Ryan Pinder
NASSAU, The Bahamas--Now that the corruption case against former Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Cabinet Minister Kenred Dorsett has been discontinued, due to the refusal of key witness Johnathan Ash to testify, the government is minded to appoint an independent body to look into whether the “political prosecutions” carried out under the Minnis administration were warranted, Attorney General Ryan Pinder said on Sunday.
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) announced on Friday that the DPP has entered a nolle prosequi in the case.
In a statement on Friday, the DPP said, “The witness, Mr. Jonathan Ash, indicated his intention to not testify. Therefore, the director of public prosecutions, having been advised by the senior officer having conduct of the matter, signed a nolle prosequi in the matter of R vs Kenred Dorsett. This means that the prosecution has insufficient evidence to proceed and, therefore, the case is abandoned.”
Pinder noted, “This was the decision by the DPP. I commend him for that.”
In 2017, Dorsett, former Minister of Labour and National Insurance Shane Gibson and former Senator and Public Hospitals Authority (PHA) Chairman Frank Smith were arrested and accused of abusing their office for financial gain in separate matters.
Dorsett was charged with extorting $120,000 from Ash. Gibson was charged with 15 counts of bribery in respect to $280,000 that he was accused of receiving from Ash in exchange for approving payments totalling $1 million for work done following the clean-up efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew in 2016. Smith was charged with abusing his position as PHA chairman after the award of a $516,000 contract to Barbara Hanna, the owner of Magic Touch Cleaning, to clean the critical care unit of Princess Margaret Hospital. Gibson and Smith were both acquitted.
At the time, PLP Leader Philip Davis objected to the charges made against the former PLP parliamentarians, arguing that they should never have been brought.
Nightmare
Damian Gomez, QC, Dorsett’s attorney, said on Sunday that the matter has been a “nightmare”.
“He has been blackballed by the banks and it has affected him gravely in his profession,” he said.
Dorsett is a commercial attorney. Gomez said, “All of this because of the malicious prosecution of him, which has been exacerbated by the delay with which the government has acted in prosecuting him. He was the first to be arrested, the first to be falsely imprisoned and the first to be maliciously prosecuted.”
He said the DPP made the right decision when he signed a nolle prosequi. Gomez said Dorsett is happy to have the criminal allegations behind him.
“We are going to meet this week,” he said. “I will give him further advice and he will make a further decision. At that point, I will know what it is that he intends for me to do.” ~ The Nassau Guardian ~
