By STAFF WRITER, Guardian News Desk

erica@nasguaed.com

Anna Nicole Smith should be stripped of her permanent residency status and asked to leave The Bahamas, a local lawyer suggested yesterday.

Fayne Thompson, who believes Ms Smith should be declared persona non grata in The Bahamas, has also called for an independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding the former playmate's permanent residency application, a call which was supported yesterday by Progressive Liberal Party Senator Philip Galanis.

"Clearly, in the Department of Immigration are documents which weren't complete. That is by the admission of all parties. There has been no dispute about that fact. And if that is in fact the case, due diligence has not been done in processing the application part," Mr Thompson said Sunday on Island FM's "Parliament Street" radio talk show.

Mr Thompson said the documents had not been "signed, sealed and delivered," and that no stamp duty or recording fees had been paid. "The Ministry of Finance has not been paid. We have been denied our stamp duty on that particular transaction," he said. "How then, in my mind, can Anna Nicole Smith afford to have permanent residence in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas?"

The controversy surrounding Ms Smith's application surfaced weeks ago when the opposition Free National Movement alleged that Minister of Immigration Shane Gibson personally collected a $10,000 check for the permit fee, at Horizons, the luxury house she has been living in since September.

Mr Gibson has strongly denied the allegation, even though a lawyer for the Callender's and Co law firm, Tracy Ferguson, has said she saw Mr Gibson receive the check at Horizons. Prime Minister Perry Christie also branded the claim by the FNM a vicious lie.

Since then it has been claimed that Ms Smith is not the owner of the house and her former lover, Ben Thompson, has taken legal action to evict her from the home.

At a press conference held last week, Mr Thompson said that he purchased the $950,000 house for Ms Smith under the condition that he would be re-paid, but when she allegedly refused to sign the mortgage note he moved to have her evicted.

Ms Smith has denied that a mortgage agreement was made and has taken legal action to be declared owner of the home.

In the meantime, questions regarding why Ms Smith's permanent residency application was approved so quickly and without proof of property ownership have been raised. Mr Gibson has denied any wrongdoing and has alleged that Ms Smith's former law firm, Callender's and Co, omitted important information in their representation of the purchase of Horizons.

Callender's and Co has denied Mr Gibson's allegation and has accused the minister of attempting to "mislead" the public.

Fayne Thompson maintained that at the heart of the controversy was how the process has been deported.

"This is what we have to concern ourselves with. This is where the so-called friendship comes into question and this is where the so-called ethical standards of the PLP come into question," he said.

Mr Galanis, who was also a guest on "Parliament Street," said that he agreed with Mr Thompson, that there should be an independent investigation into the matter.

"I am not going to take the party line. I agree with you that there ought to be an independent investigation to understand how could these things happen. How could you fast track a permanent residency for an individual when there are many people out there whose applications have been in the pipeline for a long time?" said Mr Galanis.

"Is it because this person was your friend or is it because the application was so transparent that it warranted a fast-tracking? Was it the efficiencies that the prime minister has spoken about, and is that being replicated? Is that the order of the day as opposed to a one-off situation?"

Mr Galanis said that these are the questions that need to be answered.

"I think people would want to know and I think they need to be honest about it," he said. "What needs to happen, in my opinion, is yes, an investigation has to take place and we have to ask ourselves, in the interest of national security, can we allow these kinds of questions to go unanswered so that other people can slip through the cracks?"

However, Mr Galanis said that he would not go as far as making Ms Smith persona non grata.