The defendants charged with conspiracy to defraud Bland Limited have said that the Attorney General’s implication that the case against them could have resulted in a conviction “flies in the face of the presumption of innocence and thereby constitutes a breach of human rights.

This follows the decision by the Attorney General not to proceed with the prosecution for reasons of public interest.

 

 

“Yesterday the A-G of Gibraltar entered a nolle prosequi in our case bringing this unwarranted prosecution to an end. All charges brought against us will be dismissed. However, by implying at the same time that the case could have succeeded, the A-G seeks to have his cake and eat it.  His statement flies in the face of the presumption of innocence and thereby constitutes a breach of our human rights. It is neither fair, nor does it reflect the reality of this unjust and poorly considered prosecution. 

 

“In just five weeks' time, the Supreme Court was due to hear our application to have this case dismissed.  The dismissal application follows criticism of the prosecution by the Chief Justice who articulated fundamental problems with the viability of the Crown’s case and so ordered them to particularise the evidence upon which they intended to rely.  This order has never been complied with by the prosecution.  Nor was an Opening Note ever served even after many months of proceedings. Instead of complying with the Court’s directions and fighting its corner in Court, the prosecution has thrown in its hand in hiding behind a nolle prosequi. 

 

“The truth of the matter is, as pointed out by the Chief Justice in Court, that even the prosecution’s own expert evidence, which was pivotal for the success of the prosecution, did not support their case. The A-G did not therefore issue a nolle prosequi on public interest grounds but because the prosecution evidence could not stand up in Court. Furthermore, contrary to the press releases issued by the RGP as reported on in the media, HMGoG were never a complainant in this case.  Our former employer Bland, was the only complainant purely for its own commercial interests.

“We are no conspirators. Our aim in setting up 36 North Ltd was to provide a better service to the Government and people of Gibraltar than we could provide whilst working for Bland. We acted with the full support of the Government of Gibraltar and in the interests of Gibraltar. We gave a full and frank account to the police, provided detailed defence statements to the Crown and always maintained our complete innocence of all charges. We now stand vindicated by the dismissal of all charges brought and are taking advice on commencing proceedings against the RGP and the complainant.”