THE lead investigator in former Cabinet minister Shane Gibson’s bribery case admitted on Thursday she was wrong to have jointly interviewed a local businessman and a woman to “synchronise” their claims against the former parliamentarian. Assistant Superintendent Debra Thompson said in hindsight, she acted improperly in arranging to meet with both Jonathan Ash and Deborah Bastian to “clear up the ambiguities” in their respective statements against the former labour minister. The officer also admitted that during the meeting, Mr Ash’s and Ms Bastian’s statements were both altered to accommodate the other, and that whatever parts weren’t in sync were “cut out” and discarded altogether. That was evidenced in her being quoted as saying during the meeting in question: “I’m going to take some stuff out of it and just clear up one or two points,” as well as “…It’s just up to the part with the meeting now where I got to cut out a lot of stuff surrounding that.” ASP Thompson also admitted that during the interview, the lawyers for Mr Ash and Ms Bastian, Alecia Bowe and Raymond Rolle respectively, “intervened” on any number of occasions and instructed their clients on how to give their statements.

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