NASSAU, Bahamas, Police have questioned former government minister Lanisha Rolle and her husband as investigations continue into the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture after an audit conducted between July 1, 2018, and January 2021 uncovered several irregularities.
“Yes, at this time, they are being questioned,” Police Commissioner, Clayton Fernander, confirmed, adding that the questioning began on Tuesday.
The Police Commissioner said he could not say “exactly” why the former minister and her husband were being questioned but added, “you know what was circulating in the media. We are speaking to them at this time”.
Last November, media reports said that the former minister was under active police investigation as a part of their probe into the ministry. Deputy Commissioner of Police Leamond Deleveaux later denied those reports saying then that the police were only looking into some “irregularities” at the church.
Mrs. Rolle resigned from Cabinet in February 2021 for “personal reasons,” with her departure coming after Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis had ordered a lockdown of the Ministry of Youth, Sports, and Culture.
The media here had reported that ministry officials and the board of the National Sports Authority had become concerned that established processes and procedures were not being followed, and they took their concerns to Dr. Minnis.
An audit by the Auditor General, which was later tabled in the House of Assembly in November 2021, uncovered several red flags, including “poor maintenance practices at the agency, inadequate inventory controls, and boards that were not able to carry out the functions of the authority, among other things.”
The report also found that a contract was awarded without Cabinet approval and instances where cheques to contractors were made out to named individuals, no companies, and collected by a senior official of the Ministry of Youth, Sports & Culture.
The former government minister has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, saying her track record spoke for itself, telling reporters that she believed the truth would be revealed in due time.
“I resigned from Cabinet on February 23, 2021, and since then, we have been here. I recall the last official audit report disclosed, to my information, that the accounts of the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture (were) fairly maintained,” she said last November.
“I did not hear that another audit or any further investigation was going on, so we are where we are today. I trust the police. I have been a police officer. I have served the country in that capacity for 11 years. I served in the Cabinet. I served as a member of Parliament. I served as an officer of the court, and I trust that the due process of the law will be followed, the rule of law shall take its course, and justice shall prevail. I trust the Lord in all of that.”
and then 