NASSAU, BAHAMAS – Damian Gomez, QC, the attorney of former Cabinet minister Kenred Dorsett, said yesterday that he was awaiting instructions from his client on whether to file legal action against the government for malicious prosecution after the Director of Public Prosecution dropped the case against Dorsett.
A nolle prosequi was issued after the prosecution’s key witness, businessman Jonathon Ash, indicated his intention to not testify.
Dorsett was charged in 2017 with extorting $120,000 from Ash.
Gomez called the abandoned case a “victory for democracy”.
“We have been assailed by political victimization over a period of four years,” he told Eyewitness News.
“Every single supporter of the Progressive Liberal Party had been attacked viciously [and] unjustifiably for their political affiliation.
“This development today brings to an end on of the instances of political victimization, which goes to the heart of corruption in the former administration, who were prepared to even corrupt the judicial processes and criminal processes for their own benefit.
“It is a hard-won victory. The war is not over because the compensatory issues that are associated with persons who are maliciously prosecuted need to be addressed.”
He continued: “We will be in the near future making a fuller statement and position. I’m awaiting instructions from my client before I say anything further.
Dorsett’s matter was the last in a series of cases in the Minnis administration’s anti-corruption prosecutions.
He was the first of 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.
Smith was acquitted of bribery and extortion charges in February 2019.
The judge said there was not a scintilla of evidence to support that there was a meeting between Smith and the virtual complainant, Barbara Hanna, to justify the 13 charges against him.
Gibson was acquitted of multiple counts of bribery last November.
The former Golden Gates MP was accused of soliciting and accepting more than $200,000 in bribes from Ash for expediting payments the contractor was owed for work done following cleanup efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew in 2016.
In February 2020, Gibson sued the government, alleging “malicious prosecution” and false imprisonment.
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