The Summerhaven residential home’s woes will continue until controversial chairman John Powell is removed from the board, according to residents and staff.

This newspaper understands that Mr Powell, whom a senior magistrate ruled used scare tactics against residents, has continued to visit the home for the physically disabled since the Ministry of Health and Seniors took over on December 8.

At one stage, it is understood Mr Powell removed a computer hard drive containing records from its office.

Sources said the ministry had contemplated seeking a restraining order against Mr Powell as he repeatedly returned to Summerhaven, but were frustrated in their efforts because he remains chairman of the board.

One of Mr Powell’s keenest critics, former MP Glenn Blakeney, who has a physically challenged son, told The Royal Gazette: “It appears to me that he may still be intricately involved in operations from behind the scenes.”

Mr Blakeney also expressed dismay the Government had taken so long to take action against the Summerhaven management.

Juan Wolffe, the senior magistrate, authorised the appointment of government administrators after accepting as fact a swathe of complaints against Mr Powell and staff, ranging from intimidation and harassment to bullying and the denial of access to transportation — all charges laid by Mr Blakeney in scathing remarks to MPs in November 2015.

“For this amount of time to have lapsed is inexcusable,” Mr Blakeney said, calling it “incredible” that Mr Powell and trustees remained in office.

“The board has some level of culpability. They must have known what was going on, particularly with the public dissemination of information. Why will the board not subject Mr Powell to answering fundamental questions, unless they were complicit by turning a blind eye and dismissing complaints that were incredibly worrying?

“There are still residents who feel such a level of intimidation that they will refuse to say anything that would subject them to be reprimanded, as they have in the past. It’s baffling to know there has not been any investigation. I called for an independent investigation, not for Caesar to be looking at Caesar. The ministry may have intervened to a degree, but we have seen no peeling of the layers to get to the bottom of the situation. “I am sure they will find things more serious than anyone thought. I would have thought there would be some level of forensic investigation.”

Mr Blakeney and other residents told this newspaper that bus driver Albert Carter, who Mr Wolffe found put residents’ “lives, health and wellbeing at risk”, had been retained by Summerhaven, despite the senior magistrate accepting that Mr Carter had injured a resident by shoving them, and driving the bus for his own personal use.

Jeanne Atherden, the Minister for Health and Seniors, said two weeks ago that the Government has been actively investigating complaints at the facility. While she said the situation appeared to be improving, complaints began to rise again in October, leading to this month’s takeover.

Residents had planned to celebrate Christmas Eve with a party at Summerhaven, but called it off, with staff saying many were unhappy with the lack of change.

Another objection has been the dismissal of Ricardo Wynn, a popular administrator who was abruptly fired by Mr Powell on September 28, resulting in a wrongful dismissal case.

Residents staged a protest on October 2 calling for his return, but Mr Wynn, who was hired by Mr Powell earlier in the year, said he had “decided to move on” since nothing had happened.

Saying he had been “dismissed inexplicably”, Mr Wynn added: “I am well aware that, ever since their unprecedented protest, many of the residents have kept faith that I would be reinstated, and I have decided that I no longer want that to be the case. The residents need to know from me now, in retrospect that reinstatement was never an option as far as John Powell and the board were concerned, so they can have some closure about that issue.

“I have made some really great relationships with the residents at Summerhaven, which I will continue to enjoy, I’m sure. I wish them luck with their continuing struggle to be treated as significant contributors to our community and culture, and I’ll always be just a phone call away.”

A Summerhaven resident of three years, who requested to remain anonymous, confirmed to this newspaper that Mr Powell had called numerous times on the facility, even after the ministry appointed two of its own administrators.

He described an uncomfortable atmosphere prior to the takeover, especially during lunches, as the chairman paced up and down.

“I strongly feel that he has an ace in the hole since the ministry came in,” the resident said. “His stuff was taken out of the office, but it wasn’t removed from the property. It’s in storage. And he can come and go as much as he wants. I just don’t see what the Government’s doing. They are dragging their feet.

“As long as the board is here, he’s here. And as long as he can come and go from the property, he has a psychological effect on the residents. He has threatened us, and he has told me that ‘you talk to the press, you’re out the door’. I am actually afraid of him.”