The former Progressive Liberal Party government was yesterday accused of abusing the granting of nolle prosequis by Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis, who cited the case in which then-acting Attorney General Jerome Fitzgerald nolled the case of a couple suspected of illegal firearm and ammunition possession.

Dr. Minnis said the couple in question, George and Janice Hayles, were at one point clients of the then Attorney General, Allyson Maynard-Gibson who was out of the country when the nolle was entered.

“Can you imagine the Attorney General goes on leave. The Acting Attorney General comes in office. An office filled with files, on the desk and the floor. He has difficulty with walking in the office because of files, but he can find one file out of the abundance of files and gives a nolle prosequi for that one file.

“He should have at least done three of four,” said Dr. Minnis.

The prime minister was at the time contributing to the debate on a bill to establish the office of an independent director of public prosecutions.

It is a piece of legislation that the government argued will remove the unnecessary interference of elected officials from criminal matters in order to protect citizens.

“Citizens must always be protected from unnecessary political interference in the justice system. Citizens must also be protected from those who use communication technologies to harm fellow citizens and residents, even as we vigorously protect the privacy of citizens and residents,” said the Prime Minister.

He said, “a mature and effective democracy requires values.”

Now, despite the opposition’s stance that the bill is regressive, it was yesterday afternoon given the green light in The House of Assembly.

The house resumes on Wednesday, November 8th at 10:00am at which time, legislators will begin debate on an amendment to the pension act.