FORMER Cabinet Minister Lanisha Rolle.
By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS
Tribune Staff Reporter
lmunnings@tribunemedia.net
DIRECTOR of Public Prosecutions Cordell Frazier said long-running corruption cases involving former minister Lanisha Rolle and former Urban Renewal director Michelle Reckley have not stalled, despite trials being set years after the matters were first reported.
Ms Frazier also noted that Christopher Symonette, who was charged with Reckley, has a constitutional application that she understands has already been heard.
Court timelines, however, show significant gaps between when the matters were first reported and when trials are expected to begin.
Rolle, who was charged in 2023, faces three counts of bribery and 13 counts of conspiracy to commit fraud by false pretences. She and her husband, Vontenken Rolle, are also charged with conspiracy to commit fraud by false pretences in connection with a $168,000 contract for work at the Kendal GL Isaacs Gym.
She is further accused of receiving a $48,303.74 bribe to award a contract for work at the Grand Bahama Sporting Complex to G&C Landscaping.
Wilfred Rolle and Godfrey Burrows are accused of conspiracy to commit fraud by false pretences in relation to a $34,600 contract for work at the South Beach pools. Burrows is additionally accused of obtaining that sum by false pretences.
Reckley and five others, meanwhile, were arraigned in 2019 over allegations of defrauding the government of $1.2m through the Urban Renewal Small Homes Repair Programme on Grand Bahama.
The case has faced repeated setbacks, including reassignment of magistrates and disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
It was initially assigned to Magistrate Ambrose Armbrister, but proceedings stalled during the pandemic. After his resignation in 2020, the matter was reassigned multiple times before then-Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson-Pratt took carriage of the case.
On May 16, 2022, when the trial was set to begin, the prosecution sought Ferguson-Pratt’s recusal over allegations she had visited Reckley in the cell block and prayed with her. The magistrate denied the claims, and the application was withdrawn two days later with an apology.
More recently, the case was adjourned after Senior Magistrate Shaka Serville said he could not locate the file.
Reckley and her co-accused have denied the charges and remain on bail.
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