BLACK litigants and their lawyers are being discriminated against by a legal system riddled with institutionalised racism, it is alleged.

And according to one lawyer, real justice will always be denied "Mr. and Mrs. Poor Bermuda" because the same biased, anti-black, "pro-establishment" mindset is rampant in watchdogs, administrative bodies and other authorities set up to ensure that all are treated equally in the eyes of the law.

The attorney, who asked not to be named, spoke out after several black businessmen ¿ all involved in long-running lawsuits against the Bank of Bermuda ¿ claimed that the bank was continuing a vendetta against them, and was using the courts and other bodies to bring about their financial downfall.

The accusations were made in a number of documents and court records obtained by this newspaper.

The bank ¿ which this week announced a $179-million operating profit for the first half of this year ¿ is still involved in a number of court actions in which black businessmen claim they were hoodwinked into impossible loan and mortgage agreements with the financial giant, which then "pulled the rug from under their feet" in an attempt to seize their assets.

The allegations also involve confidentiality breaches by bank officers and improper conduct in court by its attorneys.

The Mid-Ocean News has now obtained further documents alleging tactics such as:

l The stonewalling of black litigants by court officials.

l Court directives "erroneously" being sent to lawyers who have ceased to represent black litigants.

l The failure by watchdogs such as the Bermuda Monetary Authority, the Ombudsman and the Police Fraud Unit to investigate claims by black litigants of corruption within the system.

Last week the Mid-Ocean News also revealed that one black entrepreneur ¿ Harold Darrell ¿ had filed a criminal complaint with the Police Fraud Squad, alleging that bank lawyers deliberately misled one Supreme Court judge and also tampered with documents.

And yesterday those allegations were backed up by one lawyer who declared that a mindset based on racial prejudice and bias still dominated many of the island's regulatory institutions.

Referring to the allegations of a bank vendetta against blacks, the lawyer said: "I think there is a systemic prejudice. I think there is still that attitude of 'well this businessman here is not as good as that businessman there' ¿ and invariably it happens to be a colour thing.

"So when I, a black man, start out afresh in business I'm relying solely on the bank to carry me ¿ I can't call on my mates or old money ¿ it's me and the bank.

"And so I think the banks take harsher positions against black businessmen. But if that person happens to own a huge building, the bank shouldn't be working to try and take that person out, they should be working to encourage them, to nurture them. But it doesn't go that way because there is this ingrained racist philosophy."

The lawyer highlighted the case of colleague Julian Hall, who recently successfully defended himself against charges of theft.

"He should have been brought back into the system for the benefit of the community because he has an ability ¿ a fine and agile legal mind," the lawyer said.

"But instead, the Bermuda Bar Association and creditors made it difficult for him. I thought even a judge would have said that the creditors can make this happen ¿ but nobody did."

The lawyer also set his sights on the Bermuda Bar Council, which he said should be "opened up and dug into" to expose incidents of discrimination, bias and cronyism within the profession.

He said that, as an attorney he had been obliged to join the association and had been fined by it on numerous occasions for minor infractions.

Yet he questioned if the Council had taken any pro-active steps to investigate allegations of gross misconduct by corporate lawyers printed in the Mid-Ocean News just last week.

"What has the Bar Council done in relation to the allegations that Harold Darrell made in his criminal complaint against lawyers? I doubt that they have done anything but the point is, they should be doing something," he said.

"If an allegation of a crime has been made, the police should be involved in the first instance and the Bar Council can also inquire because if it is true, the attorney involved has brought the organisation into disrepute.

"The allegations that Mr. Darrell has made are very serious. Should they investigate? Yes. Are they investigating? I don't think so. The point is they have the authority to do so on their own motion without an official complaint being filed by a member of the public. They don't have to wait for the police to come knocking on the door.

"I would have thought that, because the articles that you have printed are now in the public domain, the Bar Council would have contacted you and asked 'what is this all about?' Have they done that? I don't think so.

"In fact I think that the Chief Justice has a duty to say to the president of the Bar Council that they must look at the allegation. If something improper happens in court he can in fact tell the Bar Council that it must be investigated.

"We black lawyers find ourselves being brought before the Bar Council at the drop of a nickel and yet you don't hear anything being done about allegations that have appeared in the Mid-Ocean News recently ¿ very serious allegations against white lawyers working for the bank which go against the whole legal system.

"People have got to start asking questions ¿ the problem is, they're to scared or too busy trying to make a living," the lawyer said.

"The Bar Council is very much a closed ranks organisation ¿ it's like a cabal, like the good old UBP ¿ a cosy, incestuous thing that needs to be broken open.

"It's about one of the last institutions ¿ along with the UBP and the Corporation of Hamilton ¿ that need to be reformed. It's adversarial and my colleagues working in civil law end up milking clients and taking them out."

He added that there was both a professional and social divide between black defence lawyers working in small practices covering criminal law, and their corporate ¿ predominantly white ¿ counterparts working for major institutions.

And he said it was impossible for black lawyers to rise through the ranks of the Bar Council because key positions such as president, vice- president and secretary were held by an old boys' network of lawyers working in the corporate sector who each year nominated one another for influential posts within the organisation.

"The boys down at CD&P are charging $800 an hour ¿ I'm representing poor people on legal aid ¿ I just can't compete," he said.

"Does the Bar Council ever discipline white lawyers? I don't know but I know of no examples of late. I can think of one case many years ago."

"Always keep in mind the background of the UBP which was deemed to be an integrated party. But even though it was an integrated party, blacks within the party didn't have the courage to protect their own interest and so a white interest is the interest that appears to come to the fore.

"Many of the Big Conversations have pointed out how racism happens through this inherited mindset that has been going on for years. The Bar Council is like that, the Registry is like that ¿ it's a mindset. It's a mix of overt racism and a sub conscious mindset of behaviour which discriminates against people. And if the mindset changes, the whole system would become a lot more transparent.

"I don't necessarily think that the bank's board of directors have that mindset but their staff do seem to have it. If we place it only in the context of racism ¿ that there is this group of people being racist, it may take long to get to the bottom of it.

"We have got to encourage major institutions to participate in the big question so that they understand how the little decisions that they make affect people negatively - black people and poor people. Because those little people need the best representation and the most help ¿ otherwise you create a dissatisfaction. It's not so simple to just say that it is racist but it has a racist context to it because we grew out of that."

Yesterday, the Mid-Ocean News e-mailed the Bermuda Bar Association asking if it was investigating Mr. Darrell's allegations of gross misconduct by members of the association. We also asked if it had disciplined any white lawyers in the last 20 years. No response was received by Press time last night.