FBI joins voice note probe

The Bahamas- The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) has joined a police corruption probe sparked by voice notes that leaked in July.

Speaking with the Tribune earlier this week, Police Commissioner Clayton Fernander and the investigators were scheduled to arrive in here on August 14 but did not.

The investigation surrounds voice notes that purported to capture a quid-pro-quo arrangement involving a senior police officer, a lawyer and two murdered men, Michael Fox Jr and Dino Smith.

The conversation on the voice notes centred around a multi-million dollar airport bank car heist in November. Fox Jr and Smith were suspects in that matter but were never charged.

Two other men, Oral Roberts, 34, and Akeil Holmes, 26, were charged in connection with the robbery. Roberts was killed in the Fox Hill area last month. While Michael Johnson, the head of the Central Investigations Department, has taken garden leave as authorities investigate.

According to Fernander, the Security and Intelligence Branch (SIB) of the police force is investigating the matter. He said the Police Complaints Inspectorate, a little-known body that has traditionally lacked the resources to perform its duties, would supervise the SIB’s investigation.

Michael Fox Sr, the father of Fox Jr, told The Tribune last month that his son gave him the voice notes and told him to release the recordings if he died. He said he was not behind the release of the tapes. 

Sandra Smith, the mother of Dion Smith, said her son also informed her about the voice notes and their significance, but she never got them.

The matter has gripped the public’s attention because of other events that occurred involving people connected to the voice notes. 

Days after Sylvens Metayer, a man living in the US who considers himself a whistleblower, who reportedly released the voice notes, he was shot during a Facebook Live and survived the incident.

Meanwhile, Roberts,  was killed a week after meeting officers probing the matter, according to his mother.

Former Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis has urged his successor to appoint a Commission of Inquiry.

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