Bridger, Met stories differ on Tempura chain of command

Although it is publicly backing the former senior investigating officer of Operation Tempura, the U.K. Metropolitan Police Service is telling a somewhat different story than its former detective about who was in charge of the ill-fated corruption probe.

According to a statement sent to the Cayman Compass by the U.K. Met press office last week, the police service agreed only to provide assistance to the Cayman Islands with regard to the Tempura investigation – which began by looking into whether three senior Royal Cayman Islands Police Service officers overstepped their remit in authorizing a Sept. 3, 2007, entry into the publisher’s office at the Cayman Net News newspaper.

None of the three former RCIPS commanders was convicted. Former Commissioner Stuart Kernohan and Chief Superintendent John Jones were never arrested. Former Deputy Commissioner Rudi Dixon was arrested and charged over matters unrelated to the initial entry at Net News, but he was acquitted at trial.

“Responsibility and accountability for the oversight and management of the investigation … rested with the Cayman Island[s] government/Royal Cayman Islands Police Service,” the Met statement released Friday noted. “The agreement also included that all operational costs were to be met by the RCIPS.”

While the costs – more than $10 million – for the investigation were paid by local government, leadership questions surrounding the Tempura investigation were never entirely resolved.

Mr. Bridger, at least, has previously expressed a different view than the U.K. Met Police. According to court records available in the U.K., from the outset of the Operation Tempura corruption investigation until he departed the Cayman Islands in May 2009, Mr. Bridger was reporting directly to London’s Metropolitan Police Service and its then-second in command officer, Assistant Met Commissioner John Yates. Mr. Bridger revealed in court documents filed in the U.K. that his direct line of reporting in the matter never truly changed between March 2008 – when the corruption investigation was first made public in the Cayman Islands – and April 30, 2009, when his contract ended.

Cayman Islands authorities, attempting to stake their claim that Mr. Bridger was a special constable of the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service during the Tempura investigation, have argued that he was ultimately responsible to the RCIPS commissioner or police. The commissioner, court records stated, and a number of U.K. Met police officers working on Tempura, reported to a strategic oversight group formed by government.

Minutes of meetings from that group show that Mr. Bridger and other officers attended meetings of the group during 2007 and 2008. However, it seems from U.K. court records that Mr. Bridger never stopped reporting to Mr. Yates on Tempura matters, regardless of who was “in charge” locally.

“Between approximately March 2008 [upon the suspension of former RCIPS Commissioner Stuart Kernohan] and November 2008, [Mr. Bridger] worked under the authority of, and reported to, the governor of the Cayman Islands and Assistant Commissioner John Yates of the Metropolitan Police,” the court filing revealed. “From November 2008 to 31 January, 2009, [Mr. Bridger] reported to the commissioner of the [RCIPS] and AC Yates. From 1 February, 2009, he reported to AC Yates [only].”

Mr. Bridger’s statements in the U.K. court records are similar to those made in a case before the Cayman Islands Grand Court in 2012-2013. According to those records: “[it is contended] that Mr. Bridger, and those involved in the operation, were subject to the supervision of Assistant Commissioner Yates of the Metropolitan Police Service as lead reviewing officer.”

The Cayman Islands court case revealed an email from Mr. Yates to former Royal Cayman Islands Police Commissioner Stuart Kernohan sent on Sept. 4, 2007 – very early on in the Tempura probe – stating: “We both agreed that neither [Mr. Kernohan] nor the governor [of the Cayman Islands, Stuart Jack, at the time] were appropriate to undertake this task due to potential conflicts …”

Mr. Yates also wrote in the email of the importance of selecting a person with the appropriate experience and seniority who also did not have any conflicts in the matter.

“We both recognize that the individual who is identified [to] undertake this role must be of sufficient seniority, experience and political acumen to be able to oversee the enquiry and manage whatever outcome emerges,” Mr. Yates wrote in the Sept. 4, 2007 email. “Once the above is resolved, an initial scoping will be undertaken as soon as possible by unidentified senior Metropolitan Police Service [officer] who has appropriate experience.”

The Cayman Islands attorney general’s chambers obtained a separate affidavit from Mr. Yates in October 2012, more than four years later, in which he states: “The immediate line of management [for Operation Tempura] was to the Senior Investigating Officer [Mr. Bridger], who, through the strategic oversight group reported and was responsible to the commissioner of the RCIPS. The commissioner of the RCIPS was responsible and accountable in law for the overall management and outcome of the investigation.”