Attorney General Returns To Cayman

by Amanda Banks, Tax-News.com, London

28 February 2003

Reports in the Caymanian media this week have revealed that Attorney General, David Ballantyne returned to the jurisdiction on Sunday, and is, for the moment at least, continuing with his normal work schedule.

According to a Cayman Net News report, Mr Ballantyne has agreed to leave office following a no confidence motion over his role in the collapse of the Eurobank money laundering trial, but only under certain terms, which were presumably discussed during the recent meeting between Baroness Valerie Amos and Cayman's leader of government business, the Hon McKeeva Bush.

The news service revealed that the Attorney General has almost two years left to run on his existing contract, and will, according to unnamed sources, be offered a severance package which takes that fact into account.

''It would appear,' Cayman Net News mused, 'as though the only contentious question regarding Mr Ballantyne's tenure here is whether the United Kingdom or the Cayman Islands would have to meet the costs of having him prematurely end his contract.'

In a statement released following Mr Ballantyne's return from leave on 13 February, he defended his actions, announcing that: 'I would like to make clear from the outset that I acted at all times in what I considered to be the best interests of justice in the Cayman Islands and with a desire to ensure a fair trial for the four [Eurobank} defendants.'

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