The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

FORMER FNM Chairman Darron Cash yesterday questioned whether Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson has protected her personal interests while at the negotiating table with Baha Mar executives following years of reported legal representation to the resort’s developer Sarkis Izmirlian.

In a press statement yesterday, Mr Cash insisted that in his opinion the attorney general is in a “very clear and undeniable conflict” which should have excluded her from playing the leading role in Baha Mar negotiations.

This conflict, he said, is reflected in records that list Mrs Maynard-Gibson or her law firm – Gibson and Company – as Mr Izmirlian’s attorney on several major occasions beginning in 2001 and through 2005.

These transactions related to land purchases in Mr Izmirlian’s personal capacity in addition to major financial transactions connected to the Baha Mar development, Mr Cash said. However, he did not provide copies of these documents.

He further called for Mrs Maynard-Gibson’s resignation or that she be fired. Tribune calls to Mrs Maynard-Gibson to verify the statements were unanswered up to press time.

“In essence, as his trusted attorney,” Mr Cash said, “Mrs Maynard Gibson had a substantial and intimate financial relationship with Mr Izmirlian. As a result of this very significant and tight financial bond between them, the attorney general should not have played any major role in the Baha Mar negotiations whatsoever.

“Even without debating the finer points of the law, this is a matter of honour and integrity, and in that regard, Prime Minister Perry Christie and the country’s Attorney General Allyson Maynard Gibson have failed the basic test. There is without question a conflict and from the facts disclosed in legal filings it is a significant one,” Mr Cash claimed.

Mr Cash said as a senior attorney, it is Mrs Maynard-Gibson’s duty to protect the integrity of the judiciary. He said she must also realise that her unwillingness to remove herself from the direct negotiations and discussions call into question the integrity of the judiciary.

This negative impression is already having significant ramifications in the international community, Mr Cash said.

“The AG must know that she has brought the reputation and good name of the country’s entire judiciary into reproach.

“Other potential investors, if they can look beyond the political threats and calls for psychological evaluations will wonder whether there are any standards that could protect them in an impartial manner when it comes to doing business in this country.

“There is but one honourable course available to the attorney general. Stand down or be fired.”

On Monday, Mrs Maynard-Gibson revealed that her husband Maxwell Gibson owns the retail jewellery store chain that has been granted storefront leases in Baha Mar.

However, she has rejected accusations that she has a conflict of interest due to her role as government negotiator for the stalled resort.

She stressed that she had no interest or control of any business with a stake in the $3.5 billion resort. However, she also said she makes “no apologies” for her husband having a business venture with Baha Mar.

Mrs Maynard-Gibson’s revelation came in a statement four days after she had said that her two daughters, 28 and 30, had leases to operate stores in Baha Mar.

Her initial statement prompted FNM Leader Dr Hubert Minnis to accuse her of being caught up in an “overt conflict of interest.”

On Sunday, Dr Minnis went further and called on Mrs Maynard-Gibson to do the honourable thing and resign over the controversy.

Mrs Maynard-Gibson has said Dr Minnis is “merely seeking to manufacture an issue where none exists.”