Friday, February 21, 2020

...anyone who questions or confronts Peter Nygard on any issue is immediately seen as an enemy of the PLP party

We are not the PLP’s enemy

STATEMENT By Save The Bays

Save The Bays is disappointed to find itself yet again the victim of a false, reckless and far-fetched attack by the PLP, as a result of the troubles facing the party's friend and benefactor, Peter Nygard.

While the current allegations against Mr Nygard are indeed serious, they have nothing to do with Save The Bays. We are an environmental conservation and good governance NGO which has only ever clashed with the fashion designer over his illegal dredging and other unauthorised construction activities at Nygard Cay which damaged the environment. We have no comment on these new allegations and our organisation is not involved in the matter in any way.

Sadly, yet again, we find ourselves having to deny the same tedious and ridiculous conspiracy theories of secret collusions and foreign interests trying to destabilise governments. We respectfully remind the PLP chairman that the Cold War is over, and ask him to leave us out of his crackpot political witch-hunts and fever dream paranoias.

Despite Fred Mitchell’s obsessive declarations, Save The Bays has never been an enemy of the PLP. The last thing our group ever wanted was to be drawn into a political fight during their last term in office.

After the election, once the political fever had broken, STB hoped we would be able to work with the opposition PLP to pressure the new government on many issues of common interest – environmental protection, freedom of information, the rule of law.

But for some reason that we cannot fathom, anyone who questions or confronts Peter Nygard on any issue is immediately seen as an enemy of the PLP party. And if Nygard stubs his toe, it must be STB’s fault.

Perhaps if the PLP chose its friends more carefully, the party would not have to be on the defensive so much of the time. Perhaps they should simply condemn Mr Nygard’s past environmental crimes, and call for the chips to fall where they may with regard to these new allegations, and leave it at that. If the party would simply file for divorce from Nygard, many of their troubles would be over.

Finally, we are also shocked by the latest revelations in the press. In the wake of the lawsuit against Mr Nygard, it seems additional alleged victims from all over the world have come forward. Meanwhile, thousands of Facebook posts and Tweets have claimed of similar incidents involving Mr Nygard in various jurisdictions.

To suggest that all of this is also the fault of STB would go beyond even the screwball imaginings of Fred Mitchell.

END

Save The Bays