The former Premier of the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda has today appeared in court charged with allegedly receiving £3million in monthly payments from an American hospital over a nine-year period.
Ewart Brown, a doctor, allegedly received the money through agreements with the Lahey Clinic, a hospital in Boston, U.S., between 2001 and 2010 while serving as a Government minister.
The former politician is also accused of corruptly acquiring more than £250,000 in donations from American companies to benefit his Progressive Labour Party and the Bermuda Health Foundation while he was Premier of Bermuda.
Dr Brown allegedly received nearly £100,000 from Global Hue, a U.S. advertising agency, to benefit his party on the understanding he would promote the company's interests in Bermuda.
The former Premier of the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda Ewart Brown has today appeared in court charged with allegedly receiving £3million in monthly payments from an American hospital over a nine-year period
While working as Bermuda's Minister of Tourism and Transport, Dr Brown allegedly arranged for him and his two clinics - Bermuda Healthcare Services and the Brown-Darrel Clinic - to receive corrupt monthly installments from the Lahey Clinic, a non-profit hospital based in Boston.
Dr Brown is also said to have used his position as a government minister to promote the interests of the Lahey Clinic in Bermuda and had been given 'bribes disguised as consulting fees', according to Bermudian newspaper Royal Gazette.
Dr Brown, whose son - also a doctor - was recently jailed over sex offences in the US, appeared remotely today via Zoom from Florida. He was charged with 13 counts of corruption in the Magistrates’ Court this morning.
Dr Brown was not required to enter a plea as the charges are due to be heard by Bermuda's Supreme Court in April.
He was silent throughout the court proceedings at the Magistrates' Court, aside from confirming he could hear magistrate Juan Wolffe.
Dr Brown, who was released on a £185,000 bail, has previously denied the allegations. Lahey Clinic and Global Hue also deny the allegations.
Dr Brown, who was released on a £185,000 bail, has previously denied the allegations
As the Premier of Bermuda, Dr Brown controversially allowed Uighur Muslims who were freed from Guantanamo Bay prison in the US to secretly move to the island and become citizens - without permission from the UK.
He had made a secret deal with the US in 2009 and did not inform Britain about the agreement.
Bermuda is self-governing, but Britain retains control over matters of foreign policy and security.
Britain suggested at the time that Bermuda accepted the Uighurs so the U.S. would go soft on their tax haven status, a charge local officials denied.
Britain's then Foreign Secretary David Miliband said he complained to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and felt the territory should not have agreed to the deal without consulting London.
The former Premier's son, Dr Kevin Brown , who ran a medical practice in Los Angeles, was jailed for 12 years and eight months for a string of sex attacks on vulnerable women in 2012
The former Premier's son, Dr Kevin Brown, who ran a medical practice in Los Angeles, was jailed for 12 years and eight months for a string of sex attacks on vulnerable women in 2012.
He was found guilty of 21 charges including sexual battery by fraud, sexual exploitation by a physician, sexual penetration with a foreign object and committing a lewd act upon a child. He had pleaded not guilty to 30 felony counts including forcible rape.
The attacks on nine patients - including a 15-year-old girl - took place at Kevin Brown's surgery during routine medical check-ups between 2003 and 2008.