Walter Finch
Gibraltar is once again gripped by the public inquiry that has pulled back the curtain on power and the powerful on the Rock.
Take a delve with the Olive Press into the circumstances surrounding former Commissioner of Police Ian McGrail’s retirement five years ago.
What exactly is the McGrail inquiry all about, why does it matter, and what could it mean for the Rock?
What is it?
At its heart, the inquiry is investigating the whys and wherefores that led to McGrail taking early retirement in June 2020.
It involved a clash of some of the Rock’s most powerful people, in both government and the police, as well as the governor, senior lawyers and business titans.
The evidence presented has touched upon highly sensitive matters, including criminal investigations, the Rock’s national security, and allegations of political interference.
Any findings of wrongdoing could have serious reputational consequences for Gibraltar, particularly in its international standing and ongoing negotiations with the EU and Spain over a border treaty.
But at its heart, the McGrail inquiry can perhaps be viewed as a struggle for control between two competing power bases within Gibraltar.
READ MORE: Intrigue on the Rock: Can Gibraltar’s incoming police chief swim with the sharks?
Why is this inquiry so important?
The inquiry has unearthed two competing narratives that go to the core of how Gibraltar operates and how power is exercised.
McGrail contends that he was forced out due to government interference, alleging it was an attempt to shield powerful figures in Gibraltar from a criminal investigation.
On the other hand, the government parties, including the Chief Minister Fabian Picardo, the then-interim Governor Nick Pyle, and the Attorney General Michael Llamas, claim that McGrail’s retirement was due to a loss of confidence.
The central axis around which all the events revolve is a search warrant the Royal Gibraltar Police attempted to execute at the home and offices of Hassans senior partner James Levy in May 2020.
Levy was a person of interest – and later a suspect — in Operation Delhi, a police investigation into an alleged conspiracy to defraud the venerable Gibraltar company Bland of a government contract for the National Security Critical Infrastructure System (NSCIS).
The RGP had opted for a warrant to seize Levy’s phone because they feared Levy, as a suspect, might destroy evidence.
READ MORE: Olive Press opinion: New Gibraltar police chief is gonna need a bigger boat
So far so clear?
This is where one of the first forks in the road appears, as the various parties disputed whether a search warrant was necessary or even advised.
The Chief Minister claimed that McGrail had lied to him about whether Christian Rocca, the Director of Public Prosecutions, had advised him to use a search warrant and not a less invasive method to get evidence from Levy’s phone.
A phone which, while containing potential evidence relating to Operation Delhi, also contained a wealth of other sensitive information – such as the business of Levy’s ‘many international, very high-net worth clients’.
Either way, certain parties were very interested that that phone should not fall into the hands of others.
Within a short number of highly intense weeks, McGrail was forced to resign. Evidence and testimony showed that Picardo had met with Levy and his lawyer in the intervening period to discuss removing McGrail.
The search warrant into Levy’s phone, meanwhile, was never executed.
READ MORE: ‘Where’s the missing police Whatsapps?’ Gibraltar’s McGrail inquiry comes back with a bang
Why did who do what?
Why was Picardo, a partner at Hassans, so keen to protect Levy, his friend, business mentor and erstwhile boss?
The Chief Minister explicitly stated during the inquiry that Levy was ‘Gibraltar’s biggest rainmaker’ and ‘one of the greatest sources of business for the financial centre’ whose very well-being was linked to the economic interests of Gibraltar.
However, others point the finger at the chairman of Bland, James Gaggero, as the ‘real string puller’ behind the scenes who triggered the whole saga for his own financial interests.
Gaggero went to see McGrail in September 2018 and again the following month to make a complaint that he was being defrauded out of the NSCIS contract.
Picardo himself considered that Gaggero was ‘actually using the RGP’ and that the RGP was ‘knowingly allowing itself to be used’ in what was essentially a ‘classic commercial dispute’ without any conspiracy to defraud that snowballed out of control.
Meanwhile, there were shadowy allusions to a ‘hack’ on Gibraltar’s national security which endangered the population and even the military base.
What happens next?
The Chairman of the inquiry will ultimately produce a report based on all the evidence that he has heard, which the government has a statutory duty to publish.
Whether the thick black ‘redactor’ pen will be taken to it beforehand is another question, however,
A timeline for publication is not at all clear, especially after last week’s unexpected additional days. It had originally been expected sometime around midsummer, meaning it could now be released in the autumn.
