MORE than two months after Free National Movement Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis admitted to meeting with one of the “criminals” involved in the alleged Peter Nygard murder for hire plot, six FNM members of Parliament say they are “confident” that the full story has not been told.

In an eight-page memorandum sent by the six MPs to the party’s Central Council, it was suggested that Dr. Minnis’ explanation about his meetings with Livingston “Toggie” Bullard could come back to harm the party.

They accused him and former party Chairman Michael Pintard of “wheeling and dealing” with Bullard and another self-professed gang member, Wisler “BoBo” Davilma, who was also named in the controversy.

The MPs maintained that had Dr. Minnis not kept them in the dark over this situation, a “chairmanship might have been saved” and the party’s brand would not have been dealt such a severe blow.

In late March, Mr. Pintard resigned as the party’s chairman and as a senator over concerns about his involvement in uncovering the alleged plot.

St. Anne’s MP Hubert Chipman, Montagu MP Richard Lightbourn, North Eleuthera MP Theo Neilly, Central Grand Bahama MP Neko Grant, Long Island MP Loretta Butler-Turner and Fort Charlotte MP Dr. Rollins sent the memorandum to the FNM’s Central Council on Tuesday, May 31.

The memo said: “Far too often, the parliamentary team simply did not know where the leader was going, what he was going to say, when or where. Consequently, too often when he faced the barrage of PLP counter attack, none of us knew what ‘run’ the leader was on in the first place, so we were ill-equipped and ill-prepared to defend him.

“The most recent example of this was the disaster of Toogie and BoBo (sic). Even as he and the former national chairman were talking/coordinating with, wheeling and dealing with these men, Dr. Minnis kept his colleagues completely in the dark.

“MPs were later blindsided in the House of Assembly, when the Progressive Liberal Party leaders launched their blistering counterattack designed to redirect attention from themselves.

“Had the team been fully briefed, a chairmanship might have been saved, and the damage to the FNM brand would not have been as severe.

“Even to this day, we are confident—based on what we know from sources outside the FNM—that the full story of ‘BoBo’ and ‘Toogie’ (sic) has not been told. Like a sly fox, or snake in the grass, the PLP is lying in wait for the right moment to pounce.”

It continued: “PLP politics aside, it is clear that by inviting this unscrupulous pair to his home, Dr. Minnis exercised poor judgment in the extreme. Right-thinking Bahamians—including hard core FNMs—have admitted this. Had the leader consulted his colleagues, we would have advised him to act differently.”

On March 21, the Killarney MP told The Tribune that Bullard, his constituent whom he said he met three times, contacted him to pass on a warning to Mr. Pintard that he was about to be allegedly “set up” by a high-ranking member of government and others.

After his admission, some questioned why he did not reveal these meetings earlier.

However, Dr. Minnis was adamant that he only met with Bullard and stressed that he never discussed Mr. Nygard, a Lyford Cay resident.

He added that he did not hear of the alleged murder for hire plot until The Tribune published claims in an affidavit filed on March 9 by directors of Save the Bays.

At the time he told The Tribune: “One of the chaps, ‘Toggie’, called me, a constituent, and said to me that Michael Pintard is going to a meeting and (a member of government) is going to set him up. He stopped by me and said the same thing. I called Pintard and told him.”

“His exact words were ‘Pintard is going to a meeting, warn Pintard not to go because (name omitted) and them trying to set him up.’ That would have been the end of it.”

Dr. Minnis said he did not know what Mr. Pintard’s meeting was about, but he did warn the former senator not to go to any sit down.

When asked why he did not reveal this when he spoke about the Nygard controversy in the House of Assembly a week earlier, Dr. Minnis responded that he told his parliamentary members about it.

Three weeks after Dr. Minnis’ initial meeting with Bullard, the man called him after a fishing trip and dropped off some of his catch.

Dr. Minnis said during that encounter the two men talked about fish and had a casual conversation. Dr. Minnis said his wife, Patricia, was also present and asked Bullard about his family. He said he met Bullard a third time when the self-proclaimed gang member again brought him fish.

These meetings occurred at his home, presumably in early 2015, but Dr. Minnis said he could not remember the exact dates.

By Khrisna Virgil, Tribune Staff Reporter

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