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One of the reasons a Royal Commission is necessary, I believe, is that the original investigation into the Bermuda Housing Corporation (BHC) scandal was mishandled.

While PLP leaders and the faithful continue to say that the investigation was complete and the Premier and others were "exonerated", what actually happened is that the investigation was truncated.

It doesn't matter how good the investigators were (and, according to the Premier, the investigators included Scotland Yard, the FBI and the U.S. Office of Homeland Security), if the fruits of their investigations are not acted upon, then the investigation is made worthless and is wasted. Every allegation about every person that turned up in the BHC scandal should have been followed through with an interrogation of those named. That was not done. The then Director of Public Prosecutions whose office, by the way, is one of those that the PLP does control, intervened, as I understand it, with incredulous arguments that thwarted police questioning of Dr. Brown and other government leaders. Thus, Dr. Brown was not exonerated. Far from it. He was never questioned, so the allegations against him could not be tested against his own veracity. And as he was not questioned, no evidence was elicited that could have been scrutinized and verified in Court.

It doesn't matter how elevated and well-reputed the investigators are, if they are prevented from questioning all those involved, their investigation is incomplete. And listening to Dr. Brown and his Minister of Justice claim "exoneration", knowing full well that the investigation was halted at Dr. Brown's doorstep, is scandalous on top of scandal.

Why the brick wall?

Let's have a Royal Commission. Let's find out why the investigators were not allowed to question all the suspects about whom allegations were made. Let's find out whether or not those allegations are true by questioning the suspects, all of them, and chasing every allegation down to its very end.

Let's find out why the general manager of the BHC was not charged in line with evidence that came to light. It helps to remember that the BHC General Manager at the time stated openly that if he went down he would take others with him. Did that threat get him off the hook? So let's find out what went on that would have taken him down and whom he would have taken down with him. So far, the only direct denial I am aware of by the Premier to any of the allegations is his pronouncement, "I don't have those cedar beams". We have had experience with Dr. Brown's style of not answering difficult questions, and we have had the experience of Dr. Brown's willingness to "mislead" even his closest followers. The wording of this denial means only that he didn't have the cedar beams in his hands at the very moment of the denial. We can now expect that, if asked again, Dr. Brown will declare that he has already answered that question. We can also expect that he will then chastise the questioner and attempt to classify the question in some derogatory category.

We need more than well-parsed but meaningless answers to important questions about the honesty, veracity and integrity of our leaders. A Royal Commission is needed to investigate the investigation. We deserve to have justice and the rule of law, not just in words, but also in deeds.[[In-content Ad]]

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