Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Senator Allyson Maynard-Gibson threw "one of her PLP colleagues under the bus" by insisting that a document smearing his name be tabled in the Senate, said a statement from The Free National Movement (FNM) yesterday.
Leader of Government Business in the Senate Dion Foulkes tabled a U.S. Embassy cable on Wednesday, which was written on April 24, 2007, and published on the Internet by the whistleblower organization, WikiLeaks.
According to the cable, Bahamian Consular Affairs Chief Dorothea Lafleur, in a meeting with a U.S. Embassy official, accused then Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell of being 'complicit in visa fraud' and 'pressuring' staff at the ministry to issue visas to 'ineligible' Chinese applicants during his term in office.
As Foulkes read the document into the record of the Senate, Maynard-Gibson insisted that he table the cable.
The tabling of the document means that it is protected by parliamentary privilege.
Asked why she insisted the cable be tabled, Maynard-Gibson told The Nassau Guardian yesterday, "That facts are that my request did not make that document available to the media -- it was and still is available to the media.
"Indeed, the WikiLeaks cables have been reported by the media. All words uttered in Parliament attract parliamentary privilege. The fact that they might attract parliamentary privilege does not detract from the fact that anyone can access those documents on the Internet."
Maynard-Gibson also said she "forcefully asked the president of the Senate...to strike Dion Foulkes' baseless and offensive words from the record".
"All Opposition senators were astounded that the president refused to strike Dion Foulkes' words from the record," she said.
Police and government officials conducted an investigation into the matter and found no wrongdoing against Mitchell, said Maynard-Gibson, leader of Opposition business in the Senate.
However, the FNM statement claimed that Maynard-Gibson "once again betrayed another colleague".
"Bahamians recall when Senator Maynard-Gibson reported former Senator Pleasant Bridgewater to the prime minister," the statement read.
"This resulted in Ms. Bridgewater's resignation from the Senate where Mrs. Maynard-Gibson was Senator Bridgewater's leader.
"She appears not to have initially informed her party leader before speaking to Prime Minister [Hubert] Ingraham about Ms. Bridgewater."
In 2009, Maynard-Gibson testified in the case involving Bridgewater, who was charged in relation to an alleged attempt to extort money from American actor John Travolta after his teenage son died in Grand Bahama.
Her client, ambulance driver Tarino Lightbourne, was also charged in relation to the matter.
Maynard-Gibson told the court that she revealed information related to the matter to Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, then Attorney General Michael Barnett and then Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police Marvin Dames.
Maynard-Gibson was Travolta's attorney.
"As Senator Maynard-Gibson has done unto Pleasant Bridgewater, she has also done unto Fred Mitchell," the FNM statement said.

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