Concerns over emails release

Tue, Mar 29th 2016, 11:23 AM

Amid questions regarding the method Education Minister Jerome Fitzgerald used to retrieve the private emails of several Save the Bays members, Data Commissioner Sharmie Farrington-Austin said over the weekend that the tabling of private correspondence in the House of Assembly is a "dangerous trend and opens the society up to chaos".

Her statement came more than a week after Fitzgerald read and tabled an email thread in the House of Assembly, as he sought to paint the environmental advocacy group as a "political organization" bent on entrapping fashion mogul Peter Nygard and destabilizing the Christie administration.

As he contributed to the mid-year budget debate, Fitzgerald said Save the Bays was using "millions and millions of dollars" to carry out its plot.

In a strongly worded statement, Farrington-Austin cautioned public officials against tabling private documents in Parliament and added that certain aspects of the case appear to have national security implications.

"It is my considered view that members of Parliament ought to be cognizant of the fact that members of the public expect that their members of Parliament will be held to the same standard as ordinary citizens in relation to the commission of a criminal offense," Farrington-Austin said.

"No citizen should be above the law. This office cautions against the practice of obtaining private citizens' correspondence and tabling them in the House of Assembly. This, in my view, is a most dangerous trend and opens up the society to chaos.

"Citizens have a right to expect that their private communications would enjoy the protection afforded them under the laws of the country."

Farrington-Austin noted that information tabled in the House of Assembly falls outside of her jurisdiction as MPs enjoy privilege.

She said, "...the data protection commissioner is not the appropriate authority to make any rulings/comments with respect to the admissability of correspondence in the House of Assembly.

"Certainly, if actionable, the issue as to whether personal emails can legitimately be determined as a part of the deliberations/proceedings of the Parliament ought to be properly determined by a competent court of law."

During his contribution, Fitzgerald also claimed that certain Save The Bays members make over six figures annually and said he had financial information to support his claims.

Farrington-Austin said the relevant data protection issue in this matter "concerns whether [anyone] gained unauthorized access to the said private emails before they were tabled in the House of Assembly".

"It is noteworthy that not one of the complainants provided this office with any evidence to assist this office in its investigations," she said.

"Most importantly, none of the parties allegedly affected have made any direct complaint to the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner."

However, she added that section 23 of the Data Protection Privacy of Personal Information Act indicates that a person who obtains access to personal data without the "prior authority of the data controller or data processor by whom the data are kept and discloses the data or information to another person, shall be guilty of an offense".

"I have confidence that the commissioner of police and his team would have put the relevant and necessary questions to the parties and is conducting its investigation as to how the said information was obtained," Farrington-Austin added.

She added her office will lend support to the police.

Response
In a joint statement, Fox Hill MP Fred Mitchell and Fitzgerald, the MP for Marathon, said they "note with interest that no formal complaint has been received by [Farrington-Austin] and therefore her statement and commentary in the absence of a formal complaint is indeed curious".

"We merely point out to the public this matter is not about unauthorized emails," the statement said.

"As we said in Parliament, this matter is about a well-funded environmental organization that is not about the environment, but Save The Bays is about politics and destabilizing the government of The Bahamas and has spent millions of dollars to do so.

"...Further, the matter has been formally referred to the Committee on Privileges and that committee has the power to send for persons and papers. We will cooperate with the committee of the House fully. It is the House committee that has complete jurisdiction over MPs.

"Let the public be assured that neither of us is a party to any unauthorized access to emails."

They added that the matter now rests with the police and the Office of the Attorney General.

"It is ironic that the same people who were fighting for freedom of information and transparency are now running to the court to stop the same freedom they were supposedly fighting for," Mitchell and Fitzgerald said.

"What a difference a day makes. A bunch of self righteous hypocrites."

The police launched an investigation after members of Save The Bays alleged that Nygard and lawyer Keod Smith were plotting to have them murdered. Both Smith and Nygard have strongly denied those allegations and have vowed to defend their names.

Assertions relating to the alleged plot are contained in an affidavit from John DiPaolo, an investigator hired out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

The matter has consumed public attention since March 9 when the Save The Bays members filed a court action.

The plaintiffs, including its Chairman Joseph Darville, have refuted the assertions that they were involved in any activity to destabilize the government of The Bahamas.

Diane Phillips, a public relations specialist who has since resigned from Save The Bays, said there ought to be an investigation into how Fitzgerald got his hands on her private emails.

Billionaire Lyford Cay resident Louis Bacon, who funds Save The Bays, said certain actions of Bahamian political leaders in this matter are "highly disturbing" and contended that those actions are negatively impacting "already frightened victims..."

Save The Bays has secured an injunction prohibiting the publication of "information", including emails and bank statements, regarding members of the group and its directors without their consent. However, the court has no jurisdiction over speech in Parliament.

By Krystel Rolle-Brown

Guardian Staff

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