RGP finds no grounds to reopen case on alleged witness inducement after audit review

The Royal Gibraltar Police said it had reviewed the 2018/19 report by the former Principal Auditor and found no new information to justify reopening an earlier investigation into the alleged inducement of witnesses in the McGrail Inquiry.

The RGP said it had reviewed the Principal Auditor’s report in relation to the information that was available at the time the decision was made to close the investigation into alleged witness inducements.

Police Commissioner Owain Richards said he was satisfied that the audit report did not contain any new evidence that would change the original investigative assessment.

“Accordingly, the position of the RGP remains unchanged at this time, due to the absence of new information that would justify reopening the case and the evidential threshold required to bring criminal charges remains unmet,” the RGP said in a statement.

The RGP conducted the review after former police Commissioner Ian McGrail wrote to Mr Richards in July, urging him to reopen the investigation following publication of the audit report.

In the report, the former Principal Auditor had questioned payments made by the Government to former RGP officers who left the force and were subsequently employed in other areas of the public service.

In most cases, the officers were transferred to positions of a lower grade in terms of pay but preserved their contractual conditions and pay scales as essential officers, including accrued pension rights.

The former Principal Auditor said he believed some of these officers could have been granted protection under whistleblower legislation due to the McGrail Inquiry, adding he had faced “enormous difficulties, obstacles and delays” in obtaining information on this issue and had been given “meaningless and inadequate” responses.

When he wrote to the RGP, Mr McGrail said through his lawyer, Charles Gomez, that he had long been concerned about “what appears to be a secret Government scheme” which offered jobs in the public service to officers who subsequently provided evidence to the McGrail Inquiry critical of the former Commissioner.

Mr McGrail requested that the RGP investigate potential bribery, perverting the course of justice and misconduct in public office offences, and any others the RGP considered relevant.

Reacting at the time, Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said the concerns raised in the Principal Auditor’s 2018/19 report would “not stand up to scrutiny” when properly analysed, adding these matters including the payments had already been fully investigated.

On Tuesday, the RGP said it had completed a review of the matters raised in the audit report and found there was no justification to reopen the case.

Mr Richards noted that the original RGP investigation was independently reviewed and validated by the UK’s National Crime Agency, which he said found it to have been “both thorough and expeditiously carried out”.

The Commissioner said further independent legal advice was obtained at the time from a London-based King’s Counsel, who also concluded that the investigation had been thorough.

“At the time, the King’s Counsel agreed with the recommendations of the RGP’s Senior Investigating Officer and the NCA that the evidential threshold for a criminal prosecution, specifically misconduct in a public office, had not been met, and that the investigation should therefore be closed,” Mr Richards said.

“Considering the above and following an extensive review of the information contained in the 2018/19 Principal Auditor’s report, the RGP has not found any new information that would justify reopening the case.”