IMAGINE if you will that a serious allegation is made. Two sides look at the allegation, one nods soberly and says yes, we’d better investigate. The other side says that’s crazy and look over there, that other thing over there is what we really need to investigate.
Which brings us to the latest allegations of sex attacks and bribery against billionaire Peter Nygard.
The Tribune reported on Friday about a lawsuit filed in New York in which Mr Nygard is alleged to have raped ten women, nine of them Bahamians and many of them underage at the time of the attack. The lawsuit also alleges that Mr Nygard concealed his crimes by bribing local law enforcement officials and that he was also making payments to senior PLP politicians at the time. It even claims that Mr Nygard offered children and young women to corrupt police officials and PLP party members for sex.
Regardless of how much truth there is to the allegations – and they remain to be tested in court – it cannot be denied that they are serious claims. Reading through the court papers, the claims alone of the women who say they were raped make for harrowing reading. It is claimed that the alleged attacks took place over years, and reportedly with the complicity of workers at Nygard Cay.
If it is true that sex attacks took place over years and nothing was done to stop it, there are obvious questions as to how and why there were not numerous investigations.
Which brings us to the two sides in today’s Tribune, commenting on the allegations.
On one side, there is National Security Minister Marvin Dames who says police will investigate. Mr Dames goes on to say that the country’s reputation is at risk.
Meanwhile, PLP chairman Fred Mitchell brushes off the allegations as “propaganda” and instead points the finger elsewhere. Look over there, he says, at “collusion between the FNM, The Tribune and Save The Bays”. He then makes vague claims of funds from foreign interests being used to “destabilise the last government of The Bahamas”.
The Tribune called on Friday for a Commission of Inquiry into the far-reaching allegations of bribery and corruption surrounding Mr Nygard. There was no commitment to such from Mr Dames, but Mr Mitchell gave an outright no – and instead wants a commission to investigate the so-called collusion he imagines.
We’re flattered that he thinks we wield such power as to be responsible for his party being collectively kicked from office by the voters of The Bahamas at the last election, but we think he’ll find voters knew their own minds when they made their choice in 2017.
No, Mr Mitchell is simply going on the attack – that’s what he does, of course. He’s pointing away from the women who say they were raped and that the police helped cover it up to say look over there, we need to investigate that instead. It’s deflection - after all, there would be no reason not to have two investigations if that was what was needed.
When ten women come forward and say they were raped, the very least they are owed is that their claims are taken seriously. To that end, we would also note to Mr Dames that The Tribune reported in November that six women had made allegations of rape against Mr Nygard, so we are a little perplexed as to why he is only saying that an investigation will take place now rather than having started months ago. But to try to brush off all these claims of rape and corruption completely? We leave it to our readers to decide the merits of that.
There are simple questions of fact that need to be made clear to the Bahamian public. Was money given to police officers and senior politicians by Mr Nygard? What was that money given for? What was provided to Mr Nygard in return? Were any laws broken in the process? And what laws should be in place to prevent a repeat of any such occurrence in the future? The answer to some of these questions may well be no, nothing untoward occurred, once the evidence is properly examined. But now that the claims have been made, they cannot be brushed under the carpet.
This is why we call for a commission to probe the accusations. Because the Bahamian people deserve nothing less than the truth.
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