Long Island Member of Parliament Adrian Gibson will spend the night in Fox Hill after he was unable to post bail following his widely publicized arraignment in the Magistrates Court today.
Gibson and six others, including his cousin Rashae Gibson and former Water and Sewerage Corporation General Manager Elwood Donaldson, were charged today following a months-long police investigation into the award of WSC contracts.
Only Rashae Gibson was to able post bail in time, according to well-placed sources.
Her surety brought $50,000 in cash to guarantee her release. However, some of her co-defendants, including Gibson, were remanded despite being granted bail.
Gibson, who is accused of benefiting financially from WSC contracts while he served as Executive Chairman, pleaded with the judge - through his attorneys - to give them the opportunity to organize bail tomorrow morning so the FNM MP could avoid the embarrassment of riding on the prison bus and spending the night at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services. However, that request was denied.
Gibson was charged on 56 counts on allegations that he failed to declare his interest in contracts awarded by WSC.
Prosecutors allege that Gibson received more than $1 million from contracts granted to Elite Maintenance and Baha Bay and that he laundered the money by purchasing properties and vehicles.
Investigators believe that he was assisted by Donaldson, Rashae Gibson; his campaign general Joan Knowles; Jerome Missick, Tonya Demeritte and Peaches Farquharson.
Gibson was not required to enter a plea to any of the charges.
He has been the center of controversy since August 2021 when leaked documents revealed that a company co-owned by Gibson’s fiancée and cousin and another company owned by his campaign general received hundreds of thousands of dollars in WSC contracts despite not being qualified to carry out the work.
I take no joy in my comments to this alarming issue. But this should serve as reminder to all of us, whatever, the outcome may be. When persons are placed in the position of authority and have gained the public trust and more so a sitting MP, one must be above and beyond reproach. In a press release June 2017, Dr. Minnis vows to root out corruption which he says has cost the country ‘hundreds of millions’. What he failed to do was look at his administration and put policies in place to do the exact thing he promised. Mr. Gibson was allowed to go unchallenged in all allegations levied against him . The former PM was silent. …