Recently released report details concerns

The United States government has slammed The Bahamas’ anticorruption laws, calling them “inconsistently applied” while attacking its track record on combating bribery and other forms of corruption. 

In its recently released 2020 investment climate report on The Bahamas, the American authorities questioned the country’s track record on anticorruption, amid what it says is a decades-old system of political patronage that has plagued the country.

The American government admitted that while The Bahamas has laws to combat corruption of and by public officials, they are “inconsistently applied”. 

“Reports of corruption, including allegations of widespread patronage, the routine directing of contracts to party supporters and benefactors and wealthy and/or politically connected foreign nationals and permanent residents receiving favourable treatment have plagued the political system for decades,” read a section of the report. 

While giving or receiving a bribe from a public official is a criminal offence under The Bahamas’ Prevention of Bribery Act, the US’s 2020 investment climate report on the island cited the October 2015 conviction of former Bahamas Electricity Corporation board member, Freddie Ramsey.

The report highlighted that this was the first such case since the legislation was enforced in 1989. 

Taxpayers, biggest losers to corruption in The Bahamas

“Bahamian taxpayers, though, are the biggest losers from such practices as they are consistently denied ‘value for money’ by contracts awarded to parties who may not be the ‘best bidder’,” the federal document stated.

“Such a ‘patronage’ system, which all Bahamians know exists, also undermines the creation of a meritocracy-based society, plus notions of fairness and social equity.”

The report pointed to the fact that the US Embassy in The Bahamas is aware of cases where the Bahamian government failed to respond to investment applications and several cases where there have been significant delays in the approvals process.

The US report stated that, “the absence of transparent investment procedures and legislation is also problematic. US and Bahamian companies alike report the resolution of business disputes often takes years and collection of amounts due can be difficult even after court judgments.” 

According to the report, “the Bahamian government does not have modern procurement legislation and companies have complained that the tender process for public contracts is not consistent and that it is difficult to obtain information on the status of bids.”

REPEATED CONCERNS OVER JUDICIAL SYSTEM

In response, the Bahamian government drafted a Public Procurement Bill in 2020 and launched an e-procurement and suppliers registry system to increase levels of accountability and transparency in governance.

However, repeated concerns were also expressed over the judicial system with the US government report saying, “in theory, contracts are legally enforced through the courts. However, there are many cases where local and foreign investors have civil disputes tied up in the court system for many years.” 

The report stated that “others have lost entire sums ranging from several hundred thousand to several million dollars due to fraud. In these instances, the court system has not been a viable option to recover their investments”.