By SANCHESKA BROWN
Tribune Staff Reporter
sbrown@tribunemedia.net
THE Office of the Attorney General yesterday refused to confirm or deny whether extradition files related to cases defended by State Minister for Legal Affairs Damian Gomez while he was in private practice are missing.
In a statement, the Office of the Attorney General said it “adheres to the long-established legal rule and principles which prohibit public comment on any legal matter pending before the courts, including relations with foreign states.”
“With respect to particular extradition requests made by the United States of America, the Office of the Attorney General wishes to state for the record, and for the assurance of the public, that these matters are receiving full attention and are either in progress before the court or awaiting a court date so they may proceed,” the release said.
The statement came nearly two weeks after Mr Gomez offered his resignation as minster of state for legal affairs to combat possible conflict concerns.
Mr Gomez confirmed that he tendered his resignation because of concerns about matters related to the Office of the Attorney General, where files of some men he once represented still cannot be found. The matter in question dates back to more than a decade, it has been reported.
The United States wants to extradite two of the men connected to the matter, Austin Knowles and Nathaniel Knowles, to face drug charges.
Mr Gomez was elected in 2012 to the constituency of Central and South Eleuthera. The men in question are now his constituents.
He said whenever matters arise in the Office of the Attorney General that are connected to his work before he became a Cabinet minister, steps are taken to distance himself from those matters.
“If I’m connected to matters that concern the AG’s office, the practice is to not to discuss them with me or to involve me on them,” he said. “I wouldn’t participate in briefings concerning matters that I would have felt to be a conflict of interest. I was concerned about the appearance of that.”
Comments
banker 9 years, 7 months ago
Sigh ... another nail in the corruption coffin of Allyson Maynard Gibson. This PLP government is giving transparency.org 's monitoring a real boost to the corruption index in the Bahamas. Shameful !!
Tommy77 9 years, 7 months ago
I do agree.
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duppyVAT 9 years, 7 months ago
How can the PM and Cabinet continue to tolerate this ???????????? This clearly shows Executive complicity .................... not good choice of AG or her Deputy by the PM ....... his reputation is being further sullied by every day that passes with his silence on these AG "under the rug" issues
jackbnimble 9 years, 7 months ago
Jezuz. What's next. Why is this woman in high office again?
asiseeit 9 years, 7 months ago
Just one more example of the level of corruption in this country. History will not be kind to these maladjusted, immoral, and unethical politicians.
duppyVAT 9 years, 7 months ago
Isn't SLOP called the Father of the Nation??????? Isn't his grave visited regularly????????? Isn't there a new holiday set aside for SLOP and his boys??????? What more can we do for these Pingdomites who have brought untold disrepute on our country for the past 40 years????????
GrassRoot 9 years, 7 months ago
I would love to be a fly on the wall when PGC and his cabinet convenes and talks internally about all this. Anything short of them realizing that they produce one train wreck after the other, would be hilarious.
dahasamo 9 years, 7 months ago
Why would you think this cabinet talks about anything but which trip to take and which foreigner to kowtow to. They do not care.
sansoucireader 9 years, 7 months ago
I agree with dahasamo. The last thing on their minds at any cabinet or party meeting is the welfare of the Bahamian people and the Bahamas. More like, where da refreshments and when da next party/carnival/junkanoo/excuse to shake up in da road is.
GrassRoot 9 years, 7 months ago
I think every Government in the Bahamas gets the AG it deserves. At least she pulls all the tricks openly and not in hiding like all the other members of the Cabinet. I never understood that the AG can not be elected by the people, lets say two years into the legislative period, then you would have a checks and balances.
TheMadHatter 9 years, 7 months ago
Yep - 2 years into the period - we should elect the AG, and the Governor General. That would be a great boost (although not a complete solution) - to our democracy.
Of course, the Govt knows that will allow the yard niggers to get one foot inside the "house", and so they won't allow that.
TheMadHatter
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