The Tribune

By DANA SMITH

Tribune Staff Reporter

dsmith@tribunemedia.net

FOLLOWING the FNM’s call for the immediate closure of illegal gambling and lottery operations, Prime Minister Perry Christie said he does not have to “get involved in enforcing it” as police know how to do their job.

He dismissed the opposition’s statements as “nonsense”, saying the well-trained and “well-led” Royal Bahamas Police Force are responsible for enforcing the law.

FNM Leader Hubert Minnis criticised the government and police for “inordinate delay” following Chief Justice Sir Michael Barnett’s decision to lift an interlocutory order that protected gaming web shops.

“Tell them stop from talking nonsense,” Mr Christie said yesterday. “Read the judgement of the Chief Justice – I don’t know if they (web-shops) have appealed yet on this matter, but the government, the prime minister, doesn’t get involved in enforcing it.

“The police know what their jobs must be; it is for the police to do what they have to do and interpret the judgement as they have to interpret it and if they need advice, they get their advice from the Attorney General. But it’s not Perry Christie closing it down.”

His January statement that all web shops must close with immediate effect “speaks for itself” and he’s “moving on,” the prime minister said.

“We are a country of laws and we are a country where the police are responsible for enforcing the laws of the Bahamas,” he said. “If they see wrong, if they know wrong, if they apprehend wrong, they know what their job is, and I can’t insinuate myself in, saying ‘Go and arrest this one and arrest that one.’

“They are police officers. The police officers are well-trained, well-led organisation, and this whole thing about the Leader of the Opposition – what he could do?”

Following the January referendum on web shop gaming, Prime Minister Perry Christie announced that all web-shops must close with immediate effect; but web-shops filed an injunction to block any move by the government from interfering with the operations.

Crown attorneys Lauren Klein, Darren Henfield, Darcell Williamson and Melissa Wright-Knowles, moved to have the January 30 court order lifted in a hearing before the Chief Justice a week ago.

They argued that operators had themselves admitted they were engaging in gaming and that such activities went outside of what they were licensed to do as web shop cafe operators.

However, attorneys for the plaintiffs noted that the Crown did not dispute that there was a meeting between the operators and the Ministry of Finance in April 2010 when full disclosure of their operations was made to the government and their licenses were renewed.

On April 10, Chief Justice Sir Michael Barnett ruled that “the police must be allowed to enforce the law unless and until the law has been declared to be invalid.”

National Security Minister Dr Bernard Nottage said that although he was certain that the police force has enough personnel to do whatever needed to be done with web shops, he could not say what the plans were.

He said that it was not his job to direct the police chief, adding that officials would have to wait for the advice of Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson before making a decision on the way forward.

In response to public calls for the police to take action and shut down number houses everywhere, Mr Greenslade said the force is now conducting a probe to see if web shop owners are deviating from the clauses of operation allowed in their business licenses.

This past weekend, Dr Minnis said: “It is now the job of Mr Greenslade to do his best to enforce the law; to stop making what sounds like lame excuses, and to stop trying to anticipate the legal challenges which people who are breaking the law may try to raise. Let lawyers do the job of lawyers while you, Mr Commissioner, do the job for which we believe you to be fully qualified and capable, namely prevent crime, including ‘white collar and computerized gambling’ crimes.”

Wayne Munroe – the attorney for Island Game, Island Luck, FML, Asue Draw, Whattfall and Chances – has filed an appeal and a stay of execution on the decision to drop the injunction.

Mr Munroe said that in the interim it would be in the best interest of his clients for the government to shut them down, rather than them closing voluntarily.

In an interview with Tribune Business, he said that if the government chooses to act on the Chief Justice’s ruling, it could set itself up for further legal action at the cost of taxpayers