The main news item of the month has to be the collapse of the Euro Bank trial.<br>On 14th January, the Chief Justice, Mr. Anthony Smellie, instructed the jury to return "Not guilty" verdicts against and all four defendants – bankers Donald Stewart, Brian Cunha, Ivan Burges and Judith Donegan – of all charges. This followed after the Attorney General, Mr. David Ballentyne, had indicated that no more evidence brought in the case. <br><br>The trial followd a three-year investigation into the collapse of the Euro Bank Corporation, which was suspected of laundering money for organised crime in the US. The defendants, all former bank employees, were alleged to have aided a Californian conman who staged at £15m credit card fraud. <br><br>The trial started in June last year, in a purpose-built computerised court room costing nearly CI$300,000. Much of the last month of the trial had been held "in camera" (without the jury present) whilst legal arguments were presented.<br>The judge became worried that his telephone was being bugged, although he had no evidence to back this up. <br><br>Brian Gibbs, a former Scotland Yard detective, and director of the Cayman Island's Finacial Reporting Unit (FRU) since 1990, was responsible for preparing much of the evidence for court. During the trial, it emerged that Gibbs had sent some documentation to London to MI6 (the UK equivalent of the CIA). He had been one of theer agents since 1991, reporting suspicious transactions to them for a salary of £1,000 per month. When the defence requested to see some of the documents that Gibbs had sent to London, MI6 blocked the request (without the judge's knowledge). This decision was endorsed by David Ballantyre, and it was agreed after a meeting between Balantyre, Gibbs and MI6 that any material released would be made to look as if it had been in the FRU's files all along.<br>During the trial a witness, Edward Warwick, made some comments about meetings/conversations he had had with Gibbs. The upshot was that the Chief Justice ordered Gibbs to make a statement. Gibbs was then cross examined by the defence attorneys, and four statements and several days later the "truth" slowly emerged. <br><br>Gibb's London controller disovered that the Cayman Islands police were going to search Gibb's home to investigate Smellie's bugging allegations and ordered Gibbs to destroy any paper work he may have had that would reveal his London connection. <br><br>During the trial a witness, Edward Warwick, made some comments about meetings/conversations he had had with Gibbs. The upshot was that the Chief Justice ordered Gibbs to make a statement. Gibbs was then cross examined by the defence attorneys, and four statements and several days later the "truth" slowly emerged. <br><br>The Chief Justice made his ruling in a 47-page report in which he said Gibbs "deliberately failed to disclose and destroyed evidence which he knew to be highly relevant to the trial."<br><br>The director of the FRU has now resigned and left the islands because, as the Governor Mr. Bruce Dinwiddy explained, "because of a potential risk to his personal safety". This has lead to the Leader of Government Business, McKeeva Bush, to retort "the statement that Mr. Gibbs' personal safety was ever at risk in the Cayman Islands is completely untrue in addition to being unwarranted and highly irresponsible in respect of the reputation of this country."<br>There are calls for the Attorney General to be sacked, and for an investigation into the way FRU and Attorney General's offices are run. The Cayman Islands government was ordered to pay the court costs of the defendents, so far totalling over CI$2.3m. <br><br>A full copy of the Chief Justices FINDINGS OF FACT ON THE ABUSE OF PROCESS APPLICATION is available at
http://www.offshorebusiness.com/KYC/Documents/jan1403eurobankabuseofprocess.htm. <br><br>The four defendants are now enjoying their freedom. For the last three-and-a-half years they have been banned from leaving the island, going any where near the airport (even to meet friends), or even take a boat ride. Even a tennis tournament that took place during the downpour (see below) didn't dampen the spirits of the defendants and supporters during the celebrations! <br><br>Continental Airlines has announced that it plans to start flights from it's Houston hub to Grand Cayman on 2nd May 2003. There will be four flight a week, on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. <br><br>Cayman has had a very wet January, with over nine inches of rain falling in one six-hour spell, leading to widespread flooding and damage to homes and property. As this happened out of the hurricane season, there were no long-term advanced warnings and so there was little preparation for the bad weather. <br>
