Crown: Bush took two years to pay back gambling debt

Former Premier McKeeva Bush failed to pay back around CI$10,000 of gambling expenses racked up on his government credit card until he realized he was being investigated, prosecutors alleged. 

In a lengthy opening statement that ran into a second day on Tuesday, Duncan Penny, QC, said Mr. Bush had shown “disregard” for the trust the public had placed in him. 

Though some repayments were made in 2010, Mr. Penny said, those payments were some $10,000 short of reimbursing the amounts he had withdrawn on his government credit card at casinos in Las Vegas, the Bahamas and Florida during the first four months of that year. 

The prosecutor said Mr. Bush waited until late 2012 to repay the full amount. He said Mr. Bush had allowed the government to carry the burden of that debt for two-and-a-half years until his credit card records became the subject of a police investigation. 

“He only caused the sum to be repaid when he became aware of the investigations,” said Mr. Penny. 

Mr. Bush faces 11 charges connected to claims he withdrew just under US$50,000 on his government card at casinos in the U.S. and the Bahamas while he was leader of the country. 

He has denied six counts of misconduct in public office, contrary to Common Law, and five counts of breach of trust by a Member of the Legislative Assembly, under the Anti-Corruption Law.  

The prosecutor said Mr. Bush’s use of his government-issued card to obtain cash to gamble was in itself a breach of trust. He said Mr. Bush had also failed to ensure proper and prompt repayment of the funds. 

He said Deputy Governor Franz Manderson had been issued with a police order to release some of Mr. Bush’s credit card statements on Nov. 5, 2012, at which point Mr. Bush became aware of the inquiry. Only then, he said, did Mr. Bush pay back the outstanding amount. 

The prosecutor gave details of an alleged conversation between Mr. Manderson and Mr. Bush the following day, during which Mr. Bush reportedly told the deputy governor he had made some repayments for personal expenditures on his government card but now recalled that he needed to refund some additional money. 

During that conversation, Mr. Penny said, the defendant had claimed the credit card use was for personal purchases for himself and his wife, including medicine. 

In a later meeting with Financial Secretary Ken Jefferson, also outlined by the prosecutor, Mr. Bush is said to have claimed the credit card was used to purchase books and crockery for his office, as well as to pay for security guards. 

On both those occasions, Mr. Penny said, the defendant had acknowledged making cash withdrawals in casinos, saying this was the most practical way to get cash without a PIN, but had not made any reference to using the money for gambling. 

He told the jury, “Look carefully at these claims. What they reveal is a deliberate attempt to conceal the true purpose of the uses of the Cayman Islands government credit card. 

“Otherwise, why conceal? Why hide? Why make it difficult? They show an awareness on the part of the defendant that the use to which the card had been put used and abused the trust placed in him.  

“If not, why should he simply not tell plainly, there and then, that he gambled with the cash he obtained and that he believed he was entitled to do so because anything goes, as long as you pay it back.” 

He said Mr. Bush had declined to answer police questions during interviews, describing the investigation as a politically motivated witch-hunt, but was more forthcoming in media interviews, repeating the claim that money had been withdrawn to pay for armed security guards. 

“It will be a matter for you, in due course, as to whether these funds were really designed for the pockets of unnamed security guards or for the slots of these machines,” said Mr. Penny, who had earlier given details of the defendant’s extensive use of slot machines.  

He acknowledged that details of Mr. Bush’s gambling were not evidence of a crime.  

But he said the way in which he had spent money obtained through government’s credit line on an “inherently risky and addictive” activity was relevant because it showed a “serious departure” from the standards expected of his high office. 

“He knew very well that the government of the Cayman Islands should not have been funding what he had been doing,” said Mr. Penny. The prosecutor took the jury through hundreds of attempted and successful withdrawals of cash made by Mr. Bush on his government credit card and four personal credit cards during 11 trips to Florida, Las Vegas and the Bahamas, which he cross-referenced with data from casinos documenting Mr. Bush’s use of slot machines. 

He said Mr. Bush had lost nearly US$60,000 on slot machines during a four-day trip to Las Vegas. On a separate three-day trip to Hollywood, Florida, he spent more than 27 hours on slot machines losing around US$45,000, the prosecutor said. Those sprees were part of a total US$272,000 in slot-machine losses over the 11 trips in 2009 and 2010 covered by the indictment, he added. 

The Vegas trip in February 2010, which followed an official visit to Vancouver for the Winter Olympics, was the point at which Mr. Bush’s gambling began to escalate, according to the prosecutor. 

During that four-day trip, he said, Mr. Bush had withdrawn just under US$138,000 on his own four personal credit cards and just over US$12,000 on his government-issued card. 

At this point, said the prosecutor, the government card was being used as “an additional weapon in his already well-stocked gambling armory.” Mr. Penny gave details of scores of transactions and attempted transactions on all five cards during the trip, including four withdrawals on the government card totaling US$9,000 in three hours on one night. 

Mr. Penny said, “One thing you will want to consider is whether, during that week, while on vacation in Nevada, he was frantically withdrawing huge sums in the middle of the night in casinos in Las Vegas to pay for security guards to protect him as leader of the country or whether, in the light of all the other evidence, there is an altogether simpler explanation as to where those funds were destined.” 

He said the Vegas trip was the point at which Mr. Bush began to use his government card, not just in ATMs, but in “cash against signature” transactions on the casino floor, which he said had allowed him to withdraw greater sums. During that trip, he said, Mr. Bush had visited at least four casinos, where his slot machine losses had been recorded. 

The data showed Mr. Bush had lost just over US$16,000 on slots at the Venetian, US$6,000 at the Mirage, US$17,000 at the Bellagio and US$17,000 at the Wynn. 

The case continues.