Governor Sir Richard Gozney has “harmed the people of Bermuda and the Government of Bermuda” during his tenure, according to former Premier Ewart Brown.And Dr Brown is calling on Whitehall, in a letter written by his lawyer, to investigate and admonish the departing Governor for his behaviour, ensure that such conduct is not repeated and secure the cooperation of the Canadian Government in bringing to justice those behind a forged cheques conspiracy.In a late afternoon press conference attended by lawyers Courtenay Griffiths, QC and Larry Scott, and his wife Wanda Henton Brown, Dr Brown made it clear yesterday that he was on a mission to clear his name of allegations of corruption that haunted much of his tenure as Premier.He released to the media a letter of complaint about the Governor — as well as a submission responding to allegations by the anonymous group, Concerned Bermudians, written on Dr Brown’s behalf by Mr Griffiths.Both were sent to the UK Minister in charge of the colonies, Henry Bellingham, this week.“The first duty of the Governor should be to defend and support Bermuda — end of story,” said Dr Brown. “That duty necessarily extends to the Government, irrespective of the Party in control of the Government or its leader or past leaders.“It is not the Governor’s job to be swayed by public opinion, the media or cocktail party gossip. His touchstone must be facts; his yardstick must be evidence. Like a good doctor, his watchword should be: First, do no harm.“Sadly, Governor Gozney has failed in this duty. He has done harm. He has harmed the people and the Government of Bermuda.“At my request, my legal team has written to the British Foreign Office setting out what we perceive as Governor Gozney’s chief sins of omission and commission during his tenure.”Those “sins” include Sir Richard’s public comments concerning unsubstantiated corruption claims by financier David Bolden and failing to take “appropriate and necessary action to pursue those involved in a criminal conspiracy to bring down the Government of Bermuda” when Dr Brown was Premier.The criminal conspiracy Dr Brown referred to involved forged cancelled cheques placed in Government files to make it appear that Dr Brown and Minister Derrick Burgess had received kickbacks from a Government contract.“As the constitutionally designated defender of Bermuda, Governor Gozney should have seen to it that the people who sought to perpetrate such a crime would be hunted to the ends of the earth,” said Dr Brown.But the Governor did nothing to assist when it was determined by the local police that one of the conspirators was in Canada.“He could have called in Scotland Yard. He could have made direct contact with the Canadian Government to emphasise the seriousness of this conspiracy,” said the former Premier.“If he felt he could not do that in person, he could and should have asked the British Foreign Office to do so for him. Instead, he did precisely nothing.”Police did investigate the possible involvement of a Canadian firm in the false cheque conspiracy in collaboration with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, according to the Auditor General’s Speical Report of January. The investigation did not reveal any wrongdoing.Sir Richard also failed to protect Bermuda’s reputation following another police investigation into Mr Bolden’s corruption allegations, Dr Brown said, even after the Police Commissioner had announced that no evidence had been found to support a criminal prosecution.Instead the Governor raised the Bolden allegations in a statement meant to address a special report by the Auditor General in January this year.“Governor Gozney brought up the totally unrelated subject of Bolden, describing Bolden’s lying allegations as ‘clear signs of criminality’, and issued a public appeal for people to come forward with criminal evidence against the government,” Dr Brown said.The Auditor General’s special report said that Cabinet’s decision to fund Dr Brown and Minister Burgess’ legal action in Canada in respect to the forged cheques conspiracy, was an inappropriate use of public funds.But Dr Brown said: “When our island’s Governor speaks publicly of “criminality” referring to our Government, and our Police Commissioner speaks of ‘corruption’ and our Auditor General speaks of ‘misuse of public funds’, all three are using expressions which damage the reputation of Bermuda at home and abroad.“For them to do so without proven evidence of criminality or misfeasance is the height of irresponsibility. The Commissioner and Auditor General, however, are not answerable to the people of Bermuda.“Under the Constitution, they answer only to the Governor. Needless to say, the Governor is not answerable to anyone on this island.“In these days of internet technology and international economic uncertainty, these public and unaccountable officials have a special duty to exercise care and caution; to act and speak on hard evidence, and not add credence to unsubstantiated and uncorroborated allegations which hurt our reputation as a leading international financial centre.”Contacted last night for comment, Sir Richard agreed that someone should be held to account for the forged cheques conspiracy.He added: “Bermuda’s law and order authorities investigated thoroughly. They concluded that no one in Bermuda could be charged with any likelihood of securing a conviction.“That is, I think, a standard test of whether to charge. Scotland Yard are most unlikely to have reached any different conclusion.”Sir Richard went on to say that he had encouraged the police to send the file to the Canadians “for them to judge whether anyone in their jurisdiction might have broken their laws” but “criminality in Canada is a sovereign matter for the Canadians, and we must let them consider whether or not someone has a case to answer in their jurisdiction”.He added that his role as Governor was to support the Government of the day, “as long as they are maintaining good governance and there was no indication otherwise in the matter of the dodgy cheques”.Sir Richard added: “Bermuda’s legal authorities were supporting two senior Ministers of the Government by sending the file to the Canadians.”Mr Bolden’s corruption claim was “a serious accusation which merits a serious investigation by the Police,” Sir Richard continued. “For my part I shall not pre-empt the Police investigation.“I am a strong believer that operational police matters are for the Police to decide, just as Chief Constables decide operational police matters in the UK.“In this case I accept that they need to investigate Mr Bolden’s claim.“They have volunteered that if their investigation does not unearth evidence which would support charges the Police will say so, publicly and clearly.”Dr Brown believes that the Governor changed his attitude toward him following his decision as Premier to bring the four Uighurs to the Island following their release from United States custody.The four Muslim men from the troubled far western Xinjiang province of China were held at Guantánamo Bay for several years until their arrival in Bermuda. At the time, Dr Brown explained the move as “humanitarian” gesture.“We both continued to function in a perfunctory manner after that, which was fine with me,” he said. “But I don’t think the relationship was ever the same.”Prior to the Uighur controversy, the relationship was “easy and casual”, Dr Brown said. “His wife and my wife got along well. Then the Uighur thing happened and it just pulled the scab off.”But it was only after Dr Brown had left office that the Governor took off his diplomatic gloves.“Since I left office I could see definite evidence of animus toward me.“When Bolden’s statements were used to launch an investigation I knew the relationship had gone south, so to speak. And he’s had time to prove whether Bolden had lied or not.”Sir Richard for his part said: “I feel no personal animus towards Dr Brown; that would be unprofessional.”