The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

FREE National Movement Deputy leader Loretta Butler-Turner yesterday urged the Christie administration to table the Financial Action Task Force’s recommendations that were given to Attorney General Allyson Maynard Gibson nearly two months ago in Paris.

Mrs Butler-Turner, who is also the MP for Long Island, said that in the midst of uncertainty over regulating the numbers industry, the government should consider tabling the FATF’s suggestions with a view to possibly allaying the fears of money laundering that have risen from certain areas of the new Gaming Bill.

As the Opposition plans to vote against the proposed gaming legislation, she pointed to the negative implications of web shops on the Bahamian society and spoke specifically to her constituency where she said there were about 15 number houses operating.

“When will we as a Bahamian people, as members of this honourable House,”she said, “truly learn of the report that the attorney general would have brought back with her regarding the Financial Action Task Force?

“So maybe they might want to table that for our absorption so that we can be knowledgeable in that regard as to what is going on. Questions of money laundering by certain enterprises and the good name of the Bahamas remain at bay and are of great concern. That is why I say this. I do not want us to just move blindly.”

Mrs Butler-Turner was not the only FNM to criticise the government on the legislation.

East Grand Bahama MP Peter Turnquest pinpointed several areas of the legislation that needed attention.

He said the Bahamian people trusted the government to honour the January 28, 2013 referendum, but that trust has now been broken.

He said: “The licensing requirement included in this bill are fairly explicit and are consistent for the most part with the Gaming Bill it seeks to replace, except for a few glaring exceptions. The most important of which is the ability of the minister to overlook and pardon past criminal activities of participants in the industry in considering licenses and the treatment of the proceeds of crime, in accordance with Article 25(1)(h) and Article 85(23).

“This is unprecedented legislation in my view. By the stroke of a pen, the minister has the ability to wipe the slate of criminals, white as snow, with no regard to their past crimes or the integrity of the jurisdiction.  Wealth amassed through underground activities can be made legitimate overnight regardless of the source and can now be banked on the mere payment of a $750,000 maximum penalty.”

Members of Parliament are expected to vote on the legislation on Monday.