The husband of Kathy Lynn Simmons, the Attorney-General, has refused to speak publicly about a controversial contract that he was awarded by his wife’s ministry.

Myron Simmons, a lawyer, was employed as a consultant in the Attorney-General’s Chambers from April 2023 up until the end of last month.

His firm, Onyx Law Ltd, was paid $20,833 per month to provide “specialist” legal advice to the Government for “various intricate matters”. The contract was approved by his wife, who is also the Minister of Legal Affairs and Constitutional Reform.

When contacted by The Royal Gazette this week, Mr Simmons was unwilling to discuss the issue. He did suggest that the contracts showed that there was nothing controversial about his appointment as a consultant.

He said: “The contracts speak for themselves. I know that the Government discloses that information, so you can go to them and see whatever the contract is. You can do your own investigation and draw your own conclusions.”

“Government has contracts with lots of companies, so why are you only investigating Onyx?”

Mr Simmons had been a salaried employee working as a senior counsel under his wife at the Attorney-General’s Chambers until his resignation from the department at the end of March.

He was immediately taken on as a contractor on a short-term, three-month contract from April 1 and was paid a monthly salary of $13,721.96.

David Burt, the Premier and Minister of Finance, revealed those contract details when questioned by the One Bermuda Alliance in the House of Assembly in May.

A spokeswoman for the legal affairs ministry said later that Mr Simmons was initially retained for three months following his resignation until his replacement could be recruited.

However, new disclosures made by the Attorney-General’s Chambers under Pati regulations show that the Government also hired Onyx Law Ltd as a consultant to provide “independent legal services” between May and December.

Onyx Law was set up by Mr Simmons in April. According to a government notice, his company was paid $166,664 for services for eight months at $20, 833 per month — more than $7,000 in excess of what Mr Simmons was paid for his three months as a consultant between April and June.

Questioned by The Royal Gazette, a ministry spokeswoman did not explain why Mr Burt failed to mention the Onyx contract when he answered the OBA’s questions in the House on May 19. The retainer agreement drafted by Onyx had been signed by Melvin Douglas, the Solicitor-General, on May 2.

The Royal Gazette has seen a copy of the retainer agreement between Onyx and the Attorney-General’s Chambers, and also several invoices that were submitted by Mr Simmons and/or Onyx.

The invoices show that Mr Simmons often worked ten-hour days advising numerous government ministries on a wide range of matters.

In a statement, the ministry spokeswoman confirmed that the Attorney-General’s Chambers “occasionally retains law firms to provide specialised legal services”.

The spokeswoman also acknowledged that the appointment of Mr Simmons was approved by his wife as the Attorney-General.

The spokeswoman said: “In this instance, as the Senior Crown Counsel specialist post in the Attorney-General’s Chambers is currently vacant, pending the completion of the recruitment process, permission was granted by the Attorney-General to retain specialist legal services for various intricate matters.

“A candidate for the Senior Crown Counsel [specialist] post has been selected and should begin in April.

“The owner of Onyx Law has considerable expertise in property law matters and was considered the best value for money for providing much needed specialist services at the most competitive rate, when compared with other local law firm rates.”

The spokeswoman denied that Mr Simmons was “double paid“ during May and June — the two months when his personal consultancy contract overlapped with the Onyx deal.

She said: “The Attorney-General’s Chambers can confirm that in accordance with financial instructions, no double payment was made for these services.”

Asked why the consultancy contract was not put out to tender, the spokeswoman said: “It should be noted that there is no requirement to tender for the provision of legal services as per financial instructions, which state that the code does not apply to ‘the engagement of legal counsel by the Attorney-General or engagement of external counsel to provide specialised services with the approval of the Attorney-General’.”

The spokeswoman said that the Onyx contract ran until the end of December, but was extended for one month until the end of January.

A replacement senior counsel is due to start work in two months.

The spokeswoman added: “Any ongoing matters will be distributed among the Chambers’ counsel, considering the imminent commencement of counsel in the relevant post.”

During his telephone interview with The Royal Gazette this week, Mr Simmons initially said that his contract was for just one month. When it was pointed out to him that his company had been paid more than $166,000 for eight months of work last year, Mr Simmons refused to provide any further details.

Asked whether his company was still hired by the Attorney-General’s Chambers, he replied: “It’s none of your business. I don’t know who you are. You say that you’re from The Royal Gazette but I don’t know that. I don’t have to confirm or deny anything.

“I don’t normally speak to the Gazette and I don’t know what you want to chat about. If I have a contract with the Government, that is a matter between me and them.”

Mr Simmons did not respond to further calls or e-mail questions.

He previously courted controversy after he failed to pay $52,000 in stamp duty on behalf of clients when he was in private practice.

In a March 2022 judgment, Puisne Judge Larry Mussenden described Mr Simmons’s conduct as “suspicious”, adding that he would refer the matter to the Commissioner of Police and the Director of Public Prosecutions.