PM tight-lipped on BPL probe

PM tight-lipped on BPL probe

Details still vague on scope and cost of probe by intl. firm

Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis has once again shied away from providing any substantive details on the investigation into matters that unfolded between some former Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) board members and Minister of Public Works Desmond Bannister.

He did provide any information on the international firm engaged to carry out the probe, the timeline of the investigation or how much the exercise could cost taxpayers.

When prompted on Monday night for an update on the promised probe, Minnis said, “No, I don’t have any update.

“I know that, as I had said before, the company that’s doing the investigation has been selected.

“How advanced they are, I cannot say.”

In April, the prime minister advised that the government had engaged a company to complete that investigation and “they should commence their questioning and investigations very soon”.

At the time, he declined to provide the name of the company.

Last August, after the former BPL board was disbanded, Minnis said the government will launch a “proper investigation”.

Three members of the former board — Darnell Osborne, the then executive chairman, Roy Nick Dean and Nicola Thompson — have taken legal action against the Bannister for damages for wrongful dismissal, alleged misfeasance and slander.

Attorney Alfred Sears, Q.C., represents them.

In their writs, each of the plaintiffs are seeking damages for wrongful dismissal; damages, inclusive of aggravated and exemplary damages for alleged misfeasance; interest; cost and any other relief as the court deems fit.

Bannister said last year that relationships within the board had broken down and the board locked horns on almost every issue, at great cost to the power provider.

But Osborne, Dean and Thompson retorted that “political interference” and a “continuous disrespect” toward the executive chairman were at the root of the former board’s dysfunction.