The Tribune

MARATHON MP Jerome Fitzgerald, himself a lawyer, is upset that through Facebook his lawyer wife has been unwittingly drawn into the secrecy surrounding the fuel leak controversy in her husband’s Marathon constituency.

A Tribune reporter following up on a Facebook statement telephoned Mr Fitzgerald for clarification of his wife’s position as it might relate to Rubis. She reported him as saying that his wife’s function was “administrative” at Higgs and Johnson, the law firm at which she “serves as a partner, which incorporated Rubis after it took over the Texaco brand in the Bahamas”. He confirmed that Mrs Fitzgerald is in no way connected with the 2012 Rubis fuel leak controversy.

In an e-mail to us after reading Friday’s Tribune report, Mr Fitzgerald said he had “made it abundantly clear to Ms Brown who called me on the matter that I have absolutely no idea if Higgs and Johnson incorporated Rubis. Further the company Graham referred to was a nominee company used to incorporate thousands of companies and I have yet to see any link between that company and Rubis. I am astounded that The Tribune would attribute something like this to Higgs and Johnson without checking with someone who would know to confirm. Worse to express that I confirmed it in the opening sentence (of the reporter’s article).”

Before we get further into this discussion, we want to confirm that in no way is Mrs Zarina Fitzgerald involved in the political situation that now engulfs her husband. Mrs Fitzgerald is a partner in the law firm of Higgs & Johnson, which inherited Rubis Bahamas Ltd when Higgs & Johnson’s clients, Caribbean Fuels Services Ltd on May 1, 2012, sold to Rubis.

As a matter of fact, even further back in time, Higgs & Johnson were the lawyers for the original company — many years before Rubis came on the scene. In 1974, Texaco Indonesia Ltd, then doing business in the Bahamas changed its name to Texaco Bahamas Ltd. For years, the Texaco name was linked to the late AB Malcolm and his many Texaco stations throughout New Providence. Incidentally it was AB Malcolm, “Mr Junkanoo” himself, who saved Junkanoo from extinction when its annual parades were banned after the 1942 riots, which did so much damage to Bay Street businesses.

On March 28, 2003, Texaco decided to move from a regular company to an International Business Company (IBC). Higgs & Johnson was its registered office, offering its Corporate Services, which meant that its lawyers could hold the company’s executive offices as nominees and its shares in trust for its owners. Their duty was to make certain that the company was in good standing, its annual meeting held, statements filed on time at the Registry, and its fees paid to avoid being struck off the register. On January 17, 2006, Chevron Bahamas Ltd became Caribbean Fuels Services Ltd, and then on May 1, 2012 it was sold to Rubis Bahamas Ltd. The structure of Higgs & Johnson remained the same with Mrs Fitzgerald remaining a part of the corporate structure for the new company. This is a service offered most leading legal firms for a fee. So whatever position Mrs Fitzgerald held as part of her firm’s management of this company remained the same.

And so there is no reason to drag her name into the skirmish because, as far as is known, her husband has no interest in the company. The unfortunate position he finds himself in is that he is the MP for the area and sits at a Cabinet table whose members decided not to tell his constituents the dangers that the Rubis fuel leak could pose to their health. So on this one his wife cannot stand by his side. She is fulfilling the function that she has for years as a partner in her reputable firm.

It was only eight months after Rubis had taken over the new station that a massive leak — 24,000 gallons spilled —was discovered. Ever since that discovery in April 2013, residents of Marathon have been desperately trying to discover how they would be affected by such a massive leak. Black and Veatch, a company engaged by government to do an investigation, turned in their report in February last year. Government sat on it. It was eventually forced out of them on April 17 this year after an angry town meeting in Marathon. The report revealed that residents were exposed to chemicals that could seriously affect their health.

Of course, there is anger all around with government scurrying around trying to make amends. For Environment Minister Kenred Dorsett, it was “a teachable moment”.

PLP Chairman Bradley Roberts tried to cover his party’s tracks by claiming that Mr Fitzgerald had not kept his constituents in the dark. In fact, Mr Roberts told a radio audience, Mr Fitzgerald had read the report last year to his constituents. In other words, they had been fully informed by their MP.

Mr Fitzgerald denied this. He said that although he had read the report in Cabinet last year, it had been sent to the Attorney General’s office. However, as a Cabinet member, his lips were sealed and he could discuss it with no one.

“I would have been fired on the spot,” he told The Guardian. “There is no way I can discuss what happens in Cabinet particularly if a direction was taken and the direction was for it to rest with the attorney general’s office.”

To which a fiery Dr Andre Rollins’ shot back:

“If I sat around the Cabinet table and I had sight of the contents of that report understanding the implications for public health, there is absolutely no way I could continue to sit around that Cabinet table if I were threatened with being removed if I dared to speak about it publicly.

“There is no way I would have the stomach to continue to sit around that Cabinet table, because the reason I sought to enter public life is that I want to make a difference.

“I want to effect change. You are not effecting change if you sit silent when you see wrongs being committed against the very same people that you said you came into public life to protect or to work for.”

At least the PLP has produced one backbencher who knows where his duty lies.

Gone are the days when all Bahamians can be treated as graduates of the “University of Wulff Road”. Most Bahamians have matured, and resent the paternalistic Pindling attitude. We shall never forget the night prime minister Pindling took to a public platform to laughingly tell Bahamians — “Don’t worry, be happy…” In other words leave it in the hands of the “Chief”. He’s got everything under control.

This government is out of touch with the people — these were the words uttered by Sir Lynden after his government was defeated in 1992.