Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Hon. Fred Mitchell responded to opposition claims that there is fraud involved in the issuance of some Bahamian passports in the House Of Assembly on Thursday.

Mitchell told Parliamentarians staff at the Passport Officer feel assailed by the allegations. He said, “I said before in other fora that passports are more secure than they have ever been in the history of the country. We are continually working on security. There’s going to be a new passport office shortly with update equipment that will even increase the passport security.”

The minister stated that there is no evidence to suggest widespread or a little fraud in the issuance of passports. “Those who have evidence that there is fraud with regard to passports take it to the police and stop using public forums to denigrate your own passport. What is the value of a Bahamian public official saying that a Bahamian passport is fraudulently issued when you have to use that passport to go around the world.”