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Brown takes high ground after case dismissal

Ewart Brown (Photograph by Akil Simmons)

Ewart Brown, a doctor and former premier, said last night that he was “very pleased, but not at all surprised” by a United States court’s decision to throw out a civil case against the American-based Lahey Clinic in which he was alleged to be a co-conspirator.

The suit was brought by the Bermuda Government under Trevor Moniz, the former One Bermuda Alliance attorney-general, and filed against Lahey.

But Dr Brown, a Progressive Labour Party premier, said the complaint and subsequent statements to the media included “defamatory lies” about him.

He added that Mr Moniz had been ordered out of Friday’s sitting of Parliament after a clash with Wayne Caines, the Minister of National Security, over the handling of the case.

Dr Brown said the now Shadow Attorney-General had “intentionally provoked his own ejection from the House so that he would not have to face the music of his own mendacious making”.

He accused Mr Moniz of “frittering away $4 million of the people’s money” on the case and of causing damage to the Lahey Clinic.

Dr Brown added that the cost of the case was footed without Cabinet approval or attention to financial instructions.

He said it was a constitutional requirement that when the Attorney-General’s post was held by a member of the House of Assembly that all criminal matters “shall exclusively fall under the control of the Director of Public Prosecutions”. Dr Brown has also been the subject of a criminal investigation by the Bermuda Police Service.

He said: “No information — like my personal e-mails and bank balances that can only be derived from a criminal investigation — should have ended up being included in a civil complaint the former AG takes credit for filing.”

Dr Brown called for an investigation into the conduct of the case. He claimed that the former attorney-general had “colluded” with members of the police service in police raids on his two medical clinics.

Dr Brown said it was not “mere coincidence” that his clinics were searched on February 12 and 13, 2016 and the Lahey suit was filed on February 14 that year.

He added: “Only last week did I hear that, recently — over seven years after I left office — two Bermuda police officers travelled to Washington DC still in pursuit of a criminal prosecution of me.”

Dr Brown said there had been a “wilful transgression of the Bermuda Constitution” as well as abuse of process. He added that the US case and police investigation were part of an “unrelenting vendetta” based on racism.

Dr Brown said that “it cannot be right that we live in a country where only black and PLP politicians, members and sympathisers are pursued, investigated and criminally prosecuted”.

To read Ewart Brown’s statement in full, click on the PDF under “Related Media”.

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