By RASAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

OPPOSITION Leader Philip “Brave” Davis wrote a strongly worded letter to Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis last week regarding criminal probes into Progressive Liberal Party politicians, warning: “When you set out to dig a grave for your enemy, dig two.”

The letter, which was written on July 18 and has since been leaked to the press, highlights Mr Davis’ frustrations with the Royal Bahamas Police Force’s (RBPF) anti-corruption investigations.

Calling investigations like the one into former Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly Dion Smith an “abuse of power,” Mr Davis warned: “When such abuses of power occur, the offending parties, be they police officers or politicians, need to understand that there will come a day of reckoning for them as well.

“What goes around, comes around. And let me hasten to add that that is not a threat. It is an immutable law of the moral universe, one that is sometimes expressed in these words: when you set out to dig a grave for your enemy, dig two.

“Those who are committing these abuses should therefore understand they cannot do so with impunity. To use your own words: where you do wrong and abuse your position, there are consequences.”

Mr Davis wrote that while he believes crimes should be investigated when reasonably suspected, exonerating information should be taken into account during investigations.

“For example,” he wrote, “monies originally suspected of being a bribe may actually turn out to be perfectly lawful political donations made in the middle of a general election campaign.

“Where the facts lead to such a conclusion, it is not only irresponsible, it is, in fact, criminal to persist in pressing charges against the persons under investigation.”

Mr Davis also expressed concern that investigations have not been “free of political contamination.”

“Already, there are disturbing indications that political considerations may have influenced the manner in which these matters were handled,” Mr Davis wrote.

“Indeed, at least two senior members of your Cabinet have spoken publicly about these matters. One of them went so far as to inform the public last week to stay tuned because there are more to come—meaning more former ministers are being investigated and will likely be charged,” the July 18 letter noted.

“Who told him that? What was he told that gave him the confidence to publicly declare that the investigations will result in criminal prosecutions? Has the minister in question been in touch with the police on these matters? Has he received information from the police as to the quality and weight of the evidence they have, and the number of persons who are under investigation? If so, the minister has committed an egregious abuse of power for which is accountable.”

Mr Davis was likely referring to Health Minister Dr Duane Sands who said earlier this month the public will find a number of people brought before the courts “if the information that has been brought to us, in the opinion and findings of the commissioner of police, prove to warrant pressing charges.”

In his letter to Dr Minnis, which was also sent to Attorney General Carl Bethel and National Security Minister Marvin Dames, Mr Davis protested the treatment of the PLP politicians who have been in custody, including Mr Smith whom he felt should not have “spent a night in jail even after it had become unmistakably clear that there were no reasonable grounds for believing that he had committed any criminal offense whatsoever.”

Mr Smith, former executive chairman of the Bahamas Agricultural and Industrial Corporation, was arrested and held in police custody overnight in late May in connection with a theft probe from the government agency, police said at the time.

Eight other people were also arrested over the course of the investigation, however no one was ever charged.

Earlier this month, Assistant Commissioner Paul Rolle said police closed the investigation into the matter and found no evidence of wrongdoing.

Meanwhile Mr Davis also wrote that the handcuffing of one of the recently arrested PLP politicians flies in the face of the law. He said the politician’s reported admission into the general population of the prison was problematic. It showed “no concern whatever for the special security risks that this might pose for him so soon after a general election which you yourself have said has left many people filled with anger and hatred for former ministers of the PLP government,” he wrote.

He asked Dr Minnis to accept his invitation to meet “as soon as possible, as your convenience, to discuss how public confidence in our system of law and order and in the police as our impartial protectors can be better secured.”

The recent corruption probes have created tension between the two major political parties.

They have led the PLP to call into question the impartiality of the police force conducting the probes.

Damian Gomez, who served as state minister for legal affairs in the last Christie administration, said last week the Minnis administration should have waited until an autonomous anti-corruption agency, one whose supporting legislation should ensure there exists no incentive for its members to please the governing party over an opposition one, is established, rather than direct the police to create an anti-corruption unit within the force.

As a counter-action, Mr Gomez said the PLP may investigate what it suspects to be past corrupt activities by FNM politicians and submit its findings to the police for investigation.