Free National Movement (FNM) Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis has called for Prime Minister Perry Christie to terminate Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson and Education Minister Jerome Fitzgerald following Fitzgerald's admission that he contacted Baha Mar developer Sarkis Izmirlian for "assistance" in advancing contracts with the resort on behalf of his father, the owner of Bahamas Cargo & Logistics.
Fitzgerald's confirmation comes after The Tribune printed several email communications between Fitzgerald and Izmirlian dating back to 2013, which showed the minister lobbying Izmirlian for brokerage, trucking and limousine contracts. Fitzgerald said that his father's medical bills totaled $20,000 per month.
It was also printed in The Punch tabloid that Maynard-Gibson sought to include five Chinese-owned Hearts on Fire jewelry stores in her family's Quantom stores in Baha Mar.
In a statement yesterday, released minutes after Fitzgerald confirmed the emails were authentic, Minnis said, "A cardinal principle of Cabinet governance is that a Cabinet minister must ensure that no conflict arises or appears to arise between their public duties and their private interests.
"That trust is paramount in doing the people's business.
"For their failure and their inability to separate their private affairs from their public duty in their negotiations with Baha Mar, I and the FNM call upon Prime Minister Christie and the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) to immediately fire Minister Jerome Fitzgerald and Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson...
"Anything less than immediate removal makes the prime minister complicit in this fraud."
Fitzgerald's admission means he breached the Manual of Cabinet and Ministry Procedure.
Rule 40(b) states that a minister must not "solicit or accept any benefit, advantage or promise of future advantage whether for himself, his immediate family or any business concern or trust with which he is associated from persons who are in, or seek to be in, any contractual or special relationship with government".
Baha Mar is set for its phase one opening today.
In June 2015, Baha Mar filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States.
The government moved to put the project into liquidation.
Fitzgerald was the lead negotiator for the sale of Baha Mar.

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