The Tribune

By SANCHESKA DORSETT

Tribune Staff Reporter

sdorsett@tribunemedia.net

FOREIGN Affairs and Immigration Minister Fred Mitchell yesterday “categorically” denied that he or any minister of the government “hacked into any emails” or attempted to have environmentalists from Save the Bays (STB) arrested.

Mr Mitchell was responding to an article posted to popular international environmental website EcoWatch by activist lawyer Robert F Kennedy Jr that alleged, in part, that “developer-friendly Cabinet ministers are attacking the rule of law, stomping on privacy rights, and savaging judges, lawyers and environmental and human rights organisations.”

In the House of Assembly, Mr Mitchell called the article “inflammatory” and recommended that it be handed over to the House Committee of Privilege for further investigation.

“The headline is ‘Corruption abounds as Bahamian Parliament threatens to jail lawyer and judge in environmental scandal’ and then goes on to say that the police had raided an environmentalist activist’s home and that Cabinet minsters have hacked emails and then once the court made some ruling in a case, that the Cabinet minsters tried to jail the environmental group’s lawyer,” Mr Mitchell said.

“On behalf of every colleague here, I can say that no minister of this government hacked into any email and no minister of this government tried to jail any environmentalist and that is inflammatory and must be denounced in the strongest terms. My view is that the matter arose with the allegations which were made in this place about Save the Bays and the allegation was that this organisation was being funded by a person in the name of Louis Bacon to destabilise the government. By resolution of this House the matter was referred to the Committee of Privilege. This is now additional evidence on this matter because in fact Mr Kennedy is connected to Mr Bacon. And the question which this committee has to determine is, what is the source of all of this? Where is this coming from and why it all leads back to a particular direction?

“... Who is paying for this, where is the money trail and what is the objective?”

Mr Kennedy Jr is chairman of the Waterkeeper Alliance, a global umbrella organisation for environmental groups advocating for the defence of clean water, energy, and farms. STB Chairman Joseph Darville, also vice-president of the Grand Bahama Human Rights Association (GBHRA), is the president of the organisation’s Bahamas chapter.

Lyford Cay billionaire Louis Bacon is a major donor of the organisation.

Mr Kennedy Jr’s article focuses on allegations made by STB members that they have been targeted as a result of their legal action against Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard, another Lyford Cay billionaire.

Mr Nygard has admitted that he has donated to the governing Progressive Liberal Party’s previous election campaign.