By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Customs’ top official has slammed as “baseless and groundless nonsense” allegations that senior officials with the agency and Ministry of Finance were involved in an illicit alcohol smuggling racket.

Ralph Munroe, the Customs comptroller, confirmed to Tribune Business that himself and other officials were questioned by the police over the findings of an investigation detailed by former prime minister, Dr Hubert Minnis, in the House of Assembly last week but disclosed that all were cleared of any impropriety.

Documents obtained by this newspaper confirm that the Royal Bahamas Police Force probe “concluded that no evidence was found to suggest wrongdoings” by Mr Munroe, or other senior Ministry of Finance or Customs officials, in relation to 16 container shipments imported into The Bahamas in the name of Sean Mckenzie, who is understood to now be deceased.

Tribune Business can reveal that it was Prime Minister Philip Davis KC who directed that a police investigation be conducted after receiving a report on Customs’ own findings into the suspected smuggling on February 16, 2023, from chief Customs/revenue officer, Trevor Rolle, who led the agency’s probe.

His report cites a witness, Vernard Watson, who was encountered at one of the suspect 40-foot containers. Under questioning by Mr Rolle, he said there were unnamed “high ups involved in the facilitation of these containers within the Ministry of Finance and the Bahamas Customs Department......

“Watson indicated that monies have changed hands and calls have been made, the people need their things, gesturing that the matter will go nowhere because of who all is involved. This his very exact words,” Mr Rolle wrote.

Papers seen by this newspaper reveal that Mr Rolle was reassigned to Customs’ tariff matters section on February 20, 2023, within ten days of submitting his findings to Mr Munroe on the 10th of that month. Mr Rolle also sent his report to Michael Halkitis, minister of economic affairs, and Simon Wilson, the Ministry of Finance’s financial secretary, who received their copies on the same day as the Prime Minister.

The report was also sent to Terrance Bastian, the outgoing auditor general, on February 23, 2023 - three days after Mr Rolle reassigned. And Tribune Business can also reveal that the Customs investigator is now being threatened with disciplinary action, via the Ministry of Labour and the Public Service, for allegedly defaming Mr Munroe and other senior officials via the allegations made in the report.

However, Raven Rolle, the Callender’s & Co attorney who is representing Mr Rolle, slammed the claims and proposed actions against the latter as “baseless, reckless, irresponsible and unsupported by your own evidence”.

She argued in an October 10, 2023, letter to Janice Miller, the Ministry of Finance’s permanent secretary, that her client has an “absolute” defence to any defamation allegations because the probe was conducted “in good faith” and in accordance with established investigative procedures.

“Mr Rolle denies the allegations made against him and asserts that there is no lawful basis for disciplinary action to be brought against him as he conducted the investigation in good faith and followed the established protocols and procedure,” Ms Rolle wrote of her client.

Mr Munroe, though, told Tribune Business that the $567,430 revenue loss cited by Dr Minnis last week was incorrect because the smuggling was confined to just one of the 16 containers imported in Mr McKenzie’s name. He added that all due fines and duty owed on the imported alcohol and other products - found in a trailer supposedly containing just ten plywood packages - were subsequently paid.

The comptroller also vehemently denied the findings in Mr Rolle’s report that he “instructed” Customs officials to release the “hold” placed on two more of Mr McKenzie’s containers, located in late January 2023 at the Arawak Cay port, after the probe into the alcohol findings began.

Mr Munroe, asserting that he never spoke to either of the two Customs officers cited in Mr Rolle’s report, said no “hold” was ever placed on the two containers. He added that it was himself who discovered their presence at Arawak Cay, after the probe into the earlier findings began, and requested that they be moved to the agency’s head office on Thompson Boulevard on Tuesday, January 31, 2023.

He argued that the “hold” was only imposed two days after he ordered the containers be moved, as part of the probe and to prevent them being tampered with, describing any claims that he interfered as “absolute nonsense”. Mr Munroe added: “Why would I give an instruction to release the container if it was never on hold? Mr Munroe knew nothing about the containers until Friday after 6pm.”

Mr Rolle, in his report, said he was informed by chief Customs revenue officer, Hosea Lewis, a member of the agency’s risk management section, that the two containers at Arawak Cay had “a hold placed on them to control the container release and movement”.

However, officer Lewis said he was informed on Friday afternoon, January 27, by Nekita Wood from Customs’ examination section, that Mr Munroe “had made inquiry about the hold on the containers consigned to Mr Sean McKenzie and instructed that officer Lewis contact him right away.

“Officer Lewis made the call to acting comptroller of Customs, Mr Munroe, who then instructed officer Lewis to release the hold on the containers and advised same that the Revenue Compliance and Enforcement Unit would be responsible for the inspection and examination in those containers consigned to Mr Sean McKenzie,” Mr Rolle wrote.

“Officer Lewis stated that he complied with acting comptroller of Customs, Ralph Munroe’s instructions and released the hold on the containers.” Mr Munroe, though, besides pointing to discrepancies in the times cited, told this newspaper he never spoke to officers Lewis or Woods.

“Those containers were not on hold,” he blasted. “It’s foolishness. It’s absolute madness what they are talking. I never had a conversation with them.” The controversy over the “hold” also began several hours before the alarm over alleged smuggling was sounded.

Mr Munroe said he dispatched a team including Mr Rolle to the Central Storage Facility, located on Carmichael Road east, at around 6pm on Friday, January 27, 2023, after being alerted by his officers that a 40-foot container was opened - and being unloaded and worked - without a Customs officer being present.

Assistant Customs comptroller, Lenita Pratt, in her witness statement that when she arrived at the container she encountered three police officers from the anti-gang firearms unit as well as Venard Watson, who admitted to being connected to the shipment. The police wanted to search the container for suspected firearms, and the Customs seal was broken.

The container’s waybill showed it as containing ten packs of plywood, but Ms Pratt said: “The container’s doors were open. Items out of the container were some perfumery, body lotions, Gatorade drinks on a pallet and one vehicle hood.

“I witnessed grade one Customs officer, Kalif Poitier, climb up on to the container. He stated that he counted what appeared to be 18 pallets of Budweiser. I saw one pallet of what appeared to be Busch beer and one pallet of miscellaneous items at the entrance of the container.” Mr Poitier, in his statement, said Mr Watson was unable to produce any documents showing these goods were properly cleared.

Ms Pratt said that, after informing Mr Munroe of the discovery, the comptroller ordered that the container be taken that night to Customs’ compound at Thompson Boulevard. This was confirmed to Tribune Business by Mr Munroe, who said “posted two officers on watch until Monday morning to make sure no one stole from the container”. The other two containers were also brought to the same location.

Surveillance footage from the Central Storage Facility, taken at 5.30pm on Friday, January 27, shows four persons offloading and opening the container in question. The container is just out of camera shot, but a forklift is being used to move pallets, and what appears to be an auto bumper for a vehicle is placed in a dark blue car that is parked nearby.

The same vehicle was also present at the Central Storage Facility on January 6, 2023, and January 26, 2023, when other containers in Mr McKenzie’s name arrived. The vehicle appears to be facilitating the containers entry, almost escorting them, and reverses the entire length of the building as if it is directing the truckers where to drop them off at the back of the property out of sight from the road.

Mr Rolle, in his report, said Bowes Customs Brokerage and Freight handled the container’s clearance into The Bahamas, declaring ten bundles of plywood valued at a collective $3,340 and paying duty worth $782.35 via Customs’ Electronic Single Window.

Bowes Customs’ principals, Dustin and Mia Bowe, admitted in a February 3, 2023, that they had never met, spoken to or dealt directly with Mr McKenzie, which Mr Rolle argued “should have raised a red flag”. Instead, all the necessary paperwork was provided by a third-party, Damaris Cooper-Watson, via What’s App.

“After some time and given the immense confusion surrounding the situation, Dustin then reached out to Mrs Cooper-Watson to get some clarity on her involvement and to explain the severity of what was going on,” the Bowes’ said. “She again stated she didn’t know anything and would call back.”

However, they never heard from her, but were instead contacted by an Aaron/Erin Miller from a US cell number. “Mr Miller proceeded to say he was calling on behalf of Mrs Cooper-Watson, and was just letting us know if Customs asks us any questions we should leave her name out of it and direct Bahamas Customs to him,” the Bowes said, denying that they had any role in or knowledge of what was happening.

Mr Rolle said Customs’ electronic single window revealed that some 16 containers had been imported into The Bahamas in Mr McKenzie’s name over a five-month period between September 2022 and January 2023. Most were described as containing building supplies, concrete mix, shingles and plywood, although foodstuffs such as capri sun and tuna were also listed on the manifest.

Yet only one of the 16 consignments were shown “as being fully reconciled and cleared” by Customs as ‘examined with results then released’. “However, 15 consignments/imports approved for direct delivery were not reconciled or cleared from the Bahamas Electronic Single Window were found,” Mr Rolle wrote.

Customs’ examination section at Arawak Cay said their “control sheet” showed no on-site inspections, where containers are opened in the presence of officers at an importer’s premises, of Mr McKenzie’s goods. However, in calling a cell number submitted for a previous C-1 attendance request, the person who answered named a specific officer who “assigns personnel to conduct inspections and examinations of his containers”.

Mr Rolle’s report said Wayne Wilkinson, who identified himself as Mr McKenzie’s partner, appeared at Customs House on February 2, 2023, as he was “now making inquiry on the way forward in gaining resolution to this unfortunate incident”. He added that “he had all the necessary invoices pertaining to the goods and merchandise inside the container” and “needed his goods”.

Unable to produce documents linking himself to Mr McKenzie or the container, Mr Wilkinson came back eight days later with Vernard Watson, who was present when Customs officers initially investigated the container at the Central Storage Facility, and attorney Devard Francis.

Mr Munroe, though, said he was unable to determine the basis on which Mr Rolle had concluded himself, “senior officers and persons from the Ministry of Finance” were involved in illicit activities. Pointing out that there was “not a stain” on his reputation during a 44-year Customs career serving five prime ministers, he blasted: “He [Mr Rolle] came up baseless, groundless nonsense.

“An investigation had to be done at the level of the police. I went there. The police did their investigation. I was questioned by them and assisted the police.” Tribune Business documents show the investigation requested by the Prime Minister into Mr Rolle’s findings was carried out by the police’s complaints and corruption branch.

Asked about the investigation’s outcome, Mr Munroe said: “What are you investigating? If there’s nothing, there’s going to be nothing. The investigation was completed last year, shortly after it began. The [original Customs] investigation was so egregious that persons have been called to account for their actions.

“Of the three containers, only one had beer; only one. The fines were ordered, they paid the fines, paid the duty, and the beers were sold. There was nothing to incriminate anybody. There wasn’t anything. I was an open book. Check with the police. Integrity is my name. I don’t know Sean McKenzie from a can of paint. I didn’t know he died until afterwards. This whole thing was a bunch of foolishness.”

However, Mr Rolle wrote in his report: “The mandate of the Bahamas Customs Department is clear: ‘To collect and to protect’. However, from the evidence and statements compiled in this report, it appears that senior members of this organisation may have lost their way and are facilitating individuals who are clearly engaged in illicit activities.

“On viewing the full footage of the evening of December 29 2022, this video clearly depicted how co-ordinated and disturbing this one out of 13 containers consigned to Sean McKenzie was orchestrated. The countless amount of vehicles and individuals viewed to and from this container was again very disturbing.

“One can only imagine the characters associated with this illicit behaviour especially during a time when so many illicit firearms are entering our shores. To some, the smuggling of beers and tobacco products may be their merchandise of choice, but to a more seasoned criminal this would be the ideal opportunity to smuggle ammunition and firearms simply because the opportunity exists and the gates are wide open.”

Calling himself for a police probe, “due to the serious nature of what is documented in this report and the individuals that appear to have some involvement being that of senior executives”, Mr Rolle added: “This should have been one of those circumstances in which a wall should have been placed, even if only temporarily, between management, the investigations team and reporting officers at the various stations.

“This is a general rule in organisations. An officer should never be placed in situations when executing their daily duties of co-operating and speaking truth be in fear of retaliation. There are certain behaviours that should simply not be tolerated and outright discouraged by senior management.”