Members of Parliament who have failed to comply with the law and make their financial disclosures should be arrested, Free National Movement (FNM) Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis said yesterday.
Last week, FNM Deputy Leader Loretta Butler-Turner admitted that she has not disclosed since 2012.
Butler-Turner reportedly told The Tribune, "I guess like everything else, if there is no enforcement or repercussions, we just tend to let it slide."
During a demonstration to press for the enactment of the Freedom of Information Act in Rawson Square on Wednesday, Minnis said MPs who have failed to disclose should be
"locked up".
He was responding to a participant, who asked what he thought of her organization's plans to demonstrate against MPs who have not disclosed.
"I can tell you that I have disclosed," he said. "I can tell you that the opposition has disclosed.
"You would do me a great favor, you and the Bahamian public -- set an example, march and force them to disclose.
"And the police should lock them up. That's the job of the police. They must disclose."
When contacted yesterday, Minnis said he was not aware that Butler-Turner had not disclosed when he made those comments last week.
Minnis said he instructed the FNM MPs to file their financial disclosures to the Public Disclosure Commission last month, after receiving a letter from the Commission.
However, the opposition leader said he stands by his comments as "no one is above the law".
"I was under the impression that all had [disclosed], because I would have informed them, but no one is excluded," he said.
"Even if I did not [disclose], follow the law. What is the sense of creating laws if you are not going to abide by them?"
Minnis said to the best of his knowledge the remaining FNM MPs have disclosed.
MPs and senators, along with numerous other public officials, have until March 31 of each year to disclose their income, assets and liabilities in accordance with the Public Disclosure Act.
It is the responsibility of the Public Disclosure Commission to make those records public.
The last disclosures published were done in November 2011.
However, that information was only current up to 2009.
It shows that the vast majority of MPs and senators ignored the law.
The penalty for doing so is $10,000 and/or up to two years in prison.
In October 2010, then Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham admitted to The Nassau Guardian that he had not disclosed since the 2007 general election.
Real property tax
Yesterday, Minnis again renewed his call for Prime Minister Perry Christie to release the tax status of all parliamentarians and senators.
He first called on the prime minister to release the information in March, after it was revealed that the government's value-added tax coordinator Ishmael Lightbourne owed more than $100,000 in real property taxes.
Christie has defended Lightbourne, insisting the VAT messenger did not pay "simply because of financial incapacity rather than an unwillingness or a reluctance to meet his financial obligations".
The FNM leader insisted that government officials must demonstration compliance before they ask the general public to comply.

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