By Peter Polack

Peter Polack

Former Cayman Islands governor Martyn Roper, a Foreign, Commonwealth and Development officer, has failed to respond to allegations against retired Cayman Islands Monetary Authority official Langston Sibblies. Sibblies was recommended and given a Queen’s honour through Roper as well as being appointed to many government boards including the Law Reform Commission and the Judicial and Legal Services Commission. The JCLS board appoints judges including the recent  Chief Justice, Margaret Ramsay-Hale.

In an email of 1 March 2023 Roper was queried on the following matters:

1. Comment by the Governor on the two recent news articles to include the Governor’s knowledge of Langston Sibblies KC as the Director of Public Prosecutions during the Marxist regime of the People’s Revolutionary Government of Maurice Bishop in Grenada that included the criminal, unlawful incarceration and harm to hundreds of democratic leaning political opponents.
2. Comment by the Governor on any information to his knowledge of penetration of the Cayman Islands government entities including the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority by former Marxist revolutionaries and members of the Jamaican Communist Workers Party of Jamaica of which Langston Sibblies KC was an official member.
3. Comment by the Governor on any information to his knowledge of penetration of the Cayman Islands government entities including the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority by Russian direct and indirect agents.
4. Comment by the Governor on whether former Marxist revolutionaries and members of the Jamaican Communist Workers Party of Jamaica of which Langston Sibblies KC was an official member possess licensed firearms in the Cayman Islands.
5. Comment by the Governor on whether former Marxist revolutionaries and members of the Jamaican Communist Workers Party of Jamaica of which Langston Sibblies QC was an official member were granted Caymanian Status.

Roper has not commented on the allegations and has remained silent.

During the Sibblies chairmanship of the Law Reform Commission the Cayman Islands the Police Law was amended by section 149 to allow an adverse inference to be drawn when an accused person chooses to remain silent.

A 30 January 2023 Freedom of Information request on whether the Governor’s Office performed a background check on proposed Queen’s Counsel or a background check on Langston Sibblies before award of Queen’s Counsel elicited a response by Lisa Carroll of the Governor’s Office that the Governor’s Office doesn’t have any records related to the FOI request.

Roper was replaced by Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office career diplomat Jane Owen this month.

From: Governors Office Cayman <[email protected]> 
Sent: Wednesday, March 1, 2023 10:59 AM
To: Peter Polack 
Subject: RE: FOI Request – Award of Queen’s Counsel

Good morning Mr Polack – thank you for your e-mail.

The Governor’s Office doesn’t have any records related to your FOI request however I attach a copy of a press release which is in the public domain and sets out the history of such appointments in the OTs.

Kind regards

Lisa Carroll | Corporate Services Manager and Policy Officer | Governor’s Office  | Cayman Islands  

Suite 101, Fifth floor, Government Administration Building, Grand Cayman, KY1-9000

Peter Polack was a former criminal lawyer in the Cayman Islands for several decades. He is the author of The Last Hot Battle of the Cold War: South Africa vs. Cuba in the Angolan Civil War (2013), Jamaica, The Land of Film (2017) and Guerrilla Warfare: Kings of Revolution (2018). He was a contributor to Encyclopedia of Warfare (2013) and worked as a part-time reporter for Reuters News Agency in the Cayman Islands 2014-19 but now lives in Canada. His work has been published in Small Wars Journal, Defence Procurement International, American Intelligence Journal, U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center magazine, Military Times, Foreign Policy News, EU Today, Radio Free Europe, VOA Portuguese, South Africa Times, History Cooperative, INews Cayman, Jamaica Gleaner, Miami Herald, Reuters, Toronto Star and The New York Times. His latest book entitled Soviet Spies Worldwide: Country by Country, 1940–1988 will be published by McFarland. He is presently researching his next book The Grenada Gulag.

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