The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

AN outspoken QC said that yesterday’s Supreme Court judgement against Education Minister Jerome Fitzgerald for breaching the constitutional rights of environmental advocacy group Save The Bays by disclosing and releasing the group’s private emails in Parliament affirmed that the Bahamas is “not a political banana republic”, asserting that it would have been the “kiss of death” for the country’s financial services industry had the judge vindicated the minister’s actions.

Supreme Court judge Justice Indra Charles ruled yesterday that Mr Fitzgerald’s actions in acquiring, disclosing and releasing the group’s internal emails were not legally justified and therefore he cannot be protected by parliamentary privilege. Mr Fitzgerald, the MP for Marathon, was ordered to pay $150,000 in damages for the breach and is permanently banned from disclosure and publication of any further material belonging to Save The Bays and must delete material within 14 days.

The Attorney General has requested and been granted a stay of the entire decision pending the hearing and determination of an appeal.

Fred Smith QC, the Callenders & Co partner and Save The Bays legal director, told Tribune Business that he welcomed an appeal. “I welcome an appeal because an appeal to the Court of Appeal and the Privy Council will only refine and sophisticate the debate on the constitutionalism and rule of law that ought to prevail in the Bahamas,” he said. “This will only encourage and promote confidence in our judicial system. The Supreme Court and judges of the Bahamas are independent not only in spirt but in substance.

“As a businessman in the Bahamas whose oldest law firm does a substantial amount of business in the asset protection, Trust and financial services industry work internationally, I am very pleased that the Supreme Court has protected the privacy of the financial confidential information of businessmen, NGOs and organisations in the Bahamas. It would have been the financial kiss of death for the government to have been vindicated in their illegal hacking and intrusion into the private emails, banking and financial correspondence of Zachary Bacon, whose brother is an international financial icon in the world and an environmental organisation such as Save the Bays. The judge, by one stroke of her judicial pen, has saved the financial industry of the Bahamas.”

Mr Smith contended that if the Supreme Court had not ruled in favour of Save the Bays, “it would have been the death knell of our banking and financial services industry”.

“It would have meant that when it was expedient for the government, whenever they targeted a political enemy they could have without consequence release the confidential information of any financial institution in the Bahamas,” he said. “We would have seen the flight of tax and financial services business to the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Turks and Caicos etc. We would have lost yet another 653 jobs in this sector as we did in the last five years,” said Mr Smith.

“I have had interviews with the Economist, the Financial Times and other international publications, all of whom have been watching and waiting for the judgement from the Supreme Court. Had the judgment not gone in favour of Save The Bays it would have been a very dark cloud hanging over the Bahamas’ business environment. I thank God for this constitutional victory,” he added.