Dear Sir,

As recently reported in this newspaper, a former government lawyer has been disbarred after admitting breaches of the Barrister’s Code of Professional Conduct. In layman’s terms, he stole money from his private clients and abused their trust.

So who is he? He is someone our government hired and we paid him for senior counsel services for our Attorney-General’s Chambers.

He is Myron Simmons, the husband of Kathy Lynn Simmons, our previous Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs and Constitutional Reform — and he was employed as a senior counsel in her department. We now know that he resigned his position at the end of March 2023 and was then immediately hired back by Mrs Simmons as a legal consultant to her department on a monthly salary of $13,722. That contract was for only three months, and was to give time for the Attorney-General’s Chambers to hire a replacement for Mr Simmons.

This contract was quickly overridden by a new consultancy contract between the Attorney-General’s Chambers and Onyx Law, a company set up by Mr Simmons in April 2023. According to a government notice, we paid his company $20,833 monthly from May to December for legal services in 2023.

Given that the Head of the Public Service must approve all government consultancy hires, I wonder whether our public service “boss” considered the questionable “résumé” of this individual? A history that would reveal Supreme Court records (2008-2018) showing that 13 cases were filed against Mr Simmons, most of which were of a financial nature, and five of them named Mrs Simmons as a co-defendant? The final judgment for a case in 2022 was referred to the Bermuda Bar Association Professional Conduct Committee, the Commissioner of Police and the Director of Public Prosecutions for further action and this has now culminated in his recent disbarment.

Most importantly, has anyone in government heard of the term “conflict of interest”? The Attorney-General puts her husband/his company on our government payroll, for several consultancy roles, and this is someone who is embroiled in numerous legal actions, many of which concern misappropriation of funds. To make matters worse, this all came with the “blessing” of our Head of the Public Service.

Much of this troubling information has been obtained through public access to information used by this newspaper. Think about that. We, the public would not be privy to any of these controversial details without this information-access regulation.

Here’s a case in point: last year, when the Premier gave a summary of all the 70-plus consultancy contracts our government had with the private sector, Onyx Law was not listed. Why? Did the Premier not know that his attorney-general hired her husband’s brand new law firm for additional legal services? Through Pati, this and other “discoveries” were made and shared with the public. It looks to me like the only real transparency we, the people will get from this administration is when we, ourselves make Pati demands because it is obvious that the Government is very selective with its information-sharing.

In March 2024, the Auditor-General said that she may initiate an audit because of the information received, but she would have to assess if the contract came within her mandate. Regarding these contracts, she said: “As the Auditor-General, I am significantly concerned when public funds are potentially used inefficiently or when safeguards are bypassed.” (Note: Mrs Simmons resigned her position as Attorney-General in August 2024.)

I remind you that Parliament has a Register of Members’ Interest requirement. It is a voluntary declaration for all Members of Parliament, which states: “... provide information of any pecuniary interest or other material benefit which a Member of Parliament may receive, that may be thought to affect his or her conduct or influence their actions, speeches or votes.” I wonder how Mrs Simmons filled out her Register of Members’ Interest form for the year 2023? It is not listed on the Government’s website, as only serving MPs’ forms are shown.

Scott Pearman, the Shadow Minister of Justice and Home Affairs — after this story first broke — said in May 2023: “It is seldom, if ever, appropriate for a politician to engage their family member to ‘consult’ for the Government.” He was rebuked at the time by a Progressive Labour Party spokesman, who said he was making “unfounded and irresponsible” allegations in relation to the Attorney-General’s husband being awarded a contract for services to her ministry. Well, time and due diligence have a way of revealing the truth — and the truth in this case, stinks.

So we have yet another example of the questionable and irresponsible decision-making by our government. People in high positions continue to take us for fools. And we are.

BEVERLEY CONNELL

Pembroke

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