Minnis: What has government to hide over gun case?

FNM leader Dr Hubert Minnis has urged the government to explain what it has to hide over a gun case that was dismissed under unusual circumstances.

In a statement issued yesterday, Dr Minnis noted that repeated requests from the Opposition to see “the mysterious files” have gone unanswered.

“I have today dispatched a second formal letter to Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Perry Christie, formally requesting that I have unfettered access to the files in connection with the nolle prosequi issued by Acting Attorney General Jerome Fitzgerald in the matter of George and Janice Hayles,” he said.

“In customary delay, delay, delay style, the Prime Minister says one thing with great fanfare, and then is notoriously slow to live up to his word.”

Dr Minnis noted that in a contribution in the House of Assembly on January 9, Mr Christie said the Leader of the Opposition would be granted access to the files.

The FNM particularly wants a full explanation of the facts behind Mr Fitzgerald’s claim he dismissed the case for “national security” reasons.

Particularly, Dr Minnis said, as the defendants had been former clients of the Attorney General.

“To date, the Prime Minister has yet to be true to his word. He has yet to give the officials within Cabinet Office approval to accommodate my review of this file for the purpose of determining whether the Opposition can support the conclusion arrived at by the Attorney General and/or the Acting Attorney General,” he said.

“My colleagues and I in the Free National Movement are greatly concerned that the Prime Minister is grossly underestimating the extent to which this matter continues to significantly erode the reputation of the Bahamas’ judicial system in the international community in general and public confidence in his government in particular.

“Final resolution of this matter cannot be delayed. The currently available facts suggest that the Acting Attorney General — by some miraculous stroke of coincidence — was able to identify and act upon this particular file while the Attorney General was off the island, and the Minister of State in the Attorney General’s Office, Damien Gomez, was not available.

“The Bahamian people are deeply suspicious about this matter and the Prime Minister should move with dispatch to allay their concerns and put this matter behind him and the country.”

The FNM also noted with great concern the statement in yesterday’s Tribune by former PLP Attorney General Sean McWeeney, who said Mr Fitzgerald “did not perform out of line with the law.”

Dr Minnis said: “How exactly was Mr McWeeney able to arrive at such a firm conclusion? It is one thing for a former Attorney General to inform the public generally about the constitutional power of the Attorney General and an Acting Attorney General; it is altogether another for him to make a finding of fact without having seen all the evidence or the file in the matter.

“If he did, indeed, have access to the file, how did this occur? This is especially troubling in that the leader of the Opposition, the holder of a constitutional office, continues to be denied access to the file, despite the assurances given to the Bahamian people, on the floor of Parliament, by the Prime Minister.”

Dr Minnis urged the Prime Minister to “put down his fiddle and extinguish this fire.”

Comments

gangof4 says...

Dr. Minnis you are 100% right. Do not allow this to be swept under the carpet like so many other things here. In my opinion, this is certainly one of the most bizarre things to have happened in our extremely flawed criminal justice system and it's imperative that you and the Bahamian public get all the answers.

Posted 6 February 2013, 4:06 p.m. Suggest removal

paul_vincent_zecchino says...

Agree. Dr. Minnis is indeed right. As President Reagan well said, 'if you can't make the light, then make them feel the heat'.

There's no place to hide with so many citizen reporters on the Net. Truth, as does murder, outs - always.

"Truth leads a wretched life, and always survives the lie."
- Kathy O'Brien

Posted 7 February 2013, 9:53 a.m. Suggest removal

tonymontana says...

this case along with the moss situation in freeport will bring about an early election for this government. hopefully we will get the government we derserv

Posted 6 February 2013, 6:38 p.m. Suggest removal

Concerned says...

On May 8, 2012 the PLP had no clue that they would wake up to such a different type of Bahamians - a people who are no longer ignorant, no longer fixated by politicians and no longer willing to let the government spew garbage and forget about it. Like mama use to say, "you done pour ya milk so you gatta drink it."

Posted 7 February 2013, 1:53 a.m. Suggest removal

paul_vincent_zecchino says...

Agree. Many on the left side of the spectrum still think it's the 60's and 70s, when they could say and do as they pleased and citizens would simply have to abide by it.

But the 60s/70s are long gone, much as the left keeps trying to relive them - it's drug-sodden heyday. It's a new era in which the internet frees citizens to gather all the facts freely to make informed decisions.

Citizens clearly see the truth today as never before. With the Net, there's no place to conceal skullduggery. One can try, but too many citizen reporters are augmenting the work of the professional journalists, right here on these pages and elsewhere, to provide a complete picture of what's happening.

A pleasure to read your comments. Thank you for speaking out, we we don't exercise our right to do so, others will surely do it instead.

Posted 7 February 2013, 9:51 a.m. Suggest removal

paul_vincent_zecchino says...

Kudos to Dr. Minnis for speaking out, for asking straightforward questions which others fear to answer.

Posted 7 February 2013, 9:55 a.m. Suggest removal

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