Special Report
Letter to Baroness Amos from Leader of Government Business
21st January 2003
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2HH
ENGLAND
For the attention of Baroness Amos
Dear Valerie,
Thank you for your letter of 17th January 2003 and your expressions of concern therein. I have discussed the contents of the letter with elected members of Executive Council who have participated and approved this reply.
The expression of support for the Attorney-General, Mr. David Ballantyne and by implication, his handling of the initiation and prosecution of the Eurobank case is discomforting in the light of the evidence contained in the trial record.
The Prosecution witnesses reluctantly and only after intense cross-examination by very experienced Counsel from the United Kingdom, admitted to a series of deliberate acts which, in a nutshell, clearly demonstrated a carefully calculated course of action from the very early stages of the investigation and prosecution of the matter which were designed to pervert the course of justice.
The translation of those events into an expression of support and confidence in the professionalism and integrity of the Attorney-General leads us to believe that you have been placed in the same unfortunate position as the members of Executive Council have been in for the last few years. That is, having to rely on facts, circumstances, advice and briefings from persons whose interest is not best served by shedding light objectively and in transparent form on the full facts.
In the light of the above, the following
might be of interest to you:-
1. The Attorney-General, Mr. David Ballantyne, at all material
times was the person in charge of the Financial Reporting Unit
and the person under whose responsibility, Mr. Brian Gibbs and
his team fell.
2. The Attorney-General was the person under whose responsibility the prosecution of the Eurobank case fell and who was responsible for the oversight and direction of that case.
3. The Attorney-General employed Mr. Mitchell, who led the prosecution team on the instructions of the Attorney-General.
4. The prosecution team was headquartered in the offices occupied by Mr. Brian Gibbs and his team, which by any stretch of the imagination cannot be described as expansive, the criticism of which is not without merit.
The revelations which have been pried out of the prosecution witnesses would be embarrassing to any democratic society which treasures a rule of law, a fair and just system for its people, and adequate protections to ensure the proper workings of the doctrine of the separation of powers. The events which have transpired will continue to cause damage to the financial industry of the Cayman Islands, the main pillar of our economy and thus have a significantly adverse effect on the people of these Islands.
In most democratic countries those in charge of the departments, and in this case both departments, would accept the responsibility for these events and immediately tender their resignations opening the way for remedial action and a opportunity for steps to be taken to restore confidence in the system.
The elected members of Executive Council, as has been indicated to the Governor, have lost all confidence in the ability of the Attorney-General and each day he continues in that position, significantly more damage will be done to the financial industry, not only in the eyes of the people who live and conduct business in these Islands, but in the eyes of the international financial community.
The Attorney-General was recruited and to a large extent directed by the FCO either directly or indirectly by the Governor and it is only the FCO through the Governor who can secure his departure. We urge the FCO to reconsider their position and to take immediate steps to mitigate the extensive damage caused and to restore the confidence in our democratic systems, not only in the eyes of our people but in the eyes of the world.
To this end, we are committed to enter into reasonable and constructive dialogue and to make proposals while working with the FCO to have our concerns and those of the country addressed in a sensible and systematic manner.
As always, I will be happy to speak to you
on the telephone or to meet you at a convenient time and place
and trust that you will ensure that the necessary steps are immediately
taken to put into place a working relationship in which the interests
of the people of the Cayman Islands is returned to the forefront
of the relationship it enjoys with the United Kingdom, as it was
in the distant but not forgotten past.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely,
Hon. W. McKeeva Bush, OBE, JP
Leader of Government Business
Minister of T, E, D & C
cc: His Excellency the Governor