FNM says Road Traffic HQ deal with Miller “doesn’t pass the smell test”

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NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The Free National Movement  (FNM) has slammed the Davis administration for reportedly granting a lease to former PLP Minister Leslie Miller, for the Road Traffic Department to move its headquarters to his Summerwind Plaza on the Tonique Williams-Darling Highway, arguing that the arrangement “does not pass the smell test.”

The party’s objections came following a report in a local daily in which Mr. Miller confirmed that his plaza will be the department’s new location and said talks with officials have been ongoing for several months.

The FNM said in a statement: “Yet again, the PLP remains wedded to its notorious culture of cronyism and favoritism in the reported granting of a lease to former PLP Minister, Leslie Miller, for the Road Traffic Department to move its headquarters to Miller’s Summerwind Plaza on the Tonique Williams-Darling Highway in New Providence. Bahamians remember well how then Prime Minister Christie’s administration gave a multi-year lease to Mr. Miller, knowing full well that Miller did not have the funds to undertake the renovations to make the building fit for business accommodations.”

The party accused the Davis administration of entering into a secret deal to settle with Miller, who has sued the government to enforce a contract agreed to under the Christie administration for the lease of the plaza.

“Even today, although the public still has no information on the terms of that settlement or how much money Miller continues to owe the Bahamian people for his bad debt with BOB, we now understand that the government is now once again through this lease agreement channeling public funds to Mr. Miller, a former ministerial colleague of the Prime Minister and a very senior and decorated member of the PLP,” the FNM said.

The Opposition is demanding the full terms of the purported agreement be published and that the public is assured that the entirety of any net income generated through this arrangement goes first to settle the debt that Mr. Miller owes to the Bahamian people.