John McLean

We devote a large portion of this month's Insider Talking to Lines Overseas Management, which is based in Bermuda and also has offices in the Cayman Islands and Guernsey, including a letter from one of the company's Cayman-based financial advisors that makes inaccurate claims and promotes illegal activity; We end this segment on LOM by revealing the contents of a letter written this month to a potential US client by Joe P. Montgomery, a financial advisor with LOM (Cayman), whose services as advertised by Montgomery would appear to be a money launderer's dream; The frequency with which Robert Pires, owner of stock broker/financial adviser Bermuda Investment Advisory Services, and members of his staff fall out, leading to staff departures, continues to occur at an alarming rate; We have reported in the past about John Deuss' courting of the Progressive Labour Party in the run up to this year's General Election; a relationship that has involved wining and dining PLP leader Jennifer Smith on his luxury schooner and paying off the mortgage of the PLP's party headquarters; The first of two lawsuits that are being brought against Cayman Minister of Land John McLean is due to be filed at the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands during September, not August, as we had previously expected; and The government of Nevis narrowly failed to take the island independent in a referendum held on August 10.

In house counsel Philip Lamarr has become the latest in a long line of officers and employees to quit The Harris Organization, of Panama in recent months. Larry Abraham and his son, Patrick, left in March, trader Alex de Janon

In what might rank as one of the most immoral decisions ever made by a democratic government anywhere in the world, Cayman Minister of Land John McLean has been allowed to keep his ministerial position even though a vote to oust him was carried by eight to six in the Legislative Assembly. Members of the Legislative Assembly who were trying to remove McLean from office for allegedly illegally obtaining over 200 acres of Crown Land worth tens of millions of dollars fell one vote short of the required nine votes needed to pass their motion.

The Cayman Islands government is facing its second scandal within seven months following an announcement that Minister of Land John McLean has been cleared of illegally obtaining Crown Land worth tens of millions of dollars - despite evidence to the contrary. The circumstances of the official whitewash of McLean are such that it calls into question the ability of the current government to administer its affairs in a competent or moral manner, including regulating its offshore financial services sector.

Following pressure from Offshore Alert, the Cayman government has done a U-turn and launched a fresh investigation into the suspicious circumstances in which Minister of Land John McLean came into possession of Crown Land worth tens of millions of dollars. In a letter dated March 17, Attorney General Richard Coles, acting on behalf of the Governor, John Owen, wrote to us stating that McLean "is concerned that the matter should be clarified as soon as possible".

Pressure was mounting this month on Cayman Minister of Land John McLean to publicly explain how he came into possession of 200 acres of Crown Land with a potential quarrying value of tens of millions of dollars.Cayman Governor John Owen has been asked to investigate the matter and it was raised yesterday on the floor of the Legislative Assembly by Frank McField, who was ruled out of order by the Speaker. McLean, who has not attended recent Legislative Assembly hearings, was not in attendance.

Cayman's minister for land, John McLean, is facing possible legal action after he was awarded Crown land potentially worth millions of dollars that another local resident claims is legally his.Leroy Johnson has consulted attorneys about bringing a civil lawsuit against McLean and has even gone so far as to file a criminal complaint against the minister with the Cayman police, alleging theft.

OffshoreAlert's unblemished track record when it comes to publishing exposes, despite letters threatening litigation; human cloning group touts Cayman and Bahamas as potential domiciles, who is disgrunted ex-Bank of Butterfield employee who criticized recently-retired chairman Sir David Gibbons?, Richard Black and Mike Cascio look to form new Bermuda insurance facility, possible bribery in the Turks and Caicos Islands, Cayman Islands Monetary Authority MD Neville Grant accepts no responsibility for collapse of First Cayman Bank, Global Private Banking magazine causes mirth by describing closure of FCB as an example of regulators "acting tough on miscreants", Cayman-based Oxford Advisors opens up office in Bermuda, 18 luxury homes in Bermuda sold for a total of $72 m in 1997, and what effect, if any, will the death of Charles Collis have on Bermuda Fire and Marine Insurance litigation? 

Cornelius Beukenkamp vs. John McLean - Grand Court of the Cayman Islands