A letter from HSBC Bank of Bermuda further confirms a fraudulent cheque made out to “Dr. E. Brown” in the amount of $14,780 was never deposited in any HSBC bank account belonging to Premier Dr. Ewart F. Brown.

In a letter to the Premier dated 13 February 2009, Premier Banking Relationship Manager Stephen Caines writes: “We have reviewed your accounts for the period of 1 May 2008 to 13 February 2009 and can confirm that at no period were your accounts credited for the amount of $14,780.”

Today the Premier has released a copy of the HSBC letter to the public.

This latest development lends further credibility to the likelihood that a person (or persons) altered the cheques in an effort to frame Premier Brown and Works & Engineering Minister Derrick Burgess of corruption. A cheque was similarly altered to injury the reputation of Minister Burgess.

A Police investigation is now underway.

A fraudulent cheque made out to Dr. E. Brown was discovered in files at the Ministry of Works & Engineering during an internal investigation by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary Robert Horton. The purported payer of that cheque was Landmark Lisgar Construction Ltd. (LLC), a company hired to construct a Government building in Hamilton. The cheque number was 0123.

Further investigation revealed LLC never made out a cheque to a Dr. E. Brown. Instead cheque 0123 had been made out to “Scorpio Construction Limited”. Scorpio Construction has publicly acknowledged it received the cheque for work it performed and the cheque has been deposited.

It’s not clear when the cheque was fraudulently altered and by whom.

Today Premier Brown reiterated comments he made when the attempt at conspiracy was discovered earlier this month. The Premier said: “I imagine the goal of the culprits in this matter was to destabilize this Government or to undo the will of a vibrant democracy. With that being the case, this crime is an affront to every Bermudian. Whoever is responsible must be uncovered and brought to justice.”