Tempura Boss, Martin Bridger, battles on alone
In the summer of 2007, journalist John Evans broke into the offices of Cayman Net News, where his employer, the newspaper owner, the late Desmond Seales, reputedly kept a file of information leaked to him by a senior Cayman Islands police officer, Deputy Police Commissioner Anthony Ellis.
The repercussions that followed involved the most senior Royal Cayman Islands Police Service (RCIPS) officer, the Metropolitan police, judges, senior lawyers, and even the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO)!
Scotland Yard was brought into investigate a claim by one of Evans’ colleagues that a senior police officer was leaking information to Cayman Net News.
Stuart Kernohan, the RCIPS Commissioner, with the support of the then governor, Stuart Jack, ordered the investigation
and Operation Tempura began. The now retired Chief Superintendent Martin Bridger arrived to head up the Operation and soon discounted the police leak investigations.
Bridger had been an anti-corruption investigator and also commander in Lambeth, a south London borough.
Evans has claimed that Kernohan suggested he try to find the documents in question.
Kernohan was later suspended, sent by Jack on required leave and later removed as Cayman’s Police Commissioner after he refused to return. Also suspended was Chief Supt. John Jones and Deputy Commissioner
Rudolph Dixon, Jones, remained on paid leave between March 2008 and August 2009, eventually came back to work with the RCIPS as of 31 August, 2009 but his contract was not renewed in late May 2012 and he left the Cayman Islands. Dixon retired from the police service after he was cleared of criminal allegations and awarded what was reported as a six-figure settlement by government.
In an article that appeared in Australia’s “Business Spectator” originally from the London Financial Times by Michael Peel on 14th Jan, 2011 it says:
Evans also claimed he had been trying to find information in response to a separate request from Justice Henderson, a Canadian who is one of a handful of full-time judges on the islands. Evans asserted that the judge had asked him to look for letters published by the paper that criticised members of the judiciary, in particular Anthony Smellie, chief justice, over their stance on legal aid and other matters. Evans added that Justice Henderson was not aware of his clandestine visit.
According to court papers, Justice Henderson acknowledged mentioning “in confidence” to Evans the “collective concern” of the judiciary over the letters, although he said he never asked the journalist to recover them.
The Tempura team began to focus more closely on the role of Justice Henderson. In September 2008, they arrested him outside his home on suspicion of misconduct in public office. He was released without charge.**
For the investigators, the arrest proved fateful. Sir Peter Cresswell, a retired English judge brought in to review the case, declared the arrest unlawful and said “failures and misrepresentations” on the Tempura side had resulted in the “gravest abuse of the process”.
Martin Polaine, a UK barrister who advised the investigators, was later expelled from the profession, admitting “fundamental and far-reaching errors” and “demonstrating poor judgement and flawed thinking”. Bridger left Tempura in 2009, amid heavy media criticism in Cayman.
The waters might have closed over the case had Polaine not decided to hit back last summer with a complaint of his own to the Foreign Office over the way the Cayman authorities handled the matter. The counter-attack, which Bridger later joined, was referred to Duncan Taylor, the Cayman governor. Polaine formally withdrew his complaint late last year, citing a lack of confidence in the process, but Bridger pressed on. He declined to comment ahead of the governor’s decision.
Taylor has asked Benjamin Aina, a London-based QC, to offer advice on how he should handle the case. The barrister handed the governor his confidential report* days before Christmas.
The nub of Polaine’s and Bridger’s argument, seen by the Financial Times, is that Tempura was checkmated by the questionable behaviour of individuals involved in the case. Polaine asks why Chief Justice Smellie, overseeing a crucial earlier Tempura legal hearing, spoke to Justice Henderson outside the courtroom about his relationship with Evans, the journalist. Polaine also claims the chief justice went to see Justice Henderson at the police station after his detention and, without notifying the arresting officers, spoke to him in a private room.
Chief Justice Smellie says his police station chat with Justice Henderson lasted less than 10 minutes, adding that it was appropriate to ensure the arrested judge had access to proper representation. He declines to comment on his conversation with Justice Henderson about Evans, beyond what he has already said in court rulings. In a February 2008 judgment, the chief justice said he did not think he should recuse himself from the case over perceived bias, adding that the Tempura investigators were free to challenge his decision.
Polaine raises further concerns about the role of Sir Peter [Cresswell], the former English judge. Sir Peter, an active member of the Flyfishers’ Club, a Piccadilly-based group dedicated to “the social intercourse of gentlemen interested in the art of flyfishing”, was in late 2009 appointed to the Cayman grand court, the latest in a series of English judges – including Lord Woolf, former lord chief justice – to have taken up post-retirement appointments in small but ambitious business centres, from the Gulf to the Caribbean.
Polaine claims Sir Peter made findings of bad faith without supporting evidence. He questions why Sir Peter met Chief Justice Smellie after arriving on the islands.
Sir Peter retorts that “at all material times” he maintained “total independence” in the case and an “appropriate and necessary distance” from those involved. He declines to comment on his judgments and says he spoke to the chief justice only very briefly on arrival in Cayman, without discussing the case.
Polaine also questions the role of Larry Covington, a Foreign Office law enforcement adviser. Polaine highlights an e-mail that suggests Kernohan, the police commissioner, briefed Covington on the Cayman Net News office search on the very night it happened. Covington referred Financial Times questions to the Foreign Office press office, which declined to comment.
A final – and potentially even more significant – strand of Polaine’s dossier is his claim that Tempura heard disturbing allegations from about 70 people of a much wider pattern of graft and misconduct in Cayman. “Many of those who came forward said they had been waiting for years to have sufficient confidence in a team who seemed serious about tackling corruption,” he asserts.
The whole article can be found at:
* The report contained 185 pages and has never been made public. A copy of the latest report is understood to have been handed to Mr. Bridger.
** Judge Henderson was later awarded more than £1m for his wrongful arrest.
The sacked police chief, Stuart Kernohan, was due to appear at a mediation hearing in June in London to try to reach a deal over his claim against the Attorney-General of the islands, but this did not happen because of the civil action involving Bridger has taken out and involving the “sensitive” documents. Kernohan is also suing Bridger for wrongful dismissal.
In a statement that appeared on local journalist and magazine proprietor David Legge’s website “The Legge Report” and who was acting as spokesperson for Stuart Kernohan on May 1 2009, it said:
After 13 months of investigation and a cost of several million dollars, the Cayman Islands Government Legal Department has announced that no criminal charges will be brought against former Cayman Islands Police Commissioner Stuart Kernohan and that the investigation into Mr. Kernohan is over.
The announcement came in a letter to Mr. Kernohan’s attorneys, Campbells, dated Thursday, April 30, 2009, from Anne Lawrence of “Operation Tempura,” the “code name” for the Metropolitan Police Service’s investigation into the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service.
In her letter, Ms. Lawrence stated, “I write to inform you that following advice received from the Cayman Islands Legal Department a decision has been taken that no criminal charges be brought against Stuart Kernohan. I can confirm that the investigation concerning your client is now closed.”
It remains unclear if or when Governor Stuart Jack will be issuing a public statement of apology and exoneration regarding Mr. Kernohan. In any case, civil lawsuits for substantial damages are likely to follow.
Similarly, Mr. Kernohan’s advisors are currently reviewing the media coverage of the case over the last 13 months to determine whether any instances of libel, slander, malice, or reckless disregard for the truth have taken place. It is known that the review is focussing on the coverage of one media house, in particular.
Interestingly, the closure of the inquiry into Mr. Kernohan coincided to the day that Senior Investigating Officer Martin Bridger, who has headed up “Operation Tempura,” left the Cayman Islands to return to Great Britain.
Upon learning of the Legal Department’s announcement, Mr. Kernohan expressed both relief and anger. He has steadfastly maintained his total innocence since Governor Jack placed him on “required leave” at a press conference on March 27, 2008.
Mr. Kernohan said: “It is unbelievable that it took 13 months to reach this conclusion which was blatantly obvious from the outset. Jack was fully aware of the circumstances regarding the early stages of the enquiry, having been briefed by myself and Chief Superintendent John Jones. He and Bridger were informed by the Chief Justice of his opinion on the entry to the Cayman Net News offices—that no criminal offense had been committed.
“I was not even in charge of the enquiry at that stage on Sept. 3, 2007, having asked Jack to allow me to stand down several days earlier.”
At that March 27 press conference, Governor Jack, flanked by SIO Bridger and incoming Acting Police Commissioner David George, told the assembled media that Mr. Kernohan was not under investigation.
However, it since has become public knowledge that on two separate occasions, late February 2008 and on March 20, 2008, Governor Jack’s own Special Counsel petitioned the Chief Justice of the Cayman Islands, the Hon. Anthony Smellie QC, to obtain warrants to search the home and offices of Mr. Kernohan.
In his 51 page ruling issued on April 4, 2008, Chief Justice Smellie, in denying the search warrants, stated:
“ . . . [a] flaw that underlays the present application for a search warrant against the first two of these three subjects [Police Commissioner Kernohan and Chief Superintendant John Jones] — where without any reasonable cause shown to suspect that they hold any evidence whatsoever of incriminatory value, this Court should be asked to issue search warrants against them for what could only be described as ‘a fishing expedition’ in the words of Lord Denning and what Supt. Bridger was reduced to acknowledging before me—in light of what is already known about this case was really and quite generally only his team’s quest for the truth . . .
“Given the circumstances which presented themselves to the Com. Pol [Mr. Kernohan] and Ch. Supt. Jones at the time when they encouraged or enlisted [Lyndon] Martin and/or [John] Evans to enter the Newspaper premises, there is no reasonable basis for concluding on careful application of the law, that the Com. Pol or Chief Supt. Jones committed any criminal offense.” (emphasis added)
Mr. Kernohan’s attorneys previously pointed out months ago upon Chief Justice Smellie’s April 4, 2008, ruling being publicly disclosed that Governor Jack, SIO Bridger, and others knew—and withheld from the Cayman public, and indeed Mr. Kernohan himself—the information contained in that ruling. A legal case is probably being explored as to whether the purposeful withholding of such critical information exonerating in part Mr. Kernohan constituted malice.
The issue, of course, arises as to why the Governor, upon reading the Chief Justice’s ruling, did not immediately re-instate Mr. Kernohan to his post. Instead, Governor Jack and SIO Bridger, with the knowledge that no criminal offense had taken place, began to explore the lesser common law offense of “misconduct in public office.”
That decision allowed Inspector Bridger to extend his stay in the Cayman Islands for many more months along with an expenditure of untold additional public funds.
Subsequently, in mid-April 2008, Mr. Kernohan left the Cayman Islands to be with his father, who was terminally ill in the UK.
Following Mr. Kernohan’s departure and the passing of his father, Governor Jack ordered Mr. Kernohan to return to Grand Cayman. Mr. Kernohan, through his attorneys, declined to do so, contending this Governor had no authority or power under law to order Mr. Kernohan to return, since he had not been charged with any crime nor had he been placed under “house arrest.”
On numerous occasions, Mr. Kernohan’s attorneys asked Governor Jack’s counsel to cite in law where the Governor had lawful authority to restrict Mr. Kernohan’s travel or residence. To date, no legal basis for the Governor’s decision in demanding Mr. Kernohan to return to Cayman, but not for the purpose of resuming his post, has been forthcoming.
On Nov. 18, 2008, Governor Jack fired Mr. Kernohan.
To view the whole report go to:
http://www.leggereport.com/2009/05/
One of the lawyers closely involved in the case told UK’s newspaper ‘The Independent’, “Someone has made a complete and utter cock-up and unless people start disclosing documents we won’t find out who it was.”
The UK’s Daily Mail also ran a series of critical stories about the police “Sunshine Squad” amid claims of drinking and hard partying by members of Mr Bridger’s team.
“Anybody who blows the whistle or creates trouble [in Cayman] is dead meat,” said Jack Blum, a Washington lawyer who works on offshore issues. “There are the cops and the people who try to do the right thing and then there are the people trying to protect the financial centres and business that comes through as a result.”
Bridger’s complaint is now being heard behind closed doors – see today’s Editorial – and it is believed he has hundreds of documents relevant to the whole Tempura affair, as he was a “meticulous” police officer.
It is understood Cayman Islands Attorney General (AG), Hon. Samuel W. Bulgin, is doing everything in his power to prevent Bridger from disclosing his documents that will also be required in Kernohan’s law suit against him.
Cayman Islands Governor Duncan Taylor dismissed all aspects of the complaint in and refused to comment on it or release any details. In a statement he said:
“In early Summer 2010, Mr. Martin Polaine made a complaint to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office about certain aspects of the Operation Tempura investigation in the Cayman Islands. The complaint was referred to me, as Governor, for consideration. Mr. Martin Bridger later asked to be considered a joint complainant. Mr. Polaine subsequently withdrew his complaint and Mr. Bridger took full ownership of it.
“I was not the Governor during the period of Operation Tempura and did not have first-hand knowledge of events which had transpired during those years. Due to the factual and legal complexity of the complaint and the large amount of documents which had to be considered, in late August 2010 I instructed independent Queen’s Counsel from London to advise me on how to proceed.
“I have now received detailed legal advice in respect of the complaint. “I am still considering some aspects of that advice but I have reached a conclusion in regard to the complaint as it touches on the Judiciary. I have dismissed all the complaints made against the Judiciary, namely those complaints made against the Chief Justice, Mr. Justice Henderson and Mr. Justice Cresswell.
“I have seen an article in the Financial Times dated 13 January 2011 touching upon some of these matters. The allegations referred to in that article appear to be similar to certain allegations in the complaint. I consider that any allegations raised against the Judiciary of the Cayman Islands in that article inferring that they had conspired to frustrate or interfere with Operation Tempura are unfounded and without justification.
“In due course and once I have concluded consideration of all aspects of the complaint I shall make a further statement.
“I would like to take this opportunity to make clear that I have every confidence in the Judiciary of the Cayman Islands.”
The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office said it did hold certain information about the initial complaint, but said the details should be exempted from release under Britain’s Freedom of Information Act.
“Disclosure would be prejudicial to the effective conduct of international relations between the United Kingdom and the Cayman Islands, which depends upon maintaining trust and confidence between the governments,” the FCO response to the open records request read. “We judge that disclosure of the information requested could lead to a loss of confidence within the international community, which could impact negatively on the Cayman Islands’ reputation and, more directly, on its financial services industry.”
Also, the UK is concerned about “more circumspect reporting” from the overseas territories’ governors if the people in those positions feel their reports from the territories will be subject to open records requests.
Martin Bridger battles on alone but are the Scales of Justice weighted down too much against him.
