FNM leader Dr Hubert Minnis.
By KHRISNA VIRGIL
Deputy Chief Reporter
kvirgil@tribunemedia.net
FREE National Movement Leader Dr Hubert Minnis yesterday called on Prime Minister Perry Christie to immediately “fire” Education Minister Jerome Fitzgerald for allegedly “corruptly” using his position of power.
This, Dr Minnis added, should also be the fate of Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson, charging that anything less than an immediate removal makes Prime Minister Perry Christie complicit in this “fraud”.
Both ministers, he said, have failed to separate their private affairs from their public duty in negotiating with Baha Mar.
The FNM leader called for their terminations in response to a report exclusively published in The Tribune yesterday, revealing that Mr Fitzgerald had sought to secure millions of dollars in brokerage, trucking and limousine contracts at Baha Mar while he sat in Cabinet from as early as 2013.
The revelation was unearthed in emails leaked from a data breach of China Construction America’s (CCA) server.
It came after both Mr Fitzgerald and Mrs Maynard-Gibson, who served as government negotiators on the Baha Mar remobilisation deal, earlier this week dismissed accusations of abuse of power and conflict of interest reported in a local tabloid, saying the claims were election smear tactics.
“A cardinal principle of Cabinet governance is that a Cabinet minister must ensure that no conflict arises or appears to arise between their public duties and their private interests,” Dr Minnis said in a short press statement yesterday afternoon. “That trust is paramount in doing the peoples’ businesses.”
He continued: “For their failure and their inability to separate their private affairs from their public duty in their negotiations with Baha Mar, I and the FNM call upon Prime Minister Christie and the PLP to immediately fire Minister Jerome Fitzgerald and Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson for corruptly using their positions of power to enrich themselves and betray the Bahamian people.
“Anything less than immediate removal makes the prime minister complicit in this fraud.”
Hours before the statement was released, Dr Minnis said if the FNM is elected to office following the May 10 general election, the party will probe all areas to determine whether any corrupt practices have occurred and take those matters before the court.
Pledging to “go very, very hard on corruption”, Dr Minnis said there was too much “ill works” in the country, suggesting that the present government had acted in a manner that fostered these kinds of acts.
In a statement released in response to The Tribune’s article, Mr Fitzgerald maintained that he does not have contracts with Baha Mar or its affiliates. He said he does not own any shares in Bahamas Cargo & Logistics, a company he said was formed by his father years ago.
However he admitted to having discussions with Baha Mar developer Sarkis Izmirlian to gain work for his father’s company.
In 2015, Mrs Maynard-Gibson revealed that her husband Maxwell Gibson owns the retail jewellery store chain that had been granted storefront leases in Baha Mar. At the time, she rejected accusations that she has a conflict of interest due to her role as government negotiator for the stalled resort.
Her revelation came in a statement released four days after she initially said her two daughters, 28 and 30, had leases to operate stores in Baha Mar while a guest on the More 94 FM talk show Real Talk Live.
Comments
birdiestrachan 7 years ago
What about your contract doc.??He who is without sin should cast the first stone and that is not you doc.
Sickened 7 years ago
Do some research before you type ignorant things.
sheeprunner12 7 years ago
This case was brought to the House floor and thoroughly explained ........ unlike what the PLP Cabinet Ministers do every time "shit hits the fan"
TigerB 7 years ago
We wait to see the release of those Baha Mar documents...the place opens today and no documents, if such a deal was so sweet we the Bahamians should have bee alerted to it a long time ago
sp1nks 7 years ago
Frankly Birdie, you should be ashamed of yourself. You are offering up a false equivalency for the despicable, inexcusable, and potentially criminal behavior of an elected Member of Parliament. If Fitzgerald has a shred of integrity in his corrupt being, he should step aside.
I understand that you are a staunch defender of all things PLP, but you have a shred of integrity, you would at least be quiet. The honorable thing to do is to call for his resignation/termination
sheeprunner12 7 years ago
The PLP try so hard to put out a TV ad on FNM corruption .......... this one fired, that one resign etc .............. But this PLP Cabinet have at least six senior Ministers who have been openly caught in situations that are contrary to Cabinet Rules ........ and Perry did NOTHING!!!!!!!!!
How can they try and throw mud at Minnis and the former FNM Cabinet????? ....... When Ingraham got win of questionable situations, he fired or accepted resignations ........ Can Perry stand up to a public podium and say the same?????? ........... Perry (as PM and MOF) must be indicted for gross public maladministration and being complicit in political malfeasance
sheeprunner12 7 years ago
Hubert Minnis and his Cabinet will begin to clean up the PLP stinking shit after May 10th ........ The Budget needs to go back to the calendar year (January to December) ..... so an interim Budget needs to be enacted and the FNM cannot be tied to Perrynomics anymore ....... A Commission of Inquiry MUST be instituted by June to investigate BOB, BPL, UR2.0, Bahamasair, BTC2% and OPM ........ and find the hidden billions lock up Perry & his goons
THAT IS WHAT I WANT TO HEAR FROM HUBERT MINNIS ON THE PODIUM BEFORE THE MAY 10 2017 GENERAL ELECTION
sheeprunner12 7 years ago
Did this crooked, lying, begging, teefin, shameless, brazen, insulting, piece of shit .............. RESIGN yet?????????
Every seriously offended Bahamian should have blocked off Bahamar this morning and refused to let the meaningless ceremony take place ........ This is an insult to our decency as a people and a country
THE PLP MUST GO .......... AND BE LOCKED UP AFTER MAY 10 .............. FOR CRIMES AGAINST OUR PUBLIC PURSE
banker 7 years ago
There are two word missing in the headline. They are "of Schitte" and should be inserted between the words Sack and Fitzgerald.
alfalfa 7 years ago
What birdie is really trying to say is that it is only punishable if it was done by an FNM, and if it is done by a PLP, all is okay. Unfortunately, the opinion of many of the grass root voters, who will live in poverty while worshiping the Political Masters who have raped the country and carried out most unscrupulous dealings to obtain wealth. Ignorance is bliss.
sheeprunner12 7 years ago
Yep the PLP Cabinet has been exposed before the world ......... they have NO ethical and moral standards ......... They are only fit for Fox Hill Prison
Reality_Check 7 years ago
These corrupt politicians have been brainwashed into thinking that if they steer their crooked dealings to a family member or to a company or trust controlled by them or one or more of their family members, then there is no grave conflict of interest or criminality involved on their part. None other than Crooked Christie, Allyson Maynard-Gibson a/k/a the Evil Wicked Witch and the likes of Sean McWeeney have been behind this fallacious line of thinking by our most corrupt politicians. Minnis is no different and has admitted as much in his very flawed explanation of why he does not consider himself to have a serious conflict of interest arising from a generous lease agreement that the government (PHA) entered into with a company controlled by him at a time when he was Minister of Health.
Well_mudda_take_sic 7 years ago
Re-post: And it is precisely this fallacious line of thinking that results in most politicians, no matter their party affiliation, failing to declare financial information required to be publicly disclosed by both the spirit and intent of existing statute-law. Yes, Minnis is a shining example as is Allyson Maynard-Gibson and her husband and their daughters, and Perry Christie and his wife and certain of their children.
sheeprunner12 7 years ago
After reading all of the attached comments ........ Minnis is going to be the next PM ............ and he will usher in a new political culture ....... His ethos and philosophy is on public record ............. But smearing his character and questioning his ability to manage a Cabinet should be looked at in the context of his handling of the LBT coup ........ That should have been the standard by which Minnis will govern .............. Minnis took his blows publicly like a man, he personally rebounded from being vilified, he consolidated the FNM, he recruited new talent, and he is successfully moving towards an election victory on May 10, 2017 ......... Vote FNM!!!!!
MINNIS WILL GOVERN IN THE TRUE SPIRIT OF THE FNM ....... CECIL & ISAACS
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