Categorized | National News

Shane Gibson’s charges reduced

Former Member of Parliament and Cabinet Minister Shane Gibson was served with a voluntary bill of indictment (VBI) in the magistrate’s court yesterday.

 

However Gibson had the number of charges against him reduced. He was previously charged with 15 counts of bribery, 16 counts of extortion, two counts of conspiracy to commit extortion and two counts of conspiracy to commit bribery with one single count of misconduct in public office.

 

Instead of the 36 previous counts, he now has 31.

 

Gibson, the former Minister of Labour and National Insurance is now charged with 15 counts of extortion, 15 counts of bribery and one count of misconduct in public office.

 

Magistrate Subusola Swain said Gibson had 21 days to provide an alibi to the magistrate’s court as he may not have been able to provide one to the supreme court unless it goes the magistrate’s court first.

 

Gibson’s attorney, Wayne Munroe, said this may be problematic as no definite date as to when the alleged crime took place was given.

 

“It is very important for this young man to say exactly when it happened, so that if Mr. Gibson was in Grand Bahama and not New Providence, he has the ability to show that it could not have possibly happened because he wasn’t on the island,” Munroe said.

 

He added there is a question as to if Gibson’s case can be tried in the existing system and if the government moved too quickly in not doing what the British did in Turks and Caicos Islands before attempting corruption trials.

 

Gibson is set to appear in the supreme court before Justice Bernard Turner on October 20th at 10 a.

Written by Jones Bahamas

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Watch JCN Channel 14 Shows

Jcn Channel 14

Sign in now to see your channels and recommendations!

Join Us on Facebook