By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamian political system is “beleaguered by reports of corruption”, a newly-released US government report has asserted, singling out what it labelled as “small scale ‘bribes of convenience’”.

The US Trade Representative’s Office, in its latest report on The Bahamas and other Caribbean nations that benefit from the Caribbean Basin Initiative’s (CBI) one-way trade preferences, became the latest Federal government agency to raise concerns about conflicts of interest in the awarding of government contracts and systemic “patronage” in this nation’s governance system.

“The Bahamas has national anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws in place, including criminal penalties for corruption by public officials, including a fine of up to $10,000, a prison term of up to four years, or both,” the US Trade Representative’s report submitted to Congress said.

“However, there was limited enforcement of conflicts of interest related to government contracts and isolated reports of officials engaged in corrupt practices, including by accepting small-scale ‘bribes of convenience’.

“The political system is beleaguered by reports of corruption, including allegations of widespread patronage, the routine directing of contracts to political supporters, and favourable treatment for wealthy or politically connected individuals.”

Again, no specific incidents or individuals were cited by the US report. And it did acknowledge that the Government had passed a Public Procurement Act, which took effect on September 1, 2021, as a measure to address many of the concerns previously raised by US companies and contractors.

“US and domestic companies have reported perceived corruption in government procurement and in the FDI (foreign direct investment) approvals process as obstacles. These companies complain the tender process for public contracts is inconsistent, and it is difficult to obtain information on the status of bids,” the report added.

“To increase levels of accountability and transparency, the Government launched an e-procurement and suppliers registry system in 2019, and passed a Public Procurement Bill in March 2021. The Public Procurement Bill will be fully enacted on September 1, 2021, and will overhaul the government contracting process. The Government promotes the legislation as ‘a standard bearer of modern, progressive procurement standards’.”

Some $56.751m, or 73 percent, of The Bahamas’ total $77.598m exports to the US in 2020 entered while enjoying the CBI’s tariff free preferences. Much of this will be the polystyrene beads exported by Freeport-based Polymers International.

Meanwhile, The Bahamas’ imports from the US were down by 8.3 percent year-over-year for the first eight months of 2021, standing at $1.586bn for the period to end-August as opposed to $1.728bn for the same timeline in 2020 when COVID-19 was at its peak. This represented a decline of just under $150m worth of goods.

However, The Bahamas’ 2020 full-year imports from the US showed how much trade reduced during COVID-19. They fell from $3.2bn in 2019 to $2.574bn in 2020, a drop of more than $600m.

The contents of the report US Trade Representative’s Office echo the concerns detailed in the State Department’s annual investment climate statement on The Bahamas and all other nations. Given the frequency with which these accusations are made, it could be argued that this nation is making little headway in addressing concerns regarding the level and presence of government graft.

“The government has laws to combat corruption among public officials, but they have been inconsistently applied,” the US Investment Climate report on The Bahamas said. “The law provides criminal penalties for corruption by public officials, and the government generally implemented the law effectively.

Noting that there was no “independent verification” of the asset/wealth declarations submitted by MPs and Senators under the Public Disclosures Act, the report added that the process also lacked transparency because no summary of these declarations was made public.

“The campaign finance system remains largely unregulated, with few safeguards against quid pro quo donations, creating a vulnerability to corruption and foreign influence. The procurement process also remains susceptible to corruption, as it contains no requirement to engage in open public tenders, although the government routinely did so,” it said, noting that the Public Procurement Act is due to be implemented in early September.

“According to Transparency International’s 2020 Corruption Perceptions Index, The Bahamas ranked 30 out of 180 countries with a score of 63 out of 100. There are no protections for NGOs (non-governmental organisations) involved in investigating corruption. U.S firms have identified corruption as an obstacle to FDI and have reported perceived corruption in government procurement and in the FDI (foreign direct investment) approvals process.”