By NEIL HARTNELL
Tribune Business Editor
nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
THE US government is asserting that The Bahamas “lacks... political will” to fully crack down on financial crime with this nation representing a “low risk” haven for fraudsters and corrupt individuals.
The State Department, unveiling its annual international narcotics control
strategy report for 2025, critcised the lack of prosecutions and convictions for money laundering and other financial-related crimes while acknowledging that Bahamian regulators had “imposed” almost $220m in so-called administrative penalties on licensed financial institutions in 2024 for legal and supervisory breaches.
Suggesting that many of these penalties are in “settlement negotiations” between licensee and regulator, the report also asserted that Bahamian law enforcement agencies and prosecutors are too timid to use all the tools available to them in pursuing complex financial crimes and seizing assets that are the proceeds of criminal activities.
The State Department report’s contents will likely further raise the temperature in US-Bahamas relations following the Trump administration’s threat to revoke visas for foreign government politicians and officials involved with bringing Cuban workers - including doctors nurses
and teachers - to work in this nation.
“While The Bahamas makes efforts to improve its money laundering/terrorist financing enforcement capabilities, its investigations often do not result in prosecutions or convictions. Improved inter-institutional co-ordination and strong political will are necessary to defend its financial institutions from criminal intrusions,” the US report said.
Acknowledging that The Bahamas’ 700-island geography leaves it “vulnerable to firearms trafficking, drug trafficking and migrant smuggling,” the State Department signalled its belief that the authorities are not doing sufficient to prosecute financial crimes and seize assets, such as real estate and cash, that may have been derived from such illicit activities.
“The Bahamas suffers from domestic fraud schemes and transnational criminal activities. A limited number of asset seizures and financial prosecutions have resulted in a vulnerable banking system, gaming industry, virtual currencies and luxury real estate market,” the US report argued.
“The lack of convictions and asset forfeiture make The Bahamas a low-risk base of operations for many sophisticated fraudsters, including corrupt actors. Despite extensive training and improved investigative and prosecutorial abilities, Bahamian law enforcement and prosecutors are hesitant to investigate and prosecute complex financial crimes and seize real property and assets derived from illicit activities.
“When authorities pursue cases, an accepted ‘culture of adjournments’ delays adjudications for years. The Bahamas lacks strong inter-institutional coordination and political will to successfully adjudicate complex financial crimes.”
The picture presented by the US State Department report contrasts sharply with The Bahamas’ own financial crime risk assessment, released in December 2024, which said the dangers were mitigated by robust anti-money laundering, Know Your Customer (KYC) and other due diligence defences implemented by an international bank and trust company sector holding $121.6bn in assets at year-end 2022.
“The quality of the anti-money laundering and counter terror financing controls in the international banking sector has been assessed as strong,” the Bahamas’ own report asserted.
“The legislative framework is comprehensive, and monitoring of operations is ongoing via a risk-based anti money laundering supervisory framework which requires appropriate customer due diligence, mandatory ongoing training, effective compliance systems and suspicious transactions monitoring and reporting by financial institutions.”
Although the industry is exposed to what is deemed to be “medium to high” money laundering and other financial crime risks due to the nature of the business it undertakes, such as international transactions, cross-border transfer flows and non-resident customers, “where there may be financial opportunities for financial crime to launder proceeds of crimes – such as fraud or corruption”, the actual threat has been minimised.
The US State Department, though, has taken a different view. “In 2024, authorities imposed almost $220m in administrative penalties, which remain under negotiation for settlement. Law enforcement confiscated over $2m in assets and restrained $1m in suspected illegal cash proceeds,” its report said.
“The Royal Bahamian Police Force Financial Crimes Investigative Branch reported a 20 percent increase in the number of cases/prosecutions in 2024 with 34 individuals charged and six convicted. The Government approved a national cyber security strategy in 2024. The Bahamas began drafting new cyber crime legislation. However, currently the only Bahamian law that addresses cyber crime directly is the Computer Misuse Act 2003....
“The Bahamas suffers from domestic fraud schemes and transnational criminal activities. A limited number of asset seizures and financial prosecutions have resulted in a vulnerable banking system, gaming industry, virtual currencies and luxury real estate market.” It is unclear what the $220m in penalties relate to, as a fine of such scale was levied by the Securities Commission against the FTX crypto exchange.
Elsewhere, the US asserted that Bahamian prosecutors “do not adequately use the Proceeds of Crime Act to seize and forfeit assets”, while identifying both the real estate and construction sectors - said to have contributed $2bn and $634m, respectively, to economic output as “susceptible to money laundering”. No examples, though, were provided to back-up and of these assertions.
Combining The Bahamas’ casino and web shop gaming industry into one, the US State Department report said that, together, they generated almost $415m in gross receipts from January to September 2024 along with $49m in taxes to the Government.
And the “90 percent effectiveness rate for client screening, and a 93 percent rate for transaction screening” achieved by the Central Bank’s licensees won praise from the US State Department which said the results showed Bahamian financial institutions can accurately identify persons subject to international sanctions.
The report added that there had been “renewed interest from the Government of The Bahamas in advancing anti-corruption initiatives” following last November’s charges brought against the Lynden Pindling International Airport’s (LPIA) top police officer and other law enforcement agents in New York’s southern district over alleged drug-related corruption.
It did not seem to give The Bahamas credit for passing the Independent Commission of Investigations Bill and Protected Disclosures Bill, both of which are designed to protect whistleblowers and strengthen anti-corruption defences. It is likely the report was written before both Bills reached Parliament.
“While the Government has generally established anti-corruption laws effectively, laws to combat corruption by public officials have been inconsistently applied,” the US State Department report said. “The Government has stalled full implementation of anti- corruption legislation that would accelerate efforts to enhance transparency and accountability.
“The November southern district of New York indictment renewed interest from the Government of The Bahamas in advancing anti-corruption initiatives. The Bahamas would benefit from a more robust enforcement of rules to prevent conflicts of interest related to public procurement activities.
“There are allegations that government contracts have been directed to political supporters, isolated reports of officials accepting small-scale ‘bribes of convenience’, and favourable treatment given to wealthy or politically connected individuals. The bribery of a government official is a criminal act carrying a fine of up to $10,000, a prison term of up to four years, or both.”
The report added: “Bahamian authorities prefer civil recovery of transnational criminal organisation illicit assets to disrupt criminal enterprises. Its lower evidentiary threshold leads to more successful outcomes, and the seizures disrupt the transnational criminal organisation networks....
“The United States and The Bahamas have a strong partnership in counter-narcotics enforcement.... Success will require more dedicated Bahamian drug enforcement resources, better Bahamian operational co-ordination between its police and Defence forces, increased focus on countering corruption, and stronger prosecutions leading to convictions.”
Comments
moncurcool 3 days, 18 hours ago
Delaware is the biggest place for financial crimes. he US needs to look at it's own house.
But I gather they are doing this to try get more business to Delaware.
pileit 3 days, 18 hours ago
No lies told here. Examine every high profile political case, you will see, delay, obfuscate, distract, delay. Until the public moves on. Acceptance is the key word here.
pileit 3 days, 18 hours ago
so you figure if you can point to someone else doing it, that somehow nullifies the observations?
moncurcool 3 days, 14 hours ago
No I am not saying that. However, just because the one doing the most abuse says another country is doing it does not make it so, especially when they are doing worst and not seeking to do anything about their abuses.
Just because the US says it does not make it factual, especially when there could be ulterior motives involved.
ThisIsOurs 2 days, 20 hours ago
"just because the one doing the most abuse says another country is doing it does not make it so,"
Well... it is so. How many years did illegal gambling flourish seemingly protected by high ranking politicians and police.
Do we or do we not have the Head of Police Criminal Investigations on tape asking for a bribe to make a robbery case disappear, hinting at examples of other criminal cases he's made disappear
Do we or do we not have the Head of the Police Airport division on video with whom he believed to be Colombian narco dealers asking for 2 million dollars for police to assist with the movement of cocaine through the bahamas.
Its widely whispered that govt housing contracts was pay to play. The person in charge would demand a 5000 kickback off any contractor awarded a contract. And if it was this out in the open, so much money involved, it would be hard to believe that even more senior persons did not know and did not put a stop to it immediately or allow it to continue and demand their share. Is only fair after all, its my govt.
Surprisingly to date only one man Fred Ramsey was ever convicted of bribery, and ironically its because the US held the irrefutable evidence of his crime. Left to our internal controls, anything goes and he's a good man. He help plenty people
We have more than enough evidence that plenty financial funny business going on
ExposedU2C 3 days, 13 hours ago
You seem to have forgotten the golden rule: Elections have consequences and he who has the gold rules.
moncurcool 3 days, 9 hours ago
This has nothing to do with elections. This has been happening for eons.
One 3 days, 17 hours ago
No way, I can't believe it
Observer 3 days, 17 hours ago
They should sweep their own door steps, beginning at the White House.
CaptainCoon 3 days, 16 hours ago
This is what 50 years of DEI governance has gotten us! SAD!
ThisIsOurs 2 days, 20 hours ago
You dont know the meaning of DEI. You're just repeating a narrative from a racist who thinks black people Hispanics and women are inferior and the only possible way any could excel or be at the head of any institution is through some form of social promotion.
DEI is the reverse of what you intimate, it's why is this police investigations department dominated by low skilled white men when you have a harvard educated black man with a PhD in criminology and 25years of exemplary service solving cases relegated to the copy room? Is it because he's black?
The goal is to ensure that qualified people arent robbed of opportunities because of discrimination...
ExposedU2C 3 days, 13 hours ago
The above article is so poorly written that it seems intended to confuse readers. I therefore strongly encourage interested readers to visit the U.S. State Department's official website to read for themselves what is actually said about The Bahamas in the annual international narcotics control strategy report for 2025.
Secretary Rubio and his State Dept. leadership team likely now have The Bahamas squarely on their radar in ways not touched on by this somewhat dated report; ways that no doubt will much more appropriately address the national security concerns President Trump has about The Bahamas given both its close proximity to the southeastern border of the U.S. and the ever growing cosy relationship its corrupt current and former senior politicians have developed with the ChiComs.
rosiepi 3 days, 13 hours ago
The Bahamas reputation for drug trafficking and financial crimes has gotten worse under Davis&Co and as a banking center it would have seemed prudent for this same bunch of miscreants to walk their big talk of laws, acts, guidelines etc etc. For if there’s one thing Bahamians know- what the law says and what the laws does are two entirely different subjects!
tetelestai 23 hours, 37 minutes ago
This is just not true. No objective measure (FATF, OECD, WTI) scores us as worse - none. Hate the man and his politics is you must, but please don't spread untruths.
whatsup 3 days, 13 hours ago
Do we know the name of the politician involved in the drug deal last year? Or, just like everything else, just swept under the rug
birdiestrachan 3 days, 12 hours ago
Countries or people do not have todo any thing wrong but even if all things are done right and the USA says you are wrong then you are wrong they seem hell bent on going back to the days of slavery. It was in the 1960 when black people were not allowed to drink from the same faucets or ride in the Front of the bus they are bringing back old memories
ThisIsOurs 2 days, 20 hours ago
What does having the head of CDU on tape asking for a bribe to make a criminal case disappear have to do with race?
bogart 2 days, 14 hours ago
THE issue has to deal with the government 'lacks...political will" to crack down on the financial crimes. There are so many stories from Bahamians on so many fraudulent incidents which have been going around but are never resolved. Seems many of these alleged frauds are so egregious and blatently wrong, unethical and common sense obvious but seems authorities never to correct the obvious wrongs not wanting the bank to incur debt. Victims to have to find money for a lawyer to go up against the bank with deepest pockets and dragged on. Stacked up against the victim seems to be the continuous inability to have basic basic wrongs righted especially if there are connecting aiding and abetting forces with the dominating status quo aligned with the govt. versus the victims. Thank you for the article Mr. Hartnell and the Tribune.
bogart 3 days, 12 hours ago
Most professionals whose qualifications are tied to local and/or international agencies like Doctors and other professionals and even many local employer firms, are on being found breeching standards, are debarred, licenses revoked from doing activity.
However, in the Financial sector, it appears that apparent breeches and wrong doings are not exposed and seems the negative bearing situations obviously would be negative publicity for that institution and seems to have been going on for decades in the second largest industry in the Bahamas.
What is important and there should be for those financial employees being part of wrongs financial doings, to have a public notice of prohibiting those persons with their photographs that they are not authorized to engage in financial activities and not allowed to be re-employed at another financial institution.
bahamianson 3 days, 6 hours ago
Is the title from the 1970’s or is it a title for today?Asking for a friend.
bogart 2 days, 16 hours ago
From the 1970's it appears that the cocaine drug production has exploded despite eradication efforts and Columbia producing some 1,700 tons per year. Production of cocaine should have also increased in nearby countries.
Recent plane crash about short of 1 ton cocaine was mentioned of being valued some 15 million dollars. 1,700 tons should be some 25 billion dollars annually involved (excluding the other producing countries) Even if the illegal activity is hugely smaller there should be a lot of suitcases with cash outside of Columbia.
Given these huge increasing production of cocaine drugs production annually, there must be somewhere of where is the corresponding associated money?
birdiestrachan 2 days, 16 hours ago
NEIL see if you can up your game you are going very low
rosiepi 2 days, 7 hours ago
Goodness me! If the Bahamas only had the US financial crimes watch & anti-money laundering bodies to worry about!
We’ve squandered all our goodwill as usual, In 02/2020 we were at last off the EU’s non-cooperating countries tax watch followed by the French one in 03/2021 and by 12/2020 off the FAFT blacklist for money laundering & counter terrorism financing.
Davis&Co had reversed that accomplishment by 2022, somehow coming up with a “software glitch” (?) for their breaking the rules of conduct. Last year partial relief came but given this report, Davis&Co’s refusal to play by the rules or by international finance laws (and Bahamian!) and regulations.
This government is a very bad joke.
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