NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The star witness in the bribery case of former Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Kenred Dorsett wanted to be paid for his witness testimony, Attorney General Ryan Pinder revealed today.
Pinder was responding to questions from the media regarding the decision by the director of public prosecutions to issue a nolle prosequi to drop the case.
He said the trial was set for last week, and the prosecutor in charge of the matter called in the chief witness contractor Jonathan Ash to prepare for the case.
“Mr. Ash had approached him and was seeking renumeration for his testimony,” Pinder said.
“That is not how the DPP functions and that request was immediately denied.
“Mr. Ash then said he would not give testimony and therefore without no witness, there was no case to pursue further,” Pinder told reporters outside Cabinet.
He could not say how much Ash asked to be paid, insisting that the Attorney General’s Office was not involved in the preparation for trial.
“I was not in the negotiations, I was not in those discussions,” Pinder said.
“We were not involved in the preparation for trial. In fact, if Mr. Ash walked right in front of me I couldn’t tell you what he looked like.”
Asked whether the contractor, who had received millions of dollars in contracts from the government, was requesting money owed to him, Pinder said: “He was rather clear. He wanted money for evidence.”
Dorsett was charged in 2017 with extorting $120,000 from Ash.
His matter was the last of the three former Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) parliamentarians who were arrested and charged in relation to allegations of abuse of their positions in office for financial gain.
Former Senator and Public Hospitals Authority (PHA) Chairman Frank Smith and former Minister of Labour and National Insurance Shane Gibson were both acquitted.
Ash was also a key witness in the bribery trial of Gibson, who had been accused of receiving more than $250,000 from the contractor to speed up around $1 million in payments the government owed him for cleanup work in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew in October 2016.
In February 2020, Gibson sued the government, alleging “malicious prosecution” and false imprisonment.
Gomez, QC said he is awaiting instructions from Dorsett on whether to file legal action against the government for malicious prosecution.
In November, Pinder revealed that the government paid some $1.1 million in legal fees with foreign law firms in its failed prosecutions of former Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) MPs Shane Gibson and Frank Smith.
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