Despite shocking revelations throughout the course of the 2017/2018 budget debate, there was nothing said by anyone that raised any criminal concerns, said Attorney General Carl Bethel yesterday.
Following revelations by minister after minister on the Christie administration's "mismanagement" of public funds, there has been widespread public outcry for someone from the former government to be jailed or prosecuted.
During his contribution to the debate, Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minis said that the attorney general and the minister of legal affairs have been asked to review the former government's decision to opt out of its Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) policy, which resulted in the loss of relief payouts of more than $32 million following Hurricane Matthew.
Minnis said the decision demonstrates "gross and stunning incompetence" on the part of the Christie administration.
Yesterday, when asked about possible legal ramifications, Bethel said "I am not sure that the prime minister would have gone far as to indicate possible prosecutions and I wouldn't either.
"I would say that the law is sufficiently mature, the common law, that certain acts can either be dealt with civilly in civil law or in some other way.
"But I do not believe that anything that has been said by anyone in Parliament has gone to the extent of raising any criminal concerns."
During his contribution, Minister of Public Works Desmond Bannister accused the Christie administration of misfeasance - the wrongful exercise of legal authority.
He cited the landmark Caribbean Court of Justice ruling that gave the go-ahead for the attorney general of Belize to take legal action against two former Cabinet ministers for monetary losses suffered by the state as a result of misfeasance.
Bannister pointed to the Christie administrations "mismanagement" of the Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Science Institute (BAMSI), the STAR Academy, and a primary school in Lowe Sound, Andros as examples.
Bethel said yesterday that the Office of the Attorney General has not yet received any documentation of particular concerns that may have been expressed in the House of Assembly.
"Bahamian people can rest assured that once we received any form of complaint from anybody, we cause it to be referred to the appropriate officials for them to do whatever is necessary to determine what the facts are," he said.
"So as soon as we are in receipt of any documentation, that will be our first response, to find out what the facts are.
"But facts are facts and wherever the facts lead, if the facts and the law come together, well the facts and the law will come together and we will see what will go on from there.
"But I am not prepared to prejudge.
"I have no information apart from what I may have read in the newspapers.
"And as I said, anything referred to the attorney general's office, either by another minister or by the general public is refered to the appropriate officials for the appropriate treatment at which point, when the facts are in, I can exercise whatever discretion or judgement would be prudent and in accordance with the law or the constitution."

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