A local news tabloid reports that officials in the United States are reportedly concerned that Prime Minister Perry Christie has been entertaining the operators of illegal gambling webshops at his office.
Even staff members at the Office of The Prime Minister were shocked to see the numbers kingpins at Christie’s office at the Cecil Wallace-Whitfield building on West Bay Street.
Two of the illegal numbers rackets kingpins are soon to be the subject of extradition efforts by the United States. Both are allegedly suspected of money laundering and people smuggling.
It is also alleged that the PLP received huge election campaign cash donations from numbers bosses in return for “certain favours” if the PLP won power. Coincidentally, one of Mr Christie’s first announcements after winning the election was that he would hold a referendum on legalizing the numbers racket.
The Bahamas’ leading website, BahamasB2B.com published a recent blog article dealing with the legalization of the numbers racket, pointing out that it is unlikely that the criminals behind the racket would change their evil ways just because their source of income was legitimized. It is expected that profits from a legalized lottery would be used to fund additional cirminal ventures, most notably people smuggling, which is a big business in The Bahamas.
