Ewart Brown arrived back on the island without incident yesterday, amid rumours that he might have been detained by authorities upon his arrival.

The former Premier and his wife were met outside LF Wade International Airport by a group of supporters and Progressive Labour Party colleagues after their flight from Boston touched down shortly before 1.30pm. Dr Brown expressed light-hearted relief at not being arrested, and thanked friends for greeting him.

“Not much happens these days that makes us feel good — this is one of them,” he added.

“We are far from the finish, but we will not run to the tape — we will run through the tape.”

Dr Brown has been the subject of a long-running police investigation into claims of corruption, which has cost several million dollars to date, and which he has strongly disputed.

He was accused of ordering excessive and unnecessary diagnostic tests via his local medical practices in a civil lawsuit filed by the Bermuda Government against the Lahey Clinic in the United States. Again, Dr Brown has strongly denied any wrongdoing. During his absence from the island, both the Brown-Darrell Clinic in Smith’s and Bermuda HealthCare Services in Paget were targeted by police, including officers from the Organised and Economic Crime Department, on February 11 and 12.

“Thankfully, our patients have continued to demonstrate confidence in BHCS and Brown-Darrell by visiting both clinics as usual,” Dr Brown told The Royal Gazette.

However, he added: “Our problem at Brown-Darrell is that since the police raided that facility, our CT scanner had to be repaired.

“Other than that, it has been business as usual.”

Dr Brown has been the subject of nearly six years of police investigations into claims of corruption, which he has dismissed as politically motivated — vowing to fight the latest action, which included the seizure of data from his practices, “with our last cent and to our final breath”.

• On occasion The Royal Gazette may decide to not allow comments on what we consider to be a controversial or contentious story. As we are legally liable for any slanderous or defamatory comments made on our website, this move is for our protection as well as that of our readers.