have ever had any intention to harm the financial services industry, nothing could be further from the truth.

"It is a misunderstanding to attribute the liquidation of the bank to my advice or to me. The bank was put into voluntary liquidation following an independent report by the controllers appointed by Executive Council. Recently I obtained legal advice on challenging the EU tax savings directive and secured an economic impact assessment, both of which should be of considerable benefit to the Cayman Islands.

"These are only the most recent examples of my efforts to serve the interests of these Islands and their people in a professional manner, and to the best of my ability," Mr. Ballantyne added.
The Attorney General said he has offered to explain his position to Members of Executive Council and remain more than willing to do this if given the opportunity.

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, who left the island with his wife last Thursday, 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.

Meantime, the Attorney General also responded, in a separate release article appeared in the Sunday Times on 19 January, on the subject of the Euro Bank trial.

He said the article is inaccurate in a number of respects and he wanted to set the record straight, in so far as his alleged failure to disclose relevant evidence is concerned.

Mr. Ballantyne said that in April/May, 2002, the prosecuting counsel who had the conduct of this case, Mr. Andrew Mitchell QC was made aware by the UK Government Agency of the existence of documents in London potentially relevant to this case.

"On being informed of this development I went to London to join prosecuting counsel with the intention of ensuring that the trial which was imminent could be conducted fairly by achieving disclosure of all material relevant to the case, and also to address public interest immunity issues (i.e. to consider whether the public interest required an application by the prosecution to the Court for such disclosure to be limited.)

"Documents were identified in London, initially by prosecuting counsel and then confirmed by myself, as being relevant to the case.

"They were therefore either disclosable to the defence or as we considered in certain cases, potentially subject to public interest immunity. It was therefore decided that all relevant documents were to be returned to or made available in the Cayman Islands for the purpose of such disclosure or the assertion of the public interest immunity claim by application to the Court."

Mr. Ballantyne added: "It was not until November 2002 that I learned from Mr. Mitchell that the understanding regarding disclosure reached in May had not been carried out fully and that copies of material intended by the prosecution team and myself to have been disclosed had in fact been destroyed by Mr. Brian Gibbs. The documents destroyed included copies of records made by Mr. Gibbs in the Cayman Islands and sent to London, where they had been seen by Mr. Mitchell and myself."

He said the disclosure arrangements made in April/May, as he understood them, did not involve any intention to represent to the Court or the Defence that the documents had been on Mr. Gibbs' file in the Cayman Islands all along.

"I would emphasise that at no time was I party to any destruction or suppression of documents; on the contrary, at all times I have sought to act in the interests of justice and a fair trial.

"It should also be noted that the trial judge expressly declined to find that either prosecuting counsel or I myself, the Attorney General, had acted in bad faith."

In their letter to the Governor, The Elected 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 Elected ExCo Members said.

The Leader of Government Business, the Hon. McKeeva Bush and other members of the United Democratic Movement (UDP) held a packed public meeting on the evening of Monday, January 20, in George Town.

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