Questions raised over legal department
Peter Polack
(CNS): A local independent attorney has said that there are too many unanswered questions in relation to the legal authorities in Cayman that are of significant public concern. With a number of freedom of information requests soliciting very little information because of poor record keeping or refusals to release information, Peter Polack said that the attorney general in particular needs to answer questions regarding his chambers, the independence of the director of public prosecutions (DPP) and other concerns that have been raised about the inefficiencies in the legal department.
The silence of the government’s top lawyer, Samuel Bulgin, in the face of a catalogue of current issues in connection with criminal prosecutions and other judicial problems flies in the face of government’s goals of transparency, Polack told CNS.
“The attorney general has failed to keep relevant and important records or disclose the reasons for a failure to do so, leaving the public to draw its own conclusions,” Polack said. “Bulgin has failed to make any comment or explanation to dispel any appearance of mismanagement and poor leadership. This problem extends to other government entities who fend off probing FOI requests by simply having no system of records or staff to manually search records of an archaic system perpetuated by them,” he added.
Polack said that he has concerns that public confidence in the independence of the DDP from the AG’s chambers and the legal department is being undermined by the failure of these departments to properly answer FOI requests and the questions that are mounting about the goings-on in both the legal entities and between them.
One concern is why the AG has been unable to answer questions about the number of official or unofficial visits made to the DPP and discussions between the two departments over criminal matters over the last four years, Polack said, adding that the public has a right to know how the Office of the DPP is maintaining its independence when these consultations are being made.
A recent example of the visits was raised in the trial of Tichina Rickfield, the Work Permit Board secretary acquitted recently following an exceptionally weak case that was prosecuted by the DPP but which had involved the AG’s chambers. Although the judge found in a ruling before hearing the evidence that the AG’s staff and the immigration department were right to consult on the case, the question over why the AG was assisting the department to shore up an essentially very weak case against Rickfield has not been address.
In addition, the court heard that Rickfield had been the subject of false allegations and bullying at the hands of her immediate boss, Sherryl Miller. Although it was disclosed during the trial that Miller was present in the meetings with the AG staff, it was never disclosed that Miller was formerly the AG’s secretary.
Samuel Bulgin, Cayman Islands Attorney General
Polack also says the attorney general is not answering questions about the purpose, duration and destination of some seventeen official trips he took between 2011 and 2013 that cost the local taxpayer almost CI$150,000. He queried why the government’s lawyer would need to be away from Cayman for 58 days on official business in 2010 and why he is reluctant to answer the requests and questions relating to those trips and who else may also have been footing the bill for the government lawyer to travel and why.
However, the AG is not the only government lawyer who has spent time away from his desk. Polack claims that FOI requests have revealed that the 102 official trips off-island by his staff over the two years between 2011-1013, costing almost CI$220,000, have not been explained either.
Polack also questioned why, when there are so many highly paid lawyers in the AG’s chambers, the department spent almost $1 million on retaining outside counsel 27 times over a two-year period.
While second jobs are not uncommon in the civil service, provided there is no conflict of interest, Polack told CNS that he has concerns about how employees in the AG’s chambers were given permission for second jobs, including one attorney who was allowed to practice law externally.
“The attorney general neither provided the information nor commented on the subject of the inquiry. Let the public and their elected legislature judge this conduct,” Polack added, as he asked the top lawyer to give the public some explanations.
Category: Politics
This is just one of the many fatal mistakes this country is making. Cayman seems to be hell bent on destroying a good thing.
Destroying a good thing , you must be one of the fat cats that is taking advantage of the people and the Islands , why you think it’s a good thing. The Government/ Islands are unbalanced , and that’s what the topic is about . If not balanced , then expect it to be destroyed .
Justice, Jam down style.
It is a shame but our government does not have the will to change this cronyism. They like the bush government are only looking out for themselves.
I have read Mr Pollock article and completely agree with what he’s talking about, and after reading the comments, one is asking for him to continue to keep the pressure on, one asked for Cayman news service to get the information . The issues that Mr Pollock article is about is only some of the problems that needs to be addressed, did you read about the big phone company is trying to take away a service that allows you to make cheaper long distance calls and control your privacy all for their profits. MY suggestion is that everyone join Mr Pollock in person (not in comments) in person and go to Government and demand answers to and solutions for the problems that we are faced with. Let the government see you because they are not reading these comments.
I apologize for the misspell of Mr Polack name.
Lead the way Sharkey or are you all talk?
I am leading the way for you to do it .
I agree with you Mr Polack, that’s why this same Department didn’t want to release their credit card records when requested by FOI. CNS you need try get those I bet they will be an interesting read!!
This is not good governing but it is the best Cayman can do. Incompetence, outright corruption, cronyism, etc. etc. seemed to be part of Caymans culture and it will not change with this generation and maybe not the next. The most anyone can do is expect it, plan for it, and do the best you can with it. Or as the Caymanians who love it this way love to say: if you don’t like it leave. Nothing will change until Caymanians themselves want it to.
Please try not to paint every Civil Servant as corrupt. Many of them are not. You may question competence but please not their integrity. Now I would not say that about those higher up. Somehow somewhere a meeting will be taking place and behind the door conversations will be destroying someones character, potential for work, ability to stay on island, contract renewal etc. Its a vipers pit which even many ordinary Caymanians suffer at the hands of.
You were going well with your first three sentences and then you fell into the usual trap of blaming the higher ups/conspiracy against us ordinary decent Caymanians and contracted officers/meetings behind closed doors (where does this NOT happen?). Spoils the rest of your comment. Pity.
Check yourself.
If you know of wrongdoing and don’t report it you are also at fault.
That said if you don’t see what’s going on around you, you are blind and part of the problem
Perhaps you don’t know rite from write, wright
That is the other part of the problem.
Whistle blowing is a very dangerous activity.
Not doing anything is even more dangerous
Mr Polack, the questions you have raised highlights a myriad issues that certainly requires answers. However in the spirit of transparency (Cayman Style), none will be forth coming.
Thank you Peter Polack and I hope others take his example and ask the uncomfortable questions that need to be asked of our coddled political elite. They need to be held to a high standard of personal and professional conduct and transparency – not the opposite.
Left to draw our own conclusions indeed….without evidence to the contrary my conclusions would include incompetence, conflicts of interest, cronyism, unnecessary oversesas junkets, personal profiteering and expensive outsourcing of any “real” work that needs to be done. In other words don’t expect that just because they’re meant to be legal professionals they are acting any differently to any other part of the CIG!
I wonder how much of the annual government budget is wasted or unaccounted for every year. 25%? 40%? More? Think about that next time you’re paying duty or overpaying in local stores, or telling your international clients how much it costs to bring their business here.
Mr. Polack, pleeasse keep up the pressure! Answers are required!! The BS in our legal system must not be allowed to continue!
Of course be careful of retaliatory actions of some type, knowing the underhanded culture of our public service and political systems.