Minnis named in court action

Wed, Mar 30th 2016, 01:52 PM

Lyford Cay resident Peter Nygard is seeking a declaration from the Supreme Court that Free National Movement (FNM) Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis abused his office as leader of the official opposition and the processes of Parliament to injure his (Nygard's) economic interests and his reputation.

In an action filed yesterday, Nygard accuses Minnis, former FNM Chairman Michael Pintard and others of being involved in the conspiracy to injure him.

In all, 16 defendants are named: The Tribune Limited; Tribune Publisher Eileen Carron; Business Editor Neil Hartnell; hedge fund manager and Lyford Cay resident Louis Bacon; his wife Gabrielle Bacon; The Moore Bahamas Foundation; Frederick Smith, QC; Callenders & Co.; Save the Bays Limited; environmental attorney Romauld Ferreira; Save the Bays Chairman Joseph Darville; Rev. C. B. Moss; public relations specialist Diane Phillips; Pintard; Minnis and trustees of the FNM.

Nygard, who is represented by Lockhart & Co., claims that the conspiracy culminated in an abuse of processes of the Supreme Court, commencing with an action filed against Nygard on March 9. In that March 9 action, Bacon, Smith, Darville, Ferreira and Moss claim that Nygard and lawyer Keod Smith had plotted to have them murdered.

They allege that Nygard hired "gang members" Livingston "Toggie" Bullard and Wisler "Bobo" Davilma to carry out the act. But in his action filed yesterday, Nygard claims the defendants knew their action was founded on perjury and subornation.

Among other things, Nygard is seeking aggravated and exemplary damages; he is seeking to strip the defendants of any profits they might have earned from participating in the alleged conspiracy; an injunction restraining the defendants from committing or continuing to commit further acts intended to harm, or likely to harm, his economic or other legal interests, and an injunction restraining the defendants from committing or continuing to commit any further libel or slander.

Nygard is also seeking a declaration that the defendants abused the processes of the Supreme Court.

This is the first time Minnis' name has been called in any court action relating to a matter that has been the subject of intense national debate over the last two weeks.

The statement of claim, which has not yet been filed, is expected to outline the specific claims made against Minnis, Pintard, the FNM and the other defendants.

In a statement over the weekend, the FNM had pointed out that Minnis' name did not appear in any court documents.

On March 13, Minnis issued a press release pointing to the very serious allegations made in court documents against Nygard.

The following morning in the House of Assembly, he repeated that Nygard is accused of orchestrating a campaign of violence and intimidation against upstanding citizens of The Bahamas such as Fred Smith, Joseph Darville, Romauld Ferreira, Rev. C. B. Moss and Pericles Maillis.

Minnis said at the time, "It is further alleged in court documents that as a result of this campaign, at least one senior government official was apparently harassed and threatened in an effort to ensure Nygard got his way.

"On the recently released tapes Nygard is heard to repeatedly disparage a judge of the Supreme Court of The Bahamas."
Outside Parliament that day, Minnis said the Bahamian people will come to thank the FNM for bringing the matter to light.

Since then, Pintard resigned over this involvement in the matter. In court documents filed on March 9, he was identified as the person who warned the people allegedly targeted of the alleged plot. It has also since been revealed that Minnis met with Bullard, one of the men identified in the court documents as a gang member.

While he noted in Parliament on March 14 that at least one of the men was a convicted criminal, he did not reveal at that time that he met with any of the men.

Following a Nassau Guardian story last week Monday, Minnis confirmed that he met with Bullard three times but he insisted he did not know of the alleged murder plot until it was reported in The Tribune on March 10.

Last week, Minnis told Parliament that Bullard came to his residence to ask him to warn Pintard that certain members of the government were about to set him up.

Minnis said: "I advised the chairman not to attend any meeting and the chairman subsequently defied my advice".

He said Bullard came to his residence two other times to bring him fish.

By Candia Dames

Guardian Managing Editor

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