NASSAU, Bahamas, Jun 16, CMC – Opposition Leader Michael Pintard says his Free National Movement (FNM) party will not allow the allegations contained in a United States criminal complaint that a Bahamian politician is involved in drug trafficking to be swept under the rug.
Pintard said he has since delivered a letter to police asking for an investigation into the matter after being unsuccessful in getting the documents laid in the Parliament.
He said the Police Commissioner and the Attorney General are now in possession of the documents as well as the Minister of National Security.
“It can’t be swept under the rug. Our full team is engaged, and we’re going to continue to press them,” he told reporters, adding “they won’t be able to escape addressing this issue, unless they’re protecting themselves”.
But Speaker Patricia Deveaux refused to withdraw her claim that Pintard “maligned” her in a social media post referring to the US criminal complaint.
In a Facebook post last week, the FNM leader noted that one of the allegations in the complaint is that a politician met in the Parliament building with a drug pilot, and an undercover Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent.
“The speaker of the House could have supported our calls for an investigation. Instead, she suggested we go to the police. So, that’s exactly what we did last night.”
But the Speaker accused Pintard of attacking her integrity, saying “I will not allow these halls to be used for what is wrong.
“We’re going to use these halls for what is right, and impugning and tearing down and trying to drag people through the mud is not what we [are] here for, and it doesn’t look good.
“So, please have my name removed from under that caption, because … it says ‘drug deals in the Parliament’.
But Pintard, in response, said Deveaux’s accusations were inaccurate and asked her to withdraw her comments.
“Madam Speaker … the caption refers to you by your title. It does not link you in any drug deals. It states that the claims are allegations and the source of those claims is clearly referenced.
“I’m therefore asking you, Madam Speaker, to withdraw what you said this morning, specifically that I put your name under the caption of drug deal in the House of Assembly, as if you were involved in some drug deals and that I maligned you and impugned your good name. I did no such thing, Madam Speaker.”
But the Speaker refused to withdraw her comments, saying “I’m not preparing to withdraw anything”.
At the center of the controversy is a statement by Michael Coleman, a special agent with the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), alleging that Jonathan Eric Gardiner, a Bahamian man who was previously convicted of drug trafficking offenses in the US, was moving tons of cocaine through The Bahamas, with the protection of Bahamian government officials and high-ranking politicians.
Gardiner was arrested after the plane he was a passenger on, which had been en route to Grand Bahama from Abaco, crashed off Florida on May 12. Investigators said Gardiner had US$30,000 in cash when he was arrested.
Eleven other people were on board that plane, including Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) supporters who were headed to Grand Bahama to vote in the May 12 general election.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Philip Davis defended his embattled Finance Minister, Michael Halkitis, against calls for his resignation, after Halkitis acknowledged serving as the president of a company linked to Jonathan Gardiner.
Speaking in Parliament, Prime Minister Davis told legislators that he is satisfied that Halkitis did nothing “illegal, immoral or unethical”.
Prime Minister Davis, speaking after an earlier exchange between opposition MP Kwasi Thompson and Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell, said he believed that Thompson breached Halkitis’ privilege and asked that the matter be referred to the Committee of Privilege.
House Speaker Deveaux had earlier ruled that Thompson’s statement be expunged.
Last month, Halkitis acknowledged his past affiliation with Top Notch Builders Ltd, a construction firm associated with Gardiner that was awarded millions in government contracts by both the Perry Christie and Davis administrations.
CMC//gh/ir/2026