A retired chartered accountant has formally been found not guilty of an historical count of bribery.

The jury on the first day of what is thought to have been the first bribery trial ever heard in the Isle of Man was instructed to record a not guilty verdict after Deemster Graeme Cook ruled there was no case to answer.

Gordon John Mundy had been accused of facilitating a bribe to a Ugandan court official to make two companies ‘disappear’ in a case said to date back almost 14 years.

Mr Mundy, 70, of Selbourne Drive, Douglas, denied a single charge of bribery of a foreign public official.

Key to the prosecution case was an email exchange from 2011 between a client of Mr Mundy and a Ugandan lawyer in which it was agreed a payment be made to an official in the Ugandan registry of companies to ensure documents relating to two companies were destroyed.

The emails were forwarded to the defendant who arranged for a payment of $2,920.

The intention between those emails was ‘crystal clear,’ prosecutor James Robinson told the jury.

But Mr Mundy could not remember receiving, let alone reading the emails.

Following the closing of the prosecution case at the Court of General Gaol Delivery before lunch on Monday, defence advocate Jim Travers submitted an application that there was no case to answer.

He argued that the jury could not be satisfied that the defendant had read the contents of the emails before forwarding them to an administrator for payment.

The Deemster agreed and instructed the foreman of the seven-strong jury to enter a unanimous not guilty verdict.

He told Mr Mundy: ‘You are now discharged in relation to these proceedings. You can now leave the court building. Your previous good character remains. ‘

But he reminded him that it was always open for the prosecution to appeal his judgment.

Mr Mundy had a long career as a chartered accountant and from 1996 had been employed by Trident Trust Isle of Man Ltd, becoming managing director in 2009. He left the company in 2019.

The court heard that just six months before the email exchange, Trident Trust had adopted a zero tolerance to bribery policy.

In or around 2006, Mr Mundy started a business relationship with a Norwegian national Christian Eidem for whom Trident Trust went on to administer a number of client companies beneficially owned by him.

The defendant acted as director for many of the Eidem-owned companies and was clearly trusted by his client, Mr Robinson told the jury.

Civilian financial crime investigator Vincent Lund, who was the officer in charge of the investigation, took the stand to take the jury through the 2011 email exchange.

This began on November 19 with an email from Ugandan lawyer Charles Egou to Mr Eidem which discussed the legitimate winding up of Asante Oil and Asante Mining Ltd. This was forwarded to the defendant who asked for bank details so he could authorise payment.

A first payment of $1,900 was made.

But things took a different turn in an email sent by Mr Egou to Mr Eidem on December 1 when he said: ‘I have just talked to the registrar of companies about making file records in the registry disappear so there is no trace of the company. His asking price is 10m Ugandan shillings for the two companies.’

‘This way we don’t have to bother winding up the companies,’ he added, explaining that when a firm is wound up, company records can still be available on request.

He said his fee would be $800 for his role in ensuring the files were physically destroyed.

The next day the Ugandan lawyer emailed Mr Mundy with his bank details, copying in Mr Eidem. The email chain was attached.

Further emails were sent from Mr Egou requesting a further payment, of $2,920, and asking the defendant whether he had sent the required balance ‘to enable us to carry out Christian’s instructions to their logical conclusion’.

Mr Lund confirmed that no one else has been prosecuted for these matters.

The prosecutor told the court that it was not known why Mr Eidem wanted the company records destroyed.

In written statements provided for his police interview, Mr Mundy said he had been director of hundreds of companies and it was difficult to remember specific events.

He said while at Trident he would receive 300 emails a day and clients could be highly demanding, with Mr Eidem not shy in calling at any time even when it was inconvenient.

He said it was not out of character for Mr Eidem to request certain payments.

Mr Mundy said he was using a Blackberry device in 2011 and scrolling through an email chain would have be far more laborious than with a modern smartphone.

The court heard that the Financial Services Authority launched an investigation in 2019 into historical non-compliance at the Trident Trust.

Mr Mundy subsequently agreed to be prohibited from having a key role in a financial services company after being ruled ‘not fit and proper’ to perform such a function.