The public row that has erupted between Immigration Minister Shane Gibson and the Free National Movement over the speed in which an American celebrity got her permanent residency application approved intensified on Sunday, when the official opposition party claimed the minister personally collected the cheque for the approval.
The FNM was referring to the application of Anna Nicole Smith, who the minister has said he knows personally.
“Prime Minister Perry Christie should ask Mr. Gibson how it was that the $10,000 cheque for Ms. Smithﾒs permit was delivered to him personally at Ms. Smithﾒs house instead of to the appropriate officers at the Immigration Department,” the statement said.
While the FNM statement was only issued on Sunday, the claim that the minister collected the cheque at Ms. Smithﾒs house has been floating since last week with some PLPs saying to The Bahama Journal that the situation could create an unnecessary distraction with election season approaching.
When questioned by The Bahama Journal about the claim on Friday, Minister Gibson said he was done talking about the whole matter involving Ms. Smithﾒs permanent residency, but he also said, “I know absolutely nothing about what youﾒre talking about.”
He was referring specifically to the allegation that he personally collected the cheque.
The FNM called the situation regarding Ms. Smithﾒs application approval a “sordid affair”.
The party also claimed that Ms. Smith had her permanent residence permit approved in less than three weeks, but a statement from the Ministry of Immigration and Labour released last Thursday said it took three months for the approval to come.
Last week, the FNM released a statement alleging that Minister Gibson had visited Ms. Smith in hospital and at home following the sudden death of her 20-year-old son Daniel, who died in Doctors Hospital while visiting his mother and new born sister on September 10.
When asked whether he had visited Ms. Smith, Minister Gibson said he did not see where the question was important or relevant and refused to answer it.
In its statement on Thursday, the Immigration ministry explained that there are two separate and distinct paths to the application for permanent residency in The Bahamas: one is through a long and creditable residence as a contributing member of the Bahamian community; the other is through significant economic investment in The Bahamas.
“In either case, applications before the department once fully complete, substantiated and investigated, should be processed in an expeditious manner,” the statement said.
It was also a point reiterated by the minister when he spoke with The Bahama Journal, referring to Ms. Smith as an “economic applicant”.
But the FNM insisted that the minister has “personally intervened” and fast-tracked an application for Ms. Smithﾒs permanent residence permit.
The statement said that both the PLP government and the FNM government have subscribed to the idea that it is a good thing to give annual residence permits to wealthy foreigners who own second homes in The Bahamas so they can come and go without running into problems with immigration authorities.
It said both parties have also subscribed to the policy of giving permanent residence to foreigners who have lived in The Bahamas for years and have contributed to the community.
The statement said both parties have provided for “accelerated consideration” of applications for permanent residency status by individuals who own residences above a stated monetary value and who are able to demonstrate their intention to make their residence in The Bahamas more than a vacation home.
“From what we can garner from press reports, Anna Nicole Smith does not fit any of these categories,” the FNM said.
“ﾅThe prime minister himself in announcing his cabinetﾒs decision to grant Ms. Smith permanent residence status did not offer any reason for their having done so.”
The FNM added, “Ms. Smith has been described in the press as a celebrity. Of course there are many kinds of celebrity. We know that Ms. Smith has been the subject of much publicity in the Untied States of America; much of it unsavory.
“No one can argue that her presence here adds to the lustre and reputation of the country, but itﾒs a safe bet that it will attract tabloid media hype of the variety not normally desired or sought after by high-end tourism, financial services or business locations.”
When he responded last week to FNM concerns about Ms. Smithﾒs permanent residency status, Minister Gibson pointed to what he said was the speed in which the FNM government approved the application of Czech-born financier Viktor Kozeny.
The Immigration statement said Kozenyﾒs application was processed in less than 10 weeks.
Referring to concerns that had been raised by former Immigration Minister Dr. Earl Deveaux, the statement said, “It is strange that Dr. Deveaux would now level charges that the processing of a similar application [for] Ms. Anna Nicole Smith in three months would be a ﾑdisturbing precedentﾒ.”
The FNM explained in its statement on Sunday that when Kozeny came to The Bahamas he bought a $5 million home and invested tens of millions of dollars in development projects, which qualified him as an investor.
“Mr. Kozeny had problems outside the country that only came to light after he had taken up residence in The Bahamas,” the statement said.
“If there is a lesson in this, it is that these things should not be rushed. Even so, there is no guarantee that an investor with a clean record, or what appears to be a clean record when he enters, cannot get into trouble afterwards or have a record [that] comes to light after the grant of residence status. Of course the law makes provision for the latter.”
Kozeny has been held at Her Majestyﾒs Prison for nearly a year while he fights extradition to the United States where he is wanted to face bribery charges.
Minister Gibson has also questioned how Dr. Deveaux could explain the long waiting list for applicants he left behind, but the FNM said the minister should remember that he succeeded his PLP colleague, Vincent Peet, not Dr. Deveaux.
In its statement last Thursday, the Immigration ministry said the government believes in creating efficiency in the process and not unnecessary delays.
But the FNMﾒs statement on Sunday said the prime minister should be asking “a lot of questions.”
By: Candia Dames, The Bahama Journal
