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(CNS): Recent rulings The Grand Court forced government lawyers to hand over documents to Doctors Express as part of a lengthy legal battle that has cost the government hundreds of thousands of public dollars. The documents may shed light on why no public official has been prosecuted over the illegal raids on medical facilities and the subsequent cover-up.
Sam Banks, director of the Doctors Express, said in a recent press release that the government has deployed at least ten lawyers in multiple legal cases over the past five years in an attempt to “defend the indefensible and illegal conduct of its agents.”
The protracted court battle began following the unlawful ban on prescription cannabis medicines and an illegal raid on the clinic in 2019. Shortly afterwards, Doctors Express applied for a judicial review which ultimately found in its favour and revealed serious wrongdoing and collusion by authorities including police, customs and the Chief Medical Officer.
Continue Conclusive findings The court ruled that the Anti-Corruption Commission conducted an investigation but never laid any charges. As a result, Doctors Express and its associated company Kaiser Day applied for and were granted another judicial review to find out why. However, during the process, the Attorney General’s Office refused to hand over to the clinic’s lawyers important documents about the decision as to why no public official was held accountable for the illegal raid.
Banks said he welcomed the court’s ruling last month ordering the government to disclose the information.
“We live in a nation of laws and no one is above the law,” Banks said shortly after the ruling was released. “The decisions of public officials must be subject to public scrutiny. I am grateful that the Grand Court rejected attempts by government lawyers to obscure the real reasons for its decision not to prosecute those who illegally abused their official powers against Doctors Express and Kaiser Day.”
Banks explained that the business had to “battle the government at every stage” since the raid five years ago.
“As a medical institution, we take seriously our commitment to serve the public in the best interest, and we expect the same commitment from government. Yet, over the past five years, government has wasted vast amounts of public money trying to defend the inexcusable and illegal conduct of its agents. At least six Cayman government lawyers and four London lawyers (including three KCs) have been instructed by government and the DPP to resist our efforts to defend the rights of Cayman’s public servants.
Get justice,” Banks noted.
But he made it clear that the team would continue to fight for justice in the hope that no one in the Cayman Islands would become a victim of their own government.
“I encourage those who continue to fight the lawsuit to carefully consider their position before inflicting further damages on the public,” Banks said.
While arguments continue in court over why no one was held accountable for what happened, Doctors Express confirmed it had obtained an order for costs, an order used only in exceptional circumstances where a court wants to show displeasure with the way the losing party has behaved, and where the amount of damages could be very high.
How much the government has to pay has never been revealed, despite warnings from the Auditor-General that the figures should not be hidden behind confidentiality agreements.
Despite this, the government continues to pile on the case in an attempt to continue to cover up why those responsible for the illegal raid escaped justice.
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