Free National Movement Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis claimed in the House of Assembly yesterday that a local numbers house could be working as a money laundering service for an alleged criminal group from West Africa. "Because of the [lack of regulation], what happens, I am told, is that one of the web shops here has connectivity with West Africa, meaning that individuals in West Africa can deposit money in their banking system, millions of dollars, which can surface through our system - terrorist money, drug money," said Minnis during debate on the Constitutional Referendum Amendment Bill. "Do you want The Bahamas to be known as the laundering banking system of the world?"

Minnis gave no evidence to substantiate his claims yesterday. The Killarney MP, who previously told The Nassau Guardian he would vote in favor of legalizing numbers houses, told the House of Assembly that illegal web shops were performing unregulated banking operations that threatened jobs in the commercial banking sector. "Monies are moved through our system directly into the [Turks and Caicos Islands] and others. We have laws on the books today which should be implemented now to stop the destruction of the middle class, so as to stop the criminality," he said.

"They [web shops] are involved in casinos," Minnis told Parliament. "They have more casino machines and games than Atlantis. They raffle houses, $25,000 in cash, they raffle SUVs but they don't obtain any license to do any of this. "But what is most important to the Bahamian society is there is an underground banking system within these web shops. They have ATM machines; you can go in, these are totally unregulated, you can deposit your money there, you can obtain money. "They have an underground banking system where you can borrow money with [a lower] interest rate than our regulated banking system.

What they are doing is placing our regulated banking system in danger, so that what happens is all those middle-class individuals who work in our regulated banking system are at risk for losing their jobs because the regulated banking system will be under severe pressure." He urged the government to enforce existing financial laws to crack down on unregulated practices in the sector and not wait for the outcome of the January 28 referendum on gambling. FNM Deputy Leader Loretta Butler-Turner lambasted the government for being unprepared over the legal framework for the upcoming gambling referendum.

Butler-Turner questioned how Prime Minister Perry Christie and the lawyers in his Cabinet could come to Parliament weeks ago with no mention of legislation needed to facilitate the gambling vote only to return with an ammendment meant to pave the way for the referendum. "Three weeks ago, all of these learned attorneys. . .sat around the table with our dear prime minister and allowed him to come to this place to present a bogus proposition to the Bahamian people on a referendum which could not have taken place," she said.

Butler-Turner added that it was not the opposition's intent to deny people a right to gamble but to ensure that the country's laws can withstand the scrutiny of judicial review. "The government is proposing a bill of amendments to cover up its widespread incompetence on this whole referendum mess that the country finds itself in today - because of the failed leadership on that side," the Long Island MP said. "Once again, the side opposite has brought before Parliament ill-crafted, ill-advised, poorly thought out legislation that may not at this point withstand judicial scrutiny and review. The urgency that they have placed on this exercise, in my opinion, will undermine the premise, the principles, the values and the proper functioning of our democracy."

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