ADRIAN GIBSON REMOVED FROM PUBLIC ACCOUNTS COMMITTEE

FREE National Movement Leader Michael Pintard has requested that Long Island MP Adrian Gibson be removed from the Public Accounts Committee and be replaced with Central Grand Bahama MP Iram Lewis.

House Speaker Patricia Deveaux told parliamentarians yesterday during the start of the morning session that she had received correspondence from Mr Pintard, requesting Mr Gibson’s removal from the committee.

“I would’ve received correspondence from the leader of the opposition requesting the removal of the honourable member from Long Island from the Public Accounts Committee to be replaced with the honourable member for Central Grand Bahama and I will now oblige that request,” she said.

After the House of Assembly broke for lunch, Mr Pintard was asked by reporters for the reasoning behind the decision.

However, he replied there was nothing unusual about the change and that it was not worth being discussed publicly.

“We normally make committee changes. It’s nothing that (is) so dramatic that’s worth a discussion in the public domain.”

When asked if the request was made due to Mr Gibson’s pending court case, Mr Pintard refused to answer and said, “I have nothing new to say on what I mentioned relative to that matter.”

Last June, Mr Gibson was arraigned in a Magistrate’s Court with six others on corruption charges in connection with his tenure as executive chairman of the Water and Sewerage Corporation under the Minnis administration.

The charges stem from Mr Gibson’s alleged failure to declare his interest in contracts awarded by the WSC.

Mr Gibson pleaded not guilty to the charges when he was arraigned again in the Supreme Court last September.