The Tribune

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Digital Editor

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

Minister of National Security Wayne Munroe says the Opposition has still not met the burden of proof for its “bag of passports” allegation — even as The Tribune’s reporting reveals that a former Bahamasair employee was fired after an internal probe involving a March 1 Haiti flight and a cash seizure.

Speaking to The Tribune yesterday in response to questions about the account, Mr Munroe said none of the information raised alters the fundamental issue: Michael Pintard’s original claim has not been supported by any evidence.

“His claim was that there was a bag of passports on a Bahamasair airplane,” Mr Munroe said. “A bag of passports is a lot different than a bag of cash.”

He said police inquiries known to him relate only to cash movement and suspected laundering, not passports.

Mr Munroe insisted Mr Pintard’s assertion — that passports were found on a Bahamasair aircraft and that a police investigation had been launched — remains incorrect.

“[Mr Pintard] said, one, there was this bag of passports, and two, there was an active investigation — and it’s not so. Neither thing is correct,” Mr Munroe said.

Asked whether the former employee’s account of carrying a bag containing a single passport to Haiti suggests any overlap with Mr Pintard’s allegation, the minister rejected that interpretation.

“Cash going on flights to Haiti isn’t what Michael Pintard was talking about,” he said, adding that longstanding practices of staff carrying routine documents are unrelated to claims involving large sums of money.

Mr Munroe said if the Opposition Leader wishes to refine or change his allegation in light of new reporting, the government will respond accordingly.

“If he wants to say that that’s inaccurate and correct it, he can,” he said. “And then we can respond to his corrected allegation. And you might find that that has as much veracity as the first allegation.”

Mr Munroe noted that Haitian reports earlier this year referenced Bahamasair agents dismissed in relation to cash seizures, but emphasised that those reports did not involve passports.

Mr Pintard raised the allegation during a rally in Golden Isles on November 13, telling supporters that he had been informed of an incident involving a package of passports found onboard a Bahamasair aircraft "heading south", and that people had allegedly been fired.

At the rally, Mr Pintard said: "Somebody else tell the story this way, that the bag burst and the passports fell on the ground, and an investigation had to happen. And so this flight that was heading south had a package of those passports."

Mr Pintard doubled down on his claims when he appeared as a guest on the Guardian Radio talk show “Talking Heads” with hosts Naughty and MJ on Tuesday.

“I believe that the national airline has been used to transport money and passports,” Mr Pintard said.