Ewart Brown challenged police yesterday to charge him with a criminal offence or end years of “fruitless investigation”, claiming the recent “unjust and unwarranted arrest” of one of his staff members was really an attempt to discredit him.

Flanked by his supporters, the former Premier of Bermuda told a press conference he believed “millions” of dollars had been spent on investigating him by the Bermuda Police Service and the arrest on May 19 of Mahesh Reddy, chief medical officer of Bermuda Healthcare Services, was “an extension of the witch-hunt that has followed me for years”.

Asked if he was aware of rumours that he too was likely to face arrest, he said: “I have not heard, but I would not be surprised if that were to happen at any time.”

He said a police inquiry launched almost five years ago into his activities and aimed at uncovering “bribery and political corruption” was now targeting his business.

The Bermuda Police Service last night confirmed an investigation, launched four years ago into allegations made by David Bolden at a theft trial, remained ongoing.

Dr Brown said: “This nonsense must stop and I have appointed high-level legal counsel to challenge this harassment.

“Of course, no one should be above the law and, if there are charges, let me face them now.

“After many years of fruitless investigation, it is time for the prosecutors and the police to put up or shut up and let us get on with the vital business of helping people with their healthcare needs.”

Dr Brown claimed his political enemies in Bermuda and Britain were seeking to discredit him through a campaign of harassment.

“They have tried many times to prove I have done something wrong but not one of their claims has ever been substantiated.”

Asked to name his enemies, he said: “There are those I can identify and those I cannot identify so I won’t name anybody.” Pressed further, he replied: “No. Whoever it is. Whoever it is. There was a saying years ago ... ‘those who know, don’t tell and those who tell, don’t know’ ... There is nothing new about the effort to destroy me.”

He added: “They don’t like me. They don’t like the fact — and I’m not saying anything about the other [black Progressive Labour Party] premiers — but my substance and style was different. I think they saw me as defiant. I think they saw me as a troublemaker, therefore they do not want history to record that I got away with it.”

Dr Brown said Dr Reddy’s home was raided by eight police officers at 7am on May 19, on suspicion of “overusing MRI and CT scanners to make more money”.

Lawyer Jerome Lynch, who was in attendance at the press conference, said the officers did not have a warrant and Dr Reddy was “neither charged nor interviewed”.

Mr Lynch said: “[He was] taken to the police station and then released, having seized goods from his home without any proper authority.

“Why on earth couldn’t they go to a magistrate and ask for a warrant to be issued? Why just do it? No warrant; no warrant at all. He’s on bail. He is being treated like some kind of common criminal without any respect being given to a man who has served the country for 16 years. It’s an extraordinary turn of events.”

The attorney, from the Trott and Duncan law firm, said police could keep Dr Reddy on bail “as long as they like”, but he planned to challenge their actions. “Watch this space,” he advised.

Dr Brown told reporters: “I want to make it absolutely clear that these suspicions are completely unfounded.

“No patients and no insurance companies that pay for the scans have ever made one single complaint concerning these very necessary diagnostic procedures.”

He later added: “In most places where a medical facility is being investigated for something like that, you would have had at least one medical organisation as part of it. But here it’s the police and, as far as I know, they don’t have a background in MRI and CT.”

The former Progressive Labour Party leader said of Dr Reddy, “I have no doubt he will be vindicated.”

He described the arrest of his staff member — “a distinguished medical practitioner who has devoted many years to the people of Bermuda” — as the “last straw”.

Dr Brown said: “There has been a long string of malicious slurs and false allegations, with the real target being me because of my past political views as former Premier.”

He said the police inquiry began after disgraced financier David Bolden, whom he described as a “convicted liar”, claimed under oath in 2011 that Dr Brown tried to bribe him.

“The then Governor, Richard Gozney, instigated an investigation and he promised the people of Bermuda that when that investigation was completed that the findings would be revealed to the Bermuda public,” Dr Brown said.

“He said that the investigation might go beyond Bermuda, and I know for a fact that it has gone beyond Bermuda. But, all of a sudden, we now find the focus is Bermuda Healthcare Services.

“It was bribery and political corruption. Having found nothing there, the effort is now aimed at the source of my income, which is Bermuda Healthcare, and there will be other things that you will see in the future that will confirm that.”

The Governor, George Fergusson, told this newspaper yesterday: “There was an official statement in January 2012 confirming that a police investigation was under way into allegations made at the trial of Mr David Bolden and related matters. I am advised that that investigation continues. I cannot say anything further.”

Dr Brown told the press conference: “I have kept my counsel on this until now, assisting investigations and providing complete transparency in accounts and paper trails I have given, but the arrest of Dr Reddy is too far. Enough is enough.”

Asked how he had assisted investigations and whether he had met with police, he said: “I have never in my life been interviewed by the Bermuda Police.”

He said he had shared documentation with “anybody who asked” but did not say who had asked him. “The police would have to ask me,” he said, adding that Dr Reddy had made himself available to officers for questioning.

“We believe that the issue of intimidation is playing a part in this because eight officers coming to a physician’s house at seven o’clock in the morning is a little much,” he claimed.

Dr Brown added: “You can never underestimate your opponents. Of course, the intention of intimidation is to change the course of action of those people that you would intimidate. But Dr Reddy is a strong man, he is a spiritual man and he is an excellent physician. I have advised him to continue doing what he does best, that is taking care of patients. Let me handle the fight.”

He would not give further details on the allegations regarding Dr Reddy, who remains at work but was not at the press conference. He said the physician would be “seeking redress in terms of compensation for the wrongful arrest and the distress that has been caused to himself and his family”.

The former Premier told reporters he was aware that retired Metropolitan Police officer John Briggs, who was involved in the corruption inquiry in Turks and Caicos, had been brought here to investigate him. A request by The Royal Gazette for an interview with Mr Briggs was turned down by the Commissioner of Police on May 31.

This newspaper made a public access to information request this month to find out the cost so far of the police inquiry prompted by Bolden’s claims of corruption against Dr Brown, and we await the response.

A Bermuda Police Service spokesman said last night: “The BPS has previously confirmed that an investigation was commenced in 2012 into allegations made at the trial of Mr David Bolden.

“That investigation is still being conducted and as such no further comment can be made at this time.”

• To read Dr Brown’s statement in full and a full interview transcript, some of which did not make it into this story, click on the PDF links under “Related Media”.

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