“Corruption squad quiz PLP veteran – Frank Smith held overnight in loans probe” – The Tribune

Excerpt from this article; “FORMER Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Senator and member of Parliament Frank Smith was taken into police custody and questioned yesterday in connection with an ongoing fraud probe, The Tribune understands.

Attorney Damien Gomez, who said he is representing Mr. Smith, confirmed the former Public Hospitals Authority (PHA) chairman voluntarily went to the Central Detective Unit (CDU) about 10am Wednesday morning for questioning.

Mr. Gomez, who is also the PLP’s former minister for legal affairs, said Mr. Smith will be held overnight.

In an interview with the press, Mr. Gomez said he is confident that his client will ‘prevail’ in the end.

‘The questions appear superficially to relate to government, they really concern private loans that persons who probably don’t want to pay their lawful debts are now hiding behind a scam.  There is no allegation of bribery and I have no concerns about his innocence,’ Mr. Gomez said outside of CDU.

‘I am confident he will prevail in this……Of course we are concerned that political abuse of power is behind this and will deal with that at the appropriate time.”

My Morning Paper’s very first question is, ‘what private loans’ and what ‘scam’?

It is interesting that Attorney Damien Gomez is representing Mr. Frank Smith against allegations of wrong doing while Smith was a Senator in the Christie administration, after resigning his position from the Christie Cabinet as minister of legal affairs claiming ‘financial considerations’ but leaving many to speculate that it was actually due to a “crisis of conscience”, but be that as it may be he has taken the case on. 

In my opinion, if the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) wishes to call this a ‘political witch hunt’, then I am fine with that.

 It is also my opinion that if the results of on-going forensic audits bring about the necessary investigations that seek to bring people to answer for perceived and/or actual wrong-doings while in positions of governance, thereby setting a tone for a more accountable governmental system moving forward, then I am also fine with that but what I do find very troubling is the fact that as evidence of alleged wrong-doing is uncovered, investigated and persons are brought in to clear up the circumstances surrounding these alleged wrong-doings, the governing Free National Movement (FNM) is now being chastised as abusing their political power; I ask is it not more an abuse of political power to use that power to engage in wrong-doing, a lot of the time at the expense of the Bahamian people?

It is unfortunate that such young and promising political minds may be wasted, as the previous government seemed to have allowed them to do whatever they pleased without fear of consequence, but it is clear that those days have passed as the Royal Bahamas Police Force’s Anti-Corruption Unit has taken over these cases of alleged malfeasances and are doing the necessary investigations to determine guilt or innocence; so for anyone to label the exercise as “a political abuse of power” or a ”witch hunt”, is for that person to not be very honest, not just with the country but also with themselves.

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