Fox Hill MP Fred Mitchell is threatening to sue the Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas (BCB) if it does not pull a political ad sponsored by the Free National Movement (FNM) which he said suggests that he was involved in a visa scandal during his time as foreign affairs minister.
The allegation is the subject of a lawsuit Mitchell filed against Ministry of Foreign Affairs official Dorothea Lafleur earlier this year.
Yesterday, Mitchell said his attorney Raynard Rigby sent letters to BCB and industry regulator the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) asking that the ad be pulled.
"The clear innuendo is that I was involved in a corrupt enterprise as a minister of the government and a member of Parliament," Mitchell said in a statement yesterday.
"This is false and defamatory. Political campaigning cannot be used as a cover to repeat untested, untrue and unsubstantiated hearsay to defame me. If the matter is not resolved to my satisfaction by the Broadcasting Corporation a writ will follow."
The letter Rigby sent to BCB and URCA said the ad violated part 6, clauses 6.8(1) and (8) of URCA's content regulations.
Michael Moss, BCB's chairman, told The Nassau Guardian that he heard the radio version of the ad in question and it did not appear to be defamatory.
However, he said he would have to watch the video version of the ad and speak with management at BCB to determine what action to take.
"[Our editorial team] looks at these things before we air them and we have gone back to political parties with ads and said to them that we believe this is inappropriate and needs to be redone," Moss said.
"I'm going to look at this particular one and make contact with the management of ZNS to find out what made them feel it was appropriate to play and in light of the letter [from Mitchell] ask them [whether] they have changed their opinion."
Yesterday, Gabriella Fraser, an official at URCA, could not confirm if the regulator had received the letter and if the ad violated URCA's rules. She said she could not comment on the matter further.
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