The detention of People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) Member, James Bond, is a strategy by the police to ‘break’ the Attorney-at-law into making a statement that incriminates himself. At least, this is according to the Leader of the main Parliamentary Opposition, Joseph Harmon.
Bond, a Member of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), was taken into Police custody today as the investigations into the alleged land giveaways under the former Government continue. Bond has been accused of ‘flipping’ state lands and benefitting from a multimillion-dollar pay-out. Investigations into land ‘giveaways’ commenced right after the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) came into power, back in August this year.
Harmon, commenting on Bond’s detention, said: “I believe that the police have settled now on a particular practice, which says that they arrest you, question you and detain you, hoping that you will make a statement that incriminates yourself. From all of the reports I received, the persons who they have arrested so far and detained, in my view, unlawfully, this has been the situation.”
Harmon proffered that if Bond is needed for questioning, then he should be brought in, but not be subjected to ‘arbitrary’ detention. The Opposition Leader said that Bond is not a “flight risk” and “can go home and come back the next day and report to the police”.
“But this detention in Brickdam lockups is a deliberate strategy to try to break people and to embarrass them in the public. I take serious offence to that. It’s like in the old Western movies, where you have shoot first, and ask questions later. It’s the same practice they’re doing now, where they’re shooting people and then questioning them later,” Harmon noted. Bond was, however, not shot.
The former State Minister then went on to accuse the police force of going after Black professionals.
“This is very bad. If the police have information about a wrongdoing, which is criminal in nature, then let them do their work. But I believe, what is happening before us is the clear directions given by this PPP regime to the police to harass black professionals. They have gone after these professionals with a vengeance,” Harmon said.
