By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Digital Editor

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

The Office of the Prime Minister yesterday said the Bahamasair incident reported by The Tribune — involving a cash seizure connected to a March 1 flight to Cap-Haïtien — offers no support for Opposition Leader Michael Pintard’s “bag of passports” allegation.

OPM said the new details published by The Tribune do not support Opposition Leader Michael Pintard’s separate allegation that a “bag of passports” was found on a Bahamasair aircraft, and insisted the burden of proof remains with him.

“The Leader of the Opposition has put forward a claim about passports on a Bahamasair aircraft," the statement read. 

"He has provided zero evidence to support that claim, and the Royal Bahamas Police Force, the Passport Office, and Bahamasair executives have all confirmed that they hold no record or report related to Mr Pintard’s claim.”

The government said it issued the statement “in view of recent claims and public discussion” following The Tribune’s disclosures, which documented that the former employee had been suspended, interrogated by police financial crime officers, and terminated by the airline.

While acknowledging The Tribune’s report on the March 1 incident, OPM stressed that the matter involved a cash seizure by Haitian authorities, not passports.

“The Tribune today reported on an event from March 1st involving a Bahamasair flight to Cap-Haïtien and the seizure of cash by Haitian authorities. That situation was handled by Bahamasair through its internal investigation process and through engagement with the relevant agencies.”

It added that the cash matter remains part of a money laundering process before Haitian judicial authorities.

OPM also asserted that the former employee was fired because he “failed to provide full information” during Bahamasair’s internal investigation — “a point he acknowledged in the interview published today,” the statement claimed.

The worker, in The Tribune’s interview, said he provided WhatsApp messages and a detailed account to investigators and maintains he was not involved in any wrongdoing. He said he believes he was “used as a pawn.”

The OPM statement did not address the former employee’s claim that other Bahamasair staff had also carried passports on Haiti flights..

Instead, OPM emphasised that anyone with evidence must go to police rather than speak publicly.

“Any individual who believes they possess evidence of wrongdoing or criminal behaviour carries a clear responsibility: place that information directly in the hands of the Royal Bahamas Police Force… Speaking to everyone else while avoiding the police creates confusion and delivers zero clarity.”

The statement concluded that the Government “will continue to communicate… based on verified facts.”