More than half a decade after the first corruption allegations emerged against two high-ranking former Bahamian public officials, the country’s top law enforcement official has pushed back against claims that the cases have been abandoned. Director of Public Prosecutions Cordell Frazier confirmed this week that the high-profile prosecutions of former Cabinet minister Lanisha Rolle and ex-Urban Renewal director Michelle Reckley remain ongoing, even as their trial dates have been pushed back years from the initial filing of charges.
Frazier also provided an update on Christopher Symonette, one of Reckley’s co-accused in the Urban Renewal scandal, noting that his constitutional challenge to the proceedings has already been heard by the courts, though no ruling has yet been announced.
Court records clearly show the significant delays that have plagued both cases, a situation that has drawn public scrutiny over the pace of justice in high-level public corruption matters. Rolle, who was formally charged in 2022, faces a total of 16 criminal counts: three counts of bribery and 13 counts of conspiracy to commit fraud by false pretences. She and her husband, Vontenken Rolle, face additional conspiracy charges connected to a $168,000 government contract awarded for renovation work at the Kendal GL Isaacs Gym. Prosecutors further allege that Rolle accepted a bribe worth $48,303.74 in exchange for awarding a construction contract at the Grand Bahama Sporting Complex to local firm G&C Landscaping. Two other co-defendants, Wilfred Rolle and Godfrey Burrows, face conspiracy charges related to a separate $34,600 contract for upgrades at the South Beach community pools, with Burrows additionally charged with obtaining the public funds through fraudulent pretences.
The Reckley case stretches back even further, with the former Urban Renewal head and five co-accused first arraigned in 2019. Prosecutors allege the group conspired to defraud the Bahamian government of more than $1.2 million through fraudulent claims submitted to the Urban Renewal Small Homes Repair Programme, an initiative designed to fund repairs for low-income homeowners on Grand Bahama following hurricane damage.
The case has faced a string of unprecedented setbacks that have delayed its trial for nearly five years. It was first assigned to Magistrate Ambrose Armbrister, but all court proceedings ground to a halt when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down most judicial operations across the country. When Armbrister resigned from the bench in 2020, the case was shuffled between multiple magistrates before then-Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson-Pratt took over management of the prosecution.
A new controversy emerged in May 2022, just as the trial was scheduled to get underway. Prosecutors filed a motion to recuse Ferguson-Pratt over unsubstantiated claims that she had privately visited Reckley in the courthouse cell block and prayed with the defendant ahead of the trial. The chief magistrate forcefully denied the allegations, and prosecution withdrew the recusal application just two days later, issuing a formal public apology to the magistrate over the claim.
Most recently, the case hit another delay when Senior Magistrate Shaka Serville, the latest judge assigned to the matter, announced he could not locate the complete physical case file, forcing another adjournment of proceedings. Reckley and all of her co-defendants have repeatedly maintained their innocence on all charges, and all defendants have been released on bail while they await trial.