By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Governance reformers yesterday said The Bahamas’ improved ranking and score from Transparency International must match “the story on the street” for this nation to beat long-standing corruption concerns.

Matt Aubry, the Organisation for Responsible Governance (ORG), told Tribune Business this nation’s improvement from 30th to 28th place in the annual Corruption Perceptions Index - while seemingly representing global recognition of The Bahamas’ efforts to combat graft - must align with the actual experience of Bahamian businesses and citizens on the ground.

Speaking after Transparency International also increased The Bahamas’ score by one to 65, so that this nation now ranks alongside the US, he added that this nation must “set its own course” in an increasingly turbulent world by pulling together all the Government, private sector and civil society initiatives, including legislative reforms, into a single co-ordinated “framework” to attack corruption in all its forms.

“That definitely is a good thing to here,” Mr Aubry told this newspaper of The Bahamas’ upgrade by Transparency International. “We’ve been talking about the concept of putting together a cross-section approach and, when we put all that framework down, we see a lot of things are happening....

“The Transparency International index is a good indicator but is not really telling the story on the street. We want to make sure the story on paper matches the story in the communities. We’re hoping this is an opportunity for Bahamians to understand how it’s being seen internationally but also tells a story about how to get where we want to be.”

Mr Aubry argued that ordinary Bahamians, as well as the private sector, need to feel the impact of anti-corruption reforms through the provision of opportunities that are awarded on the basis of merit and best person or company for the job rather than through a “pay to play” culture or political affiliations.

The Bahamas’ improvement, albeit modest, in Transparency International’s index means that the level of perceived corruption now matches that of the US given the latter’s significant year-over-year fall. Only Barbados, out of all Caribbean nations, has a lower graft perception than The Bahamas, and this nation ranks ahead of both South Korea and Israel, and just below the likes of France, Austria, the UK and Japan.

The Bahamas’ equal ‘corruption perceptions’ ranking with its giant northern neighbour came as Tribune Business uncovered a US government report asserting that “some” members of the Bahamian judiciary - who it did not identify - appear reluctant to tackle money laundering based on an October 2023 ruling that rejected this nation’s bid to seize $1.4bn linked to the Venezuelan state-owned oil firm, PDVSA.

The claim was made in the US State Department’s annual International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR) which, despite carrying a March 2024 publication date, was released much later. It alleged that the Bahamian Supreme Court rejected the police commissioner’s bid to seize these assets, which could have made a decent dent in The Bahamas’ $11.5bn national debt, despite allegedly being corruption proceeds. 

“The Supreme Court’s ruling against the Commissioner of Police in October 2023 in a $1.4bn civil forfeiture case demonstrated a reticence on the part of some members of the judiciary to address money laundering,” the US report alleged. 

“In this case, the commissioner of police froze, and attempted to recover, assets owned by a company affiliated with the sanctioned Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural gas company Petróleos de Venezuela S.A (PDVSA). The commissioner of police charged these assets had been obtained through, and used in connection with, unlawful conduct, namely corruption and money laundering.

“The Supreme Court was not persuaded by the evidence of the police commissioner’s financial investigators and forensic accounting expert, and found in favour of the defendant, who represented himself and his companies without any documentary evidence to support his allegation that the movement of vast amounts of money in seemingly suspicious circumstances was not money laundering but necessary to continue operating in the face of US-imposed sanctions.”

The validity of the US allegations is presently impossible to judge as the verdict to which the report refers has never been published by the Supreme Court via its website or any of the parties involved. It is possible the file was ‘sealed’ from public view by the Supreme Court, but the claims represent a thinly-veiled attack on Bahamian judges in a case with strong political overtones given the hostilities between the US and Venezuela.

Mr Aubry, meanwhile, said steps taken by The Bahamas to combat graft, are promoted locally, regionally and internationally by ORG as frequently as possible, though there is “a recognition that a lot more can be done” in this fight.

“There’s a lot of things happening in different spaces,” the ORG chief explained, implying that The Bahamas would fare better if these were all linked and pulled together as one. He added that the private sector was working to improve business ethics and practices, citing in particular efforts by the Bahamian Contractors Association (BCA) despite the continued absence of the Board to self-regulate that industry.

“We also see there are mechanisms in place around government that are being identified. Whether they are being fully leveraged remains to be seen. It also begs the question as to what’s the impact on the person on the street if we work more collaboratively. Will they have the day-to-day perception that the environment is more suitable, and that it has more integrity and more equity?” Mr Aubry told Tribune Business.

“Ultimately, we’ve made the case that a system which is more accountable and more transparent builds greater trust, and builds more economic confidence both locally and for foreign direct investment (FDI) perceptions.

“We want people to invest in their local economy, build small businesses into mid-sized businesses, and bring informal businesses into formal businesses. A lot of that is based on the belief that opportunities out there lie on merit and the best offer, not on political affiliation or a ‘pay to play’ culture.”

Mr Aubry said “leveraging” fully implemented anti-corruption legislation with private sector initiatives can generate “some real uplifting benefits”. He pointed to the potentially greater transparency ushered in by the Public Procurement Act’s mandate that all contracts awards by the Government be published within 60 days - a legal requirement that the Government has been getting close to meeting.

Full implementation of the Freedom of Information Act and the Ombudsman’s office, the latter of which will help to address public grievances over maladministration by public bodies, were other parts of the anti-corruption puzzle identified by Mr Aubry along with a reformed Public Disclosures Act and the new Independent Commission of Investigations Bill.

“All of these start to set a very sophisticated framework,” he added, “but they have to work collectively and work in concert so that the overall framework becomes one of the tools and opportunities for us to really monitor and track how things are going, and what needs to be done.”

While the improvement in external perceptions of corruption in The Bahamas was important, especially because we “haven’t seen movement in a long time”, the ORG chief said it could also “reflect the challenges of the world today” from reduced trust in government generally coupled with the rise of autocratic, authoritarian regimes.

“We have to do what we can to set our own course, track and certainly a plan for how we move through. The world is a complex space,” Mr Aubry said, adding that an “inclusive and equitable economy” and ensuring Bahamian citizens “have a space in governance” will be key.

Transparency International’s corruption perceptions index ranked Denmark as the global leader, with a score of 90, followed by Finland and Singapore in second and third spots, respectively, at 88 and 85. The Bahamas retained a spot in the top one-sixth of 180 ranked nations, thus placing it among those who are perceived by outsiders as having less corruption and graft than the majority.