“JUSTICE SHALL PREVAIL”: Former Cabinet minister defends record amid police investigation

“JUSTICE SHALL PREVAIL”: Former Cabinet minister defends record amid police investigation
Lanisha Rolle.

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Former Cabinet minister Lanisha Rolle told reporters today that she has not been approached by police as part of an investigation into audit findings during her tenure as Minister of Youth, Sports, and Culture nearly two years ago.

Sources close to the matter confirmed to Eyewitness News yesterday that Rolle was under active police investigation.

Speaking to reporters outside the House of Assembly this morning, Rolle defended her record and expressed her trust in the police to follow the due process of the law.

She stressed that proper procedures were followed under her tenure, but noted “a minister does not know everything in a ministry at any given time”.

Rolle said: “I stand by my record that as minister as far as I am aware all proper procedures were followed as far as I was aware as minister. A minister does not know everything in a ministry at any given time, and so to the best of my knowledge everything as it relates to me.

“There were protocols, there were persons in place that should have followed protocols and I believe that they did, and where they did not whatever investigations or inquiries will reveal whatever process was or was not followed.”

Rolle resigned from Cabinet on February 23, 2021 for personal reasons.

Outside Parliament today, she declined to go into further detail about her decision.

“I certainly believe that in due time, the truth will be exposed,” she said.

“I resigned from Cabinet on February 23, 2021, and since then we are here today. I recall today the last official report disclosed that the accounts of the Ministry of Youth, Sports, and Culture were fairly maintained. I did not hear that another audit or any further investigation was going on, so we are where we are today.

Rolle said: “I trust the police officer I have served the country in that capacity for 11 years. I served in the Cabinet, I served as a Member of Parliament, I served as an officer of the court. I trust that the due process of the law will be followed, the rule of law will take its course and justice shall prevail, and I trust the lord in all of that.”

About Ava Turnquest

Ava Turnquest is the head of the Digital Department at Eyewitness News. Her most notable beat coverage spans but is not limited to politics, immigration and human rights, with a focus especially on minority groups. In 2018, she was nominated by the Bahamas Press Club for “The Eric Wilmott Award for Investigative Journalism”. Ava is deeply motivated by her passion about the role of fourth estate, and uses her pen to inform, educate and sensitize the public.