There is the well-known and well-practiced Perry Christie shuffle, which exemplifies a certain history of the PLP. An eccentric, highly controversial foreigner using The Bahamas as a base of activities and seeking to expand his influence in the country claims to donate millions to the PLP under Christie's leadership for the party's election campaign.

After the disclosure of significant campaign contributions, Christie fulminates, screams and shouts about his integrity and insists that there is no quid pro quo for the money received from the non-Bahamian individuals.

Why Christie, who aggressively boasts of his integrity and character, would be involved with certain questionable characters with fraught reputations is perplexing and curious.

After explosive allegations, Christie vigorously defends his reputation, promising financial accountability and transparency. Then he utterly fails to live up to his word. He utterly fails to detail the funds given to the PLP by certain big donors who are known for wanting special favors. Why does Christie not live up to his word in providing details he promised?

Recall Christie's promise to disclose how much money Mohammed Harajchi gave the PLP. Recall too his promise to say how much Peter Nygard gave the PLP. In a sworn affidavit Nygard stated that he gave the PLP $5 million. Was he promised a favor? And by whom?

Each man claimed to have given the PLP millions. Christie has never given a full accounting. Why has he failed to do so? Why is the self-proclaimed democrat so mum in giving the figures after promising to do so?

While avoiding answers to serious allegations, Christie and his team counterattack with various charges in an attempt to muddy the waters and to avoid a full disclosure of the facts. But the questions remain: How much money have Harajchi and Nygard given the PLP? No obfuscation, no counterattack, prime minister: How much money did the party receive from these men?

Explosive
Explosive new material, including purported video and audio material, about Nygard's relationship with Christie and the PLP raise even more questions about impropriety at the highest levels of government.

A October 24, 2014 story by Neil Hartnell in The Tribune reads: "Prime Minister Perry Christie and government officials have been videotaped meeting Peter Nygard at his Lyford Cay home and discussed construction activities at the property -- the same activities that are being challenged as unlawful in two separate court actions."

Nygard's purported taped comments about Christie and various PLP ministers are alarming and unseemly, leaving many scratching their heads as to why the PLP would be so closely aligned with such a man. Labor Minister Shane Gibson appears to have a close relationship with Nygard.

Recall the visit of several PLP ministers traipsing out to Nygard's estate. Christie's cavalier reaction was that "the young fellows" deserved to enjoy themselves. When Nygard received an award from Jones Communications Network, Christie was effusive and gushing in his praise of the former. He lavished praise on Nygard for his assistance with stem cell legislation, much of which the businessman claimed to have written, a boast Christie denied.

Like the days of piracy and wrecking, the PLP seems to have a particular talent for entertaining and fleecing foreigners. Buyers beware.

Back in the 1960s there was Mike McLaney beseeching a casino licence, which was faithfully promised to him by Sir Lynden Pindling - apparently without the knowledge of his colleagues - were the PLP to win office. Having given the party electoral support which, according to a New York Times story included "cash, aircraft, boats, and a campaign headquarters on Bay Street", McLaney eagerly anticipated a licence.

Though having described the PLP as being in his "ass pocket", relations soured between Sir Lynden and McLaney as the latter's reputation became better known. Sir Lynden eventually refused to meet with McLaney, who was subsequently labelled as a dangerous and undesirable person by a Commission of Inquiry.

Discrepancy
Milked and bilked, McLaney left town broke, without a licence. At the inquiry there was a discrepancy in the competing testimonies of the amount McLaney said he donated to the PLP, and the amount Sir Lynden said he received. Sounds familiar? Perhaps the old and the new PLP aren't so different.

Then there was the fugitive U.S. financier Robert Vesco. Vesco fled the U.S. in 1973 to escape a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation concerning an alleged massive fraud by the financier estimated today at more than $1 billion. Vesco was fleeced by various PLP associates and then fled the country to avoid being handed over to U.S. authorities after his shearers were done with him.

The PLP is particularly disposed to strategic loans, fees, donations and purported investments from certain parties, domestic and foreign.

Among the worst were foreign drug lords, who seemingly had near carte blanche from the Pindling-led PLP government during the 1970s and 80s, making the Bahamas a "Nation for Sale", a ruinous period from which we have still not recovered.

Fleeing Nicaragua in 1979 after being ousted as its strongman, Anastasio Somoza Debayle ended up in The Bahamas. On a yacht in the Exumas, he met with a well-known PLP and Sir Lynden Pindling crony, who reportedly secured a sum of money in cash purportedly for certain favors. Somoza was fleeced and then kicked out of the country.

On Christie's watch there was the likes of Harajchi, an Iranian businessman, who desperately wanted the restoration of a bank licence from the PLP, but which was never granted. Harajchi claimed that he gave a substantial sum to the PLP for the 2002 general election. In response to Harajchi's claims, Christie made one of those solemn, passionate and supposedly high-principled declarations for which he is famous. He said his party did not receive as much as $10 million from Harajchi.

"It was nowhere near this amount. It was but a fraction of this amount. Details of our accounting will be made public once completed. Ordinarily we would not disclose the source of campaign contributions but as Mr. Harajchi has made this a public issue we are obliged to present the detailed facts concerning his contributions as indeed we will do as soon as possible."

Unfulfilled
This promise was made by Christie on August 12, 2004, almost 12 years ago and remains unfulfilled.  Again, it follows a pattern: A heated denial, a promise of full accountability, followed by absolutely nothing, all of which calls into question the prime minister's credibility.

In 2013 this columnist wrote: "...The Nygard matter has many more chapters. It is like a volcano that will spew all manner of material. Christie may well come to regret his effusive and gushing accolades to Nygard."

The volcano is erupting with considerable force.

The Nygard matter capsulizes and crystallizes a widely held perception about the PLP. But the PLP no longer seems to care. Some PLPs are brazen and cavalier about their corruption. Sadly, they have lost a sense of shame. Many of them no longer give a damn about how they are perceived. We have sunk this low, reminiscent of the drug-fueled corruption era of Pindling.

The infamous You Tube sensation of a few years back of Nygard boasting about having taken The Bahamas back was one in a series of disturbing moments in his relationship to the country.

The video showcased the hubris, narcissism and self-indulgence of a character who has rightly earned the disgust of many Bahamians. Given that Christie rejects claims made by Nygard, the prime minister should sue him.

Those political figures who afforded Nygard a red carpet and a Junkanoo rush-out, and who socialized with him or who accepted money from him may be as self-injected with hubris as is the foreign eccentric who continues to soil the country's name. This may include some FNM members and leaders, who may have also gone trolling for Nygard's money.

The PLP loves to boast about being ultranationalists. Yet through much of its history it has done severe damage to our national interests and good name in collaboration with unsavory foreigners. It is more than hypocrisy. It is a pathology of hubris and an extreme sense of entitlement.

o frontporchguardian@gmail.com, www.bahamapundit.com.

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