SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) 鈥 A legislator and former premier of the Cayman Islands was charged Wednesday with rape and indecent assault, according to authorities.
McKeeva Bush pleaded not guilty to charges that police said stem from 2000. Police issued no other comment aside from a brief press release noting that the 鈥渟enior politician鈥 appeared in court via Zoom.
Bush told The Associated Press in a statement that he rejected, denied and pleaded not guilty to what he called 鈥渢his evil plot鈥 and 鈥渕alicious accusation.鈥
鈥淎ll I have to say in relation to this, the latest in the series of malicious charges against me is the 鈥淭ruth will come out,鈥 he wrote. 鈥淭his is done by someone I have never had any contact with.鈥
The arrest was the former premier鈥檚 most recent brush with the law.
Bush was investigated and found not guilty nearly a decade ago on charges including theft and abuse of office. He also pleaded not guilty to groping a female employee at a casino in Florida in 2017, and the charges were later dropped.
Bush pleaded not guilty after being charged with indecently assaulting two women last year at a regional tourism event held in the Cayman Islands, a British overseas territory in the western Caribbean Sea. He is awaiting trial in that case.
Bush stepped down as premier in December 2012 after facing a no-confidence vote. He resigned as speaker of Parliament in October 2022 following accusations of sexual harassment, which he denied.
