While Free National Movement (FNM) Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis applauded the government for postponing the controversial gambling referendum, he said that in the interest of transparency both parties should disclose their campaign donors, and added that there remains much uncertainty surrounding the January 28 vote.
“We would confidently expect the same forthrightness from the governing party. It is critically important that it is made abundantly clear to every Bahamian that whatever the government proposes to do in connection with web shops, it does so with clean hands.”
In September, former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham told The Nassau Guardian that some of the FNM’s general election candidates accepted campaign donations from numbers houses.
However, Ingraham said the FNM itself did not accept money from any web shops and that he would not have allowed the party to take any funds from numbers house operators.
At a press conference on Tuesday night, Prime Minister Perry Christie said he will not disclose any donors to his party’s recent election campaign as donors expect anonymity.
He also denied accusations that he is pushing through the gambling referendum to pay back web shop bosses alleged to have funded his campaign.
