By KHRISNA VIRGIL
Tribune Staff Reporter
kvirgil@tribunemedia.net
MARATHON MP Jerome Fitzgerald yesterday said it was in an “administrative function” that Higgs and Johnson, the law firm at which his wife Zarina Fitzgerald serves as a partner, incorporated Rubis after it took over the Texaco brand in The Bahamas.
He said this action was not connected to the controversy surrounding the 2012 Rubis fuel leak in Marathon.
He was contacted by The Tribune after a document circulated on the social media website Facebook this week naming Mrs Fitzgerald as being involved in Rubis’ incorporation process. The document bears a Registrar General Department stamp dated April 25, 2014.
“It is an administrative function,” the Marathon MP said. “I don’t know who all the company incorporated over the years but I’m sure it is in the thousands.
“I don’t even understand what is being implied, it is ridiculous the level people would stoop to. Every company has to be incorporated and law firms do it and then step away. There is no connection.”
Fury over the Rubis gasoline leak has mounted in recent weeks as Marathon residents and other concerned citizens have lashed out at the government, questioning why vital information regarding the incident was kept from them. The Christie administration had commissioned consultants Black and Veatch International to look into the leak.
In a report given to the government in February 2014, BVI found that Marathon residents were possibly exposed to harmful chemicals, including cancer-causing benzene.
The government had the report for more than a year before it was made public last month.
On Wednesday, Fort Charlotte MP Dr Andre Rollins said the scandal was unacceptable.
In an interview with The Tribune, he said the Christie administration only announced concrete steps to address the Rubis underground fuel leak because of escalating public pressure.
He added that for a long time the administration hoped the controversy would just “go away.”
Dr Rollins, who is a PLP backbencher, said while the government’s handling of the matter has been “unacceptable,” its recent expression of “sincere regret” for withholding the independent report on the matter for more than a year is “refreshing” and “commendable,” as is its pledges to take other concrete steps to ensure the environment’s protection.
This week, the government also released a draft Environmental Planning and Protection Bill which is intended to bring about greater protection for the environment.
However, activist Fred Smith has criticised the draft as being “reactionary” calling it a “public salve” to ease the sting Bahamians are feeling from the Rubis matter.
According to the BEST Commission, the fuel release was observed in late December 2012 by former operator Fiorente Management, and reported to Rubis on January 19, 2013.
It was previously reported that the gasoline leak was estimated to be around 30,000 gallons; however, last month BEST Director Philip Weech said variance records approximated the release of 12,000 gallons of unleaded gasoline.
Comments
Sickened 8 years, 11 months ago
What is ridiculous is Jerome's supporters disrupting the town hall meeting for the Marathon residents.
Well_mudda_take_sic 8 years, 11 months ago
If Jerome Fitzgerald's wife, Zarina Fitzgerald, is a partner at Higgs & Johnson and Rubis is a significant client of Higgs & Johnson, then Jerome's family/household receives a share of all annual fees paid by Rubis to Higgs & Johnson for legal services. This creates an inherent direct conflict of interest for Jerome and may well explain why he was so content to have played such a passive role over the last couple of years in representing the health and safety interests of his Marathon constituents. HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN LEADING THE CRY FOR RUBIS AND THE GOVERNMENT TO IMMEDIATELY DO RIGHT BY HIS CONSTITUENTS BUT INSTEAD HE CHOSE TO REMAIN QUIET AND ONLY RECENTLY HAS HE LAID THE BLAME FOR HIS INACTION AT THE DOOR STEP OF THE OTHER CULPRITS (LIKE MAYNARD-GIBSON) WHO ALSO PARTICIPATED IN WRONGFULLY SUPPRESSING THE RELEASE TO THE PUBLIC OF THE REPORTS AND OTHER VITAL INFORMATION THAT WOULD HAVE UNDOUBTEDLY HELPED MANY MARATHON RESIDENTS AVOID, TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT POSSIBLE, THE PROLONGED EXPOSURE THEY HAVE EXPERIENCED TO TOXIC CANCER-CAUSING CHEMICALS. It would seem Jerome has put his family pocket book ahead of the health and safety interests of his constituents!
realfreethinker 8 years, 11 months ago
These guys don't want to understand " conflict of interest" or the appearance of it. They live in their own world and feel the Bahamian people will always look the other way,or just accept it.
TruthHurts 8 years, 11 months ago
“I don’t even understand what is being implied, it is ridiculous the level people would stoop to. Every company has to be incorporated and law firms do it and then step away. There is no connection.”
I don't think a firm that 'incorporates an entity/business can be said to have shares in said company! However, when the Rubis ordeal occurred, I think it would have been in Mr. & Mrs. Fitzgerald's best interest to have initiated the conversation and clarify the connection. Thus, reassuring the public that Mrs. Fitzgerald will not be handling any litigation etc in any shape or form with her Firms previous clients; The Rubis/Texaco Corp. The Bahamas is a small country and the fact that I am a MP's spouse and in her position these situations can happen and I understand the conflict of interest. So again, from the 'conception' of this entire ordeal, I feel there should've been steps taken to assure his supporters of his, as well as his family's transparency on the matter!
We're not gonna let you off the hook that easily Fritz!!! Get it together! : (
Well_mudda_take_sic 8 years, 11 months ago
More often than not a large law firm that forms a company will continue to act as legal counsel for the company whenever it requires legal representation of any kind in the future. Therein lies the very probable direct conflict of interest for Jerome Fitzgerald involving his wife and Rubis.
rosiepi 8 years, 11 months ago
From a an article April 7th 2015: Mrs Monroe of Grace Avenue Marathon filed an affidavit in support of Cable Bahamas' lawsuit against Rubis in which she stated she met with principal officers of Rubis whereupon she was offered $24,000 to give her house a "face lift" however they insisted she sign a release to indemnify Rubis of any wrongdoing etc. She refused to sign, instead she asked about Rubis' liability to her... Mr. Sarnin the general manger referred her to their company's law firm Higgs and Johnson.
duppyVAT 8 years, 11 months ago
Why yall dragging Mrs. Fitzgerald through the mud??????? She is not sitting in Cabinet or as MP ...................... she is in the private sector as a legal professional
Well_mudda_take_sic 8 years, 11 months ago
Jerome Fitzgerald, as a sitting MP, is sworn to uphold and represent to the best of his ability the interests of his constituents in matters involving government. Meanwhile, many of his constituents have legal claims for the harm to their health and the loss in value of their properties caused by the wrongful efforts of government and Rubis/Texaco to minimise the extent of the health hazard associated with serious leakages from the fuel tanks over a prolonged period of time. It is patently wrong for Jerome Fitzgerald's family pocket book to derive financial benefit from the fees paid by Rubis/Texaco to Higgs & Johnson in an effort to thwart the claims made and to be made by Jerome Fitzgerald's constituents. Higgs & Johnson may try to build a Chinese wall within their firm whereby Jerome's wife (Zarina) is not involved in any way, financial or otherwise, in that firm's legal representation of Rubis/Texaco, but such a Chinese wall would undoubtedly not be open to independent outside scrutiny to determine its effectiveness. Frankly, there are only three ways in which this serious conflict of interest can be removed or properly remedied: (1) Jerome resigns as a sitting MP; or (2) his wife (Zarina) resigns as a partner of Higgs & Johnson; or (3) Rubis/Texaco hire another law firm to represent their interests which are diametrically opposed to the interests of Jerome Fitzgerald's constituents in Marathon Estates.
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