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The Bahamas - Corruption

According to Transparency International’s 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index, The Bahamas ranked 24/175 with a score of 71/100. The country was not listed in the 2015 index.

The government has laws to combat corruption of and by public officials but they appear to be inconsistently applied. Reports of corruption, including allegations of widespread patronage and the routine directing of contracts to party supporters and benefactors, have plagued the political system for decades.

In The Bahamas, giving a bribe to, or accepting a bribe from, a government official is a criminal act under the Prevention of Bribery Act. The penalty under this act is a fine of up to $10,000, or a maximum prison term of four years, or both. In October 2015, the government charged a former state energy-company board member under the Prevention of Bribery Act, the first significant case brought under the Act since 1989.

The procurement process was particularly susceptible to corruption, as it is opaque, contains no requirement to engage in open public tenders, and does not allow review of award decisions. In May 2016 a former state energy-company board member was convicted under the Prevention of Bribery Act, the first significant case brought under the act since 1989. In July 2016 he was sentenced to pay a fine of $14,000 and to make a payment of $221,000, equal to the amount of the bribe, within nine months to the electric company; the court determined that the noncustodial sentence was appropriate due to his ill health.

The Public Disclosure Act requires senior public officials, including senators and members of parliament, to declare their assets, income, and liabilities on an annual basis. The government publishes a summary of the individual declarations. There is no independent verification of the submitted data and the rate of annual submission is weak, except in election years.

As of April 2016, the government is engaged in public consultation regarding implementation of Freedom of Information legislation. The government has publicly committed to enacting new Freedom of Information Act legislation by the end of 2016.

The Government of the Bahamas does not, as a matter of government policy, encourage or facilitate illicit drug production or distribution, nor is it involved in laundering the proceeds of the sale of illicit drugs. No charges of drug-related corruption were filed against government officials in 2015.

The major sources of laundered proceeds are drug trafficking, firearms trafficking, gaming, and human smuggling. There is a black market for smuggled cigarettes and guns. Money laundering trends include the purchase of real estate, large vehicles, boats, and jewelry, as well as the processing of money through a complex web of legitimate businesses and IBCs registered in the offshore financial sector. Drug traffickers and other criminal organizations take advantage of the large number of IBCs and offshore banks registered in the Bahamas to launder money, despite CDD and transaction reporting requirements.

The Bahamas is not a significant drug producing country, but remains a transit point for illegal drugs bound for the United States and other international markets. The Bahamas’ close proximity to the coast of Florida, as well as its location on Caribbean transshipment routes, makes it a natural conduit for drug smuggling. The Bahamas’ 700 islands and cays, the vast majority of which are uninhabited, provide near-ideal conditions for smuggling. Smugglers readily blend in among numerous pleasure craft traveling throughout the Bahamian archipelago, which covers nearly 100,000 square nautical miles. Smuggling also occurs through commercial and private plane traffic; some smuggling continues by means of remote airfields and airdrops from South and Central America. Smuggling is enabled and accompanied by organized crime and gang activity.

Smugglers exploit the wide distribution of numerous islands and the high number of recreational vessels flowing through the Bahamas. Large loads are split up into smaller loads before entering the southern Bahamas, sometimes bypassing the customs station in Great Inagua, which is strategically located between the Turks and Caicos Islands, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Jamaica. Traffickers move cocaine through the Bahamas via “go-fast” boats, small commercial freighters, maritime shipping containers, and small aircraft. Small sport fishing vessels and pleasure craft move cocaine from the Bahamas to Florida by blending in with legitimate traffic that transits these areas. Larger “go-fast” and sport fishing vessels transport marijuana from Jamaica both to the Bahamas and through the Bahamas into Florida. Haitian and Haitian-Bahamian drug trafficking organizations, networked between Haiti and the significant Haitian diaspora in the Bahamas, continue to play a role in the movement of cocaine.