A disagreement continued yesterday over whether the claims in a criminal complaint filed in the US, which alleges that Bahamian law enforcement and government officials collaborated with Jonathan Eric Gardiner to help him move cocaine into the US, should be discussed in Parliament.
Fox Hill MP Fred Mitchell, who is also chairman of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP), has vehemently expressed his view that the matter does not belong in Parliament, claiming it is prejudicial and labeling the criminal complaint “an untested document which is floating around from a foreign source”.
Long Island MP Dr. Andre Rollins yesterday accused Mitchell of disrespecting the importance of The Bahamas’ relationship with the US government as a partner.
“We are in here treating our partner, the United States, as though they are insignificant and they mean nothing to us, their relationship,” he said.
“Let something happen tomorrow where we have a poor relationship with them, let’s see how we survive as a country.”
The complaint has been a source of significant uproar in Parliament.
There was also a recent revelation that Minister of Finance Michael Halkitis served as president of Top Notch Builders, the construction company affiliated with Gardiner. The complaint alleges Gardiner used his construction company to launder the narcotics proceeds through millions of dollars in government contracts.
Halkitis himself was not named in the complaint and is not accused of any illegality.
The Nassau Guardian pointed out in an article earlier last week that in 2020, the then-opposition PLP tabled a document with untested allegations against former Deputy Prime Minister Peter Turnquest in 2020. PLP members called on Turnquest to resign and he eventually did so.
Mitchell, on Wednesday, claimed there was a difference because the writ alleging Turnquest’s involvement in a $28 million fraud scheme was a Bahamian document.
He said a foreign document, even from the US, must be subject to further verification before being tabled in the House of Assembly.
Rollins, however, said the importance of the US to The Bahamas and its international reputation, combined with the nature of the allegations, create a significant reputational risk to The Bahamas, which was the rationale cited by the PLP when the writ in reference to Turnquest was laid in Parliament.
“We find ourselves in this situation because the member for Cat Island, Rum Cay, and San Salvador [then-Opposition Leader Philip Davis]…called upon then Prime Minister Hubert Minnis to cause his minister to do the honourable thing, because it, according to the member for Cat Island, was a very bad look for the Commonwealth of The Bahamas to have a civil matter…not a criminal matter as we are dealing with here now; this is a matter that is before the criminal courts of our most important trading partner, the United States of America,” he said.
In response to Rollins, Davis stood to his feet to defend the government’s position on the matter.
He accused the Free National Movement (FNM) of “creating allegations” against Halkitis.
“I have much confidence in my minister,” Davis said.
“I have examined, as I said before, what apparent emergency issue [there is]. There’s none, nothing illegal, nothing to borrow, and there are no allegations made against him.
“You all…are creating the allegations, but there were none made against him. You are creating the allegations.”
Davis went on to refer to a US judgment in reference to Turnquest that he said spoke to the “conduct on which” he based his request for his resignation.
He did not table the judgment he was referring to.
“I also say there was an action that emanates around the same issues in the Supreme Court of The Bahamas, and there was a judgment given in that as well, that speaks to his conduct as well,” Davis said.
Rollins said that Davis expected the public to take his statements about Turnquest at face value, given that he tabled no documents in the House.
He also noted that, to his knowledge, Turnquest was listed only as a witness in the US judgment that Davis mentioned.
“K. Peter Turnquest was not found guilty of anything,” Rollins said.
“I know of no impediment found by any court that resulted in him being found to be anything less than honorable.”
Rollins maintained that the government has been hypocritical in its handling of the matter.
“According to the other side, a day after this matter [regarding Turnquest] first came to the public’s attention, [it was appropriate] to call for the resignation of Mr. Turnquest, but here it is that all we have found since this [current] matter arose in our public domain is silence,” he said.
House Speaker Patricia Deveaux ultimately ruled that the criminal complaint will not be tabled in the House, citing legal advice.
Mitchell called for all of Rollins’ comments regarding Gardiner and the criminal complaint to be struck from the record.
However, FNM Leader Michael Pintard intervened and accused Mitchell of trying to put the opposition in a “straight jacket”.
