The law firm that handled the permanent residency application for embattled American celebrity Anna Nicole Smith, also known as Vickie Lyn Marshall, lashed out last night at Immigration Minister Shane Gibson for calling its integrity into question and claiming that it had misled the Department of Immigration.
It was the latest development in the saga that has seen the tragic death of Smith’s son in September, days after the birth of her daughter at Doctors Hospital, and intense scrutiny over how Minister Gibson fast tracked the approval of her economic permanent residency application.
In a press statement that Callenders & Co released, the law firm insisted that it was not required to submit the mortgage executed between G. Ben Thompson, the American real estate developer who lays claim to the waterfront home that has become Smith’s refuge for the last few months, and Smith.
"Callenders does not agree that it was obliged to advise the Department of Immigration that Ms. Marshall had agreed to execute a mortgage in favour of Mr. Thompson as security for the monies advanced by him to pay for the house," the statement noted.
"The Department’s own form states that whether the house is subject to a mortgage or not is immaterial to its consideration of the application for permanent residence."
The government can approve an application for economic permanent residence once a foreigner owns a home valued at over $500,000.
Referring to the relationship that existed between Ms. Marshall on the one hand and Mr. Thompson and his son-in-law Ford Shelley on the other, the law firm said that there was a spirit of mutual trust.
Of the documents that are now at the centre of the fracas over the $1million stately home called Horizons, Callenders said that the mortgage was prepared at the same time as the conveyance.
However, the law firm pointed out that while the mortgage is typically executed at the same time as the conveyance, it is not always necessarily the case.
"What was understood by all was that until Ms. Marshall executed a mortgage, the conveyance would be held by the firm unstamped and unrecorded.
"This firm did not give the Department of Immigration a copy of the conveyance. It is for the Minister to say how the Department of Immigration, for which he is responsible obtained possession of a copy of the conveyance," the statement said.
The saga seems have taken on a life of its own as there remains the unresolved matter of whether a coroner’s inquest will be held into the death of Smith’s son, Daniel Wayne Smith, who died mysteriously.
He was buried in a local cemetery last month.
If Smith is determined not to be the owner of the million-dollar waterfront home, her permanent residency status could be revoked.
The former Playboy playmate and reality TV star originally came to The Bahamas to avoid the paparazzi that had been hounding her since the protracted litigation over the estate of her late husband.
As for another angle of the controversy – whether Minister Gibson personally received the cheque for Smith’s permanent residency at the Horizons home – Callenders maintained last night that this was indeed the case.
Law partner Tracey Ferguson delivered the cheque to Smith on September 20, 2006, who then gave the envelope to Minister Gibson, according to the firm.
"We are alarmed that Minister Gibson would deny that he received the cheque from Ms. Marshall at Horizons. His denial is simply not true. We told the Department of Immigration the day after we delivered the cheque to Minister Gibson that we had done so," the firm said in its statement.
"The records of the Department of Immigration or persons in their employ would show how they got the cheque for the payment of the fee. It is a matter of grave concern to the partners of Callenders that Minister Gibson would challenge the integrity of our partners by denying that he received the cheque at Horizons…"
On Wednesday night, under the privilege of the House of Assembly, Minister Gibson called the law firm’s integrity into question claiming that it had misled the Department of Immigration.
He also went a step further and urged attorneys Michael Scott and Tracey Ferguson to resign.
The minister tabled documents relevant to the Smith application and also questioned why Mr. Thompson would witness a sales agreement when there was an outstanding mortgage.
