Attorney General John Delaney has denied an assertion made by former AG Allyson Maynard-Gibson that the backlog of criminal cases exceeds 95,000.

Delaney said the current backlog, though significant, is nowhere near that figure.

He told The Nassau Guardian a more realistic figure would be about a quarter of that, although he said an audit into existing criminal matters has still not yet concluded.

Maynard-Gibson previously claimed in the Senate that the government has not only failed to fix the problem, but has also failed to inform the public about the severity of the backlog.

"I have information, but I want it to be firm before I speak publicly, but I think it would be a good bit less than half of that (95,000), in the area of a quarter of that," Delaney said.

The attorney general said the current restructuring of the Department of Prosecutions and other improvements being made in the administration of justice in The Bahamas will together have a positive effect on chipping away the long talked about backlog.

"Many things are happening in terms of offenses or alleged offenses in society," the attorney general said.

"The system is a fairly involved and comprehensive one and there is a role for many actors.

"...My own approach to challenges is to focus on what's in front of me and what's on my desk and I expect a Department of Public Prosecutions that is focused, that's not distracted by what else is going on of which they have no control...

"We're dealing with what's in front of us. We have a calendar that has approximately 450 cases. We want to eradicate those. We want to become more productive. We know the things that we need to do internally to become more productive; we're not guessing at this."

Delaney acknowledged that it would be impossible to eliminate the backlog over the next 12 months, but he said he is hopeful that there would soon be four criminal trial courts operating in New Providence at the Supreme Court level.

Currently three such courts exist, but last year there were only two.

The attorney general revealed that despite the fact that Parliament passed a Plea Bargaining Bill under the current administration, the system is not being widely used as yet.

"I think perhaps because it has not been sufficiently understood by counsel, defense counsel principally, but I can say that there have been more (plea bargaining) recently," Delaney said.

"I think the more it is used the more it will be used. I think the more we step up our game in prosecuting, again the more plea bargaining will be of interest to those who are charged and are about to be tried.

"Plea bargaining is a very useful aspect of the criminal justice system."

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