Attorney General silent on prosecution for non-disclosure - and her own status

As of Monday, June 23, 2014

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Staff Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

ATTORNEY General Allyson Maynard-Gibson was tightlipped yesterday over whether or not she felt parliamentarians should be prosecuted for noncompliance with the Public Disclosures Act.

Mrs Maynard-Gibson declined to comment on whether or not she was up to date with her annual disclosures outside Senate yesterday.

She said: “The Public Disclosures Commission (PDC) must be allowed to do its job, that’s my comment. I think that we as a people should allow the public disclosure commission to do its job. I don’t think the commission is frustrated in doing its job.”

Mrs Maynard-Gibson added that she felt outstanding parliamentarians and public officers will move to achieve full compliance in a timely manner.

Yesterday, Senator Keith Bell, State minister for National Security, said he was compliant with the law but recognised the process was tedious and complicated.

He suggested that the form be simplified to make it easier to understand and fulfil.

Last week, Prime Minister Perry Christie confirmed that the PDC has expressed concern over the widespread failure of officials to comply with legislation mandating the turnover of annual financial declarations.

According to Mr Christie, the PDC reported that “a number” of present and former parliamentarians and senators, along with senior public officers, have failed to submit declarations as mandated in the Act.

Disclosures must be turned into the PDC by March each year.

According to the Act, a summary of the declarations shall be published in a gazette and any person who does not comply with the law is liable to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or imprisonment of not more than two years.

Mr Christie has confirmed to the Tribune that he is in full compliance with the Act, throughout his tenure. However, it is still unclear on whether there will be any penalties levelled for non-compliance.

To date, 11 of 38 members of Parliament have confirmed to The Tribune that they filed all their annual disclosures.

sheeprunner12 9 years, 10 months ago

The AG is the female version of V Alfred Gray ........ listen to her in the Senate. Cut from the same cloth........... just that she get some of that slippery Bajan in her

Bahamianpride 9 years, 10 months ago

These are objective standards Mrs. Gibson, either they filed or they didn't and if they did not the punishment is clear. For those with multiple years of defiantely neglecting the law, termination and possible incarceration for 2 years. At minimum resignation. Mrs. Gibson u are the top law enforcement official in the country, enforce the law its your job. This is why i feel the position of the AG should be an elected rather than appointed position.

The_Oracle 9 years, 10 months ago

Listening to most of the elected is no different than listening to the accused in the Magistrates courts. Excuses, blame shifting, denial, twisted logic, all completely justifiable in their own minds. The same defiance too.

Cobalt 9 years, 10 months ago

True

asiseeit 9 years, 10 months ago

If the LAW does not apply to them, then It does not apply to me. Fair is fair. Why should I obey and respect any law that these idiots have put on the books if they are able to ignore the law at their leisure? Do they have the mental fortitude to understand the public's outrage?

TalRussell 9 years, 10 months ago

The AG comes from a highly respected family that through their hard work ain't among them parliamentarians and highly placed government officials who could be ducking having report exactly how bankrupt they really is? If you bankrupt you can't sit in the House or senate, right? Comrades by their silence, it's as if certain members of the governing party and Her Majesty's Government-in-waiting (just joking) have entered in the Witness Protection Program? Yet, they will return to their seats in the House and Senate with their mockery of calling for locking-up poor people under the Criminal Laws they passed but ignore. How in the hell can you use your House and Senate bully platforms to shout for the Commish of Policeman's and the Judges to enforce the criminal laws against the poor but not your own 'guilty-as-sin" colleagues?

"Many Comrade Suspects Despite Whose Whereabouts Are "Well Known To Policeman's" Over Missing Financial Disclosure Statements But Policeman's Have NO House MP's, Senators or High Government Officials In Custody?"

....//http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHViow...">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHViow...

B_I_D___ 9 years, 10 months ago

The AG is and always has been a waste of space...not shock there that the person with oversight and enforcement on this is most likely in default and non-compliance as well.

GrassRoot 9 years, 10 months ago

It seems the Public Disclosure Commission is NOTdoing its job. Again, there are no consequences for no one if nothing gets done. The Bahamas has all the laws necessary in place. What segregates The Bahamas from the first world is that no one really cares about the laws. This puts The Bahamas close to a dictatorship or developing countries. This is true on the financial services sector, money laundering, professional ethics in the Bar Association, traffic, RPT. And we want to implement the VAT? Good Gracious, save us from that. It will be a party for the tax cheaters.

TalRussell 9 years, 10 months ago

Asking the governing and opposition parliamentarians to lock themselves up in cells with each other is way too hilarious for me belly handle. Since we can't be sure who has filed and who hasn't, the MP's have left Bahamalander's free to use our immigration's; like what if Montagu's Lightbourne and Fox Hill's Freddy, be's locked up in same prison cell? Now, that is funny!

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