By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Senior Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

A TOP Progressive Liberal Party Queen’s Counsel says former Education Minister Jerome Fitzgerald did nothing that should disqualify him from a senior post in the Davis administration.

In a now deleted tweet, the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit on Tuesday said Mr Fitzgerald is the new senior policy advisor and head of PMDU.

Administration officials have since said Mr Fitzgerald’s role has not yet been finalised.

The Free National Movement, meanwhile, has been silent on the matter as the party waits to see if the former Marathon MP will be confirmed in the role.

Mr Fitzgerald was embroiled in controversy after The Tribune revealed in 2017 that he sought contracts from Baha Mar for his family’s business. Emails showed he requested brokerage, trucking and limousine contracts worth millions.

Critics claimed he breached the Manual of Cabinet and Ministry Procedure, which states a minister must not “solicit or accept any benefits advantage or promise of future advantage whether for himself, his immediate family or any business concern or trust with which he is associated from persons who are in, or seek to be in, any contractual or special relationship with the government.”

Damian Gomez, the state minister for legal affairs in the last Christie administration, said yesterday that while what Mr Fitzgerald did was not appropriate, it should not disqualify him from a top-level post.

However, he added: “I don’t know that Jerome has done anything that crosses the criminal line. I’m sure that if the FNM had thought so he would have been prosecuted in the way that they prosecuted Shane Gibson and Ken Dorsett and Frank Smith. The fact that they didn’t suggests that they tried but couldn’t find anything. Now you got to give the guy the benefit of the doubt. I don’t know him to be an evil person. He’s never done anything in the 30 years that I’ve known him that would characterise him as such.”

Mr Fitzgerald played a leading role coordinating activities for the PLP’s general election war room.

“From what I know, I don’t see that there is anything that disqualifies him,” Mr Gomez said. “I don’t pretend to know everything but from the matters I know of I don’t see him as being disqualified. In terms of academic qualifications, he is eminently qualified for the post. He’s a pretty good businessman and he’s done well in his career. That particular post requires someone who understands business and the reality of doing business in The Bahamas. Jerome is definitely qualified to give advice on that.”

As for claims Mr Fitzgerald broke the Cabinet code of conduct, Mr Gomez said “that’s a matter of practice, not the rule of law.”

“If there is to be a political debate on it, one would expect those who would raise that issue when they had an opportunity to codify the code of conduct as a criminal statute would have done so,” he said.

“If looking at it as a purely legal matter, there is nothing to disqualify Jerome at all and from a practical point of view he brings a lot of skills to the table and a lot of knowledge as to what business people look for when they are shopping to do business that would be helpful to the new government.

"One of the dangers the new administration has is you got to pick people who are business savvy because they tend to be people with the contacts. If you choose someone with an academic background you might not find many foreigners willing to do business.”