The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE 

Tribune News Editor 

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

FRED Mitchell said Dr Hubert Minnis must not undermine the Royal Bahamas Police Force with comments about an ongoing corruption probe because “for good or ill”, the police force is “all we got”.

Former Prime Minister Dr Minnis has repeatedly called for a Commission of Inquiry into matters related to voice notes that purportedly captured conversations about a quid-pro-quo arrangement among a senior police officer, a lawyer and two murdered men, Michael Fox Jr and Dino Smith. Last week, he said the force’s internal investigation is “woefully insufficient”.

“The allegations of bribery, corruption and possible complicity in murders in the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) are the most serious such allegations in our country in a generation,” he said in a statement.

Mr Mitchell, the foreign affairs minister, told reporters yesterday that Dr Minnis should be “quiet”. In an earlier voice note, he said: “Shut up and stop babbling about police probe.”

“Of course, as a citizen of The Bahamas, he can say whatever he likes, but he has to be careful as a former prime minister in not undermining the police force,” he told reporters. “The Royal Bahamas Police Force, for good or ill, is all we got, and we got to be careful not to trash the Royal Bahamas Police Force because, at the end of the day, they are the people who defend us. Now, what is gonna happen is there is gonna be a thorough investigation. It’ll be transparent, but we are not going to be a party to damaging the police force because all the kids who want to join the police force, what are they gonna think? That’s the issue.”

Police Commissioner Clayton Fernander said last week that senior investigators from the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency are expected to arrive in the country today to “personally oversee” aspects of the corruption probe.

The conversation on the voice notes centred around a $1.5m airport bank car

heist in November. Fox Jr and Smith were suspects in that matter but were never charged. Two other men, Oral Roberts, 34, and Akeil Holmes, 26, were charged in connection with the robbery. Roberts was killed in the FoxHill area last month.

Michael Johnson, the head of the Central Investigations Department, has taken garden leave as authorities investigate. Police Commissioner Clayton Fernander has said the Security and Intelligence Branch of the police force is investigating the matter. He said the

Police Complaints Inspectorate, a little-known body that has traditionally lacked the resources to perform its duties, would supervise the SIB’s investigation.