Former Barbados government minister charged in the US

A Former Member of the Barbados Parliament has been indicted for money laundering in the US.

A three-count indictment was unsealed today in federal court in Brooklyn charging Donville Inniss, a former member of the Parliament of Barbados and the Minister of Industry, International Business, Commerce and Small Business Development of Barbados, with conspiracy to launder money and money laundering.

The charges stem from Inniss’ alleged acceptance of bribes from a Barbadian insurance company in 2015 and 2016 when he was a public official. Inniss was arrested on Friday and was arraigned yesterday before United States Magistrate Judge Julie Sneed in the Middle District of Florida at the federal courthouse in Tampa. Inniss was released on a US$50,000 bond.

Richard P. Donoghue, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Brian A. Benczkowski, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, and William F. Sweeney, Jr., Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), announced the indictment.

Donville Inniss, a former member of the Parliament of Barbados and the Minister of Industry, International Business, Commerce and Small Business Development of Barbados

According to the indictment, between August 2015 and April 2016, Inniss engaged in a scheme to accept approximately US$36,000 in bribes from high-level executives of an insurance company headquartered in Barbados (“the Barbados Company”) and laundered that money through the United States. In exchange for the bribes, Inniss leveraged his position as the Minister of Industry to enable the Barbados Company to obtain two government contracts. Inniss concealed the bribes by arranging to receive them through a dental company and a bank located in Elmont, New York. Barbados Company executives transferred the funds to the dental company using an invoice falsely claiming that the payments were for consultancy services. During the time of the charged conspiracy, Inniss was a legal, permanent resident of the United States residing in Tampa, Florida and Barbados.

“As charged in the indictment, Inniss abused his position of trust as a government official by taking bribes from a Barbadian company, then laundered the illicit funds through a bank and a dental company located in the Eastern District of New York,” stated United States Attorney Donoghue. “The Department of Justice will continue to hold accountable corrupt government officials here or abroad who use the U.S. financial system to facilitate their criminal conduct.”

The charges in the indictment are merely allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Assistant United States Attorney Sylvia Shweder of the Eastern District of New York’s Business and Securities Fraud Section, and Trial Attorney Gerald M. Moody, Jr., of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, are in charge of the prosecution.

Inniss was a senior minister in the Democratic Labour Party government which suffered an embarrassing white wash in the May 24 general elections this year. He was also tipped as a front-runner for leadership of the party.