SHAMEFUL: Bermuda trip saga heads to Parliament PAC

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Opposition Leader Michael Pintard yesterday announced plans to take accusations over the prime minister’s Bermuda trip to the Public Accounts Committee as he outlined alleged constitutional breaches related to the travel.

The statement follows comments from Press Secretary Clint Watson last week, who said officials were looking into whether the law had been broken as it was not a regular occurrence and challenged critics to identify them.

In a statement, Pintard said: “Incredibly, the Office of The Prime Minister has indicated that it does not know if any laws were broken when the Treasury advanced monies to the PLP for its trip to Bermuda. The spokesman for the OPM has instead asked that the Opposition advise them of what laws had been broken. It is embarrassing for us to have to educate the Office of the Prime Minister on the law – especially given that the Cabinet has more than one noted King’s Counsel with decades of experience in the practice of law.”

“We firmly believe they were fully aware that their actions were inappropriate but were blinded by arrogance and were caught in plain sight. Nonetheless, we shall assist the Office of the Prime Minister.”

Pintard pointed to Articles 130 and 131 of the Constitution which speak to the authorization of public funds.

Article 131 states that public funds “issued shall be disposed of for meeting public expenditure under Article 130 of the Constitution or, in the case of statutory expenditure, for the purposes appointed by law”.

Pintard also pointed to Section 30 (1) of the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act that states “no public officer nor public office holder shall commit the government to a financial liability or contingent liability unless specifically authorized to do so under this or any other Act”.

He noted Section 111 (1) (a) of the PFM Act states that “a public officer, or other person with responsibility for public resources commits an offense of financial misconduct if, without lawful authority, that person willfully or recklessly (a) incurs expenditure or makes commitments for expenditure of public money”.

A delegation, including former Prime Minister Perry Christie, traveled to Bermuda on October 19 and returned on 20 for what was billed as an official visit but saw Prime Minister Philip Davis speak at a political convention for Bermuda’s ruling Progressive Labour Party.

Last week, Davis admitted the reimbursement cheque from the PLP in the amount of $24,750 did not cover the full cost of the travel, adding that he made the decision that all expenses would be repaid to the Public Treasury in full.

At a press briefing the following day, Watson said the full costing was not yet available.

Watson said: “Remember the prime minister is also the minister of finance and so he has jurisdiction to approve and to make determinations on certain things. In this case when he recognised it was an element that involved political parties he made the decision himself to handle the finances from his political party and not to use government (money).

He continued: “No one asked him to do that. No one suggested that to him. That was his determination just based on what he felt he should do. As minister of finance he can do that. He didn’t have to come and say this wasn’t an official trip. He could have said yes, it was an official trip and we’re going to move on or whatever.”

In his statement, Pintard argued that advancing money for a trip by a political or any other non-government entity is not public expenditure as defined in the Constitution or any statute law of The Bahamas.

“Therefore it is unauthorized expenditure plain and simple,” Pintard said.

“Parliament has not appropriated any sums of moneys to advance to outside entities for travel purposes. Indeed, Parliament could not do such a thing. Given that this is unauthorized public expenditure, it qualifies under the PFM act as expenditure “without lawful authority” and as such it constitutes an offense under Bahamian law. We fully expect that all persons who authorized this expenditure would do the honorable thing and accept the sanctions prescribed under the PFM Act.

“We shall take up this matter forthwith in the Public Accounts Committee where we shall utilize our statutory powers to compel the submission of all relevant information in respect to this most sordid matter,” he added.