By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C., August 8, 2024 – The announcement by Commissioner of Police Clayton Fernander that senior members of the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency (NCA) will arrive in The Bahamas later this month to “personally oversee” aspects of the investigation surrounding voice notes that purported to capture a quid-pro-quo arrangement involving a senior police officer, a lawyer and two murdered men should remove any lingering doubts that Police Commissioner Fernander is fully committed to a thorough probe into the accusations that have been made.
According to an article written by News Editor Rashad Rolle and published today in The Tribune, one of The Bahamas’ leading daily newspapers, Commissioner Fernander said John Michael McKeon, the head of the NCA’s anti-corruption unit, and Andrew John Black, a senior investigator, will arrive in The Bahamas from the UK on August 14 and depart on August 17. He said Francisco Savvaki Kyriarou, an NCA investigator based in Miami, will join the team.
“The Royal Bahamas Police Force is fully cooperating with these international experts to ensure that all facets of the investigation are covered comprehensively,” Commissioner Fernander said in a statement. “This collaboration underscores our resolve to address these allegations with the utmost seriousness and diligence. We will continue to keep the public informed as the investigation progresses, consistent with our duty to uphold the integrity of our institution and the trust placed in us by the people of The Bahamas.”
The Tribune noted that Government “officials previously said that diplomatic notes were sent to the UK for help from the Metropolitan Police Force, also known as Scotland Yard, at the police’s request.”
The Tribune also reported that the conversation on the voice notes centred around a $1.5 million airport bank car heist in November in which Michael Fox Jr and Dino Smith, the two men who were murdered, were suspects but were never charged.
Two other men, Oral Roberts, 34, and Akeil Holmes, 26, were charged in connection with the robbery, The Tribune reported, adding that “Roberts was killed in the Fox Hill area last month.”
According to The Tribune, “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.”
Meanwhile, Chief Superintendent of Police Michael Johnson, head of the Central Investigations Department (CID), has taken garden leave during the investigation.
Police Commissioner Fernander has assured the public that the Security and Intelligence Branch (SIB) of the RBPF will oversee the investigation and it will “not disappear out the backdoor”. To be sure, considering the high rate of crime rate in The Bahmas and the serious implications of the allegations being voiced in the aftermath of the release of the voice notes on social media, nothing short of a complete and thorough probe into this sordid matter would be accepted by the Bahamian people.
Certainly, seeking assistance from the British National Crime Agency (NCA) is giant step in the right direction. Given today’s Internet technology, which facilitates research on virtually every topic, my journalistic curiosity compelled me to check out the background of the British National Crime Agency. In doing so, I ran across this BBC article published on November 3, 2023, under the heading:
CHESHIRE POLICE EMPLOYEE WHO TIPPED OFF CRIMINAL FRIEND IS JAILED
A police employee who tipped off a criminal friend about a covert investigation has been jailed. “Corrupt” Natalie Mottram admitted misconduct in public office, perverting the course of justice and unauthorised access to computer material.
The 25-year-old was caught when the National Crime Agency (NCA) suspected she was responsible for a leak and put her under surveillance.
Mottram was jailed for three years and nine months at Liverpool Crown Court.
The court heard she was employed by Cheshire Police but was on secondment and working as an intelligence analyst at the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit when she was arrested on 12 June 2020.
She was held as part of Operation Venetic, a nationwide investigation tackling communication devices used by criminals.
Mottram, of Vermont Close, Great Sankey, Warrington, told Jonathan Kay, 38, about a covert investigation and that officer had intelligence on him.
On 24 April 2020, a friend of Kay’s messaged another user to say he had learned that day about law enforcement infiltrating the EncroChat messaging platform.
And he messaged a second contact: “I no [sic] a lady who works for the police. This is not hearsay. Direct to me. They can access Encro software. And are using to intercept forearms [sic] only at the moment. There [sic] software runs 48 hours behind real time. So have ur burns one day max. And try to avoid giving postcodes over it.”
He added: “Her words was are you on Encro, I said no why, I only sell a bit of bud. She said cool just giving you a heads up. Because NCA now have access. But she wouldn’t lie.”
By 12 June 2020, NCA investigators suspected Mottram was responsible for the leak.
On that day, her bosses asked her to analyse an intelligence log referring to Kay, who was the partner of Mottram’s close friend, Leah Bennett, 38.
But the log was bogus and Mottram was under surveillance.
Mottram left work that afternoon and drove to Kay and Bennett’s house on Newark Drive in Great Sankey.
At 17:15, Kay – who has convictions for driving offences and being drunk and disorderly – arrived home in his car with Bennett arriving seven minutes later in hers.
The prosecution say this is when Mottram corruptly informed Kay and Bennett about the intelligence log concerning him.
Mottram, Kay, Bennett and another man were all arrested later that day and £200,000 in cash was recovered from Kay and Bennett’s house.
BETRAYED HER JOB
Kay, who admitted perverting the course of justice at an earlier hearing, was sentenced to two years and six months in jail.
A charge of perverting the course of justice against Bennett was dropped by prosecutors.
John McKeon, head of the NCA’s anti-corruption unit, said: “Natalie Mottram betrayed her job, her colleagues and the public she was paid to protect.
“Her corrupt actions had the potential to hugely damage the overarching investigation by alerting offenders of the need to abandon EncroChat and cover their tracks.
“Her actions were disgraceful. The evidence against her was overwhelming.
“She was left with no option but to finally plead guilty.”
BAHAMAS CHRONICLE EDITOR’S NOTE: The National Crime Agency (NCA)has a pivotal role in protecting the public from organised crime and national security threats, working collaboratively with partners in law enforcement, the UK intelligence community and across Government. Graeme Biggar CBE was is its currentr Director General since October 2021, having joined the NCA as the Director General of the National Economic Crime Centre (NECC) in March 2019. Prior to the NCA, Graeme was the Director of National Security in the Home Office, Chief of Staff to the Defence Secretary in the Ministry of Defence and held a range of other senior Civil Service roles.
