Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis has used his close relationship with Punch boss Ivan Johnson to publicly attack and embarrass former Deputy Prime Minister Peter Turnquest, according to insiders.
Minnis often has private chats with Ivan Johnson at a certain restaurant on East Bay Street to feed him information on his enemies to print in the bi-weekly tabloid.
In recent weeks, The Punch has aimed its fire at Turnquest, accusing him of $28 million fraud as well as stealing and deleting files to cover up the multi-million dollar fraud scheme.
The Punch has also alleged that Turnquest owns two condominiums in the ultra-luxurious Bayroc community in West Bay Street but he got the government to pay him a $10,000 per month allowance to cover his living accommodations.
Turnquest, who stayed loyal to Minnis in 2016 when Loretta Butler- Turner led a coup to have him ousted as Opposition Leader, told friends that he realized too late that Minnis is a snake in the grass.
He also told those close to him that he knows it is Minnis who is behind the relentless attack on his character in order to discredit him.
“This allegation was intentionally placed to cause public speculation, ridicule and to further damage my reputation and integrity,“ Turnquest said on Monday.
It is a well-kept secret that Minnis uses The Punch as his unofficial mouthpiece to launch smear campaigns against his political opponents, including former prime minister Hubert Ingraham, whom Minnis is threatened by.
Minnis used similar tactics to get rid of Health Minister Dr. Duane Sands, whom he always had a strained relationship with but was pressured by rich financial backers to nominate and give a cabinet appointment to.
Friends of the prime minister told the Gallery that Minnis would give them certain unknown information and days later it would appear in The Punch verbatim.