Barbadian ex-minister arrested in US on money laundering charges

Former Barbadian government minister, Donville Inniss has been arrested and charged in the United States with money laundering offences.

Inniss, a former member of parliament and former Minister of Industry, International Business, Commerce and Small Business Development was arrested and charged with three counts of conspiracy to launder money and money laundering.

The three-count indictment against the 52-year-old ex-politician was unsealed today in a federal court in Brooklyn.

The US Department of Justice says the charges stem from Inniss’ acceptance of bribes from a Barbadian insurance company in 2015 and 2016 when he was a public official.

Inniss was arrested Friday and on Monday appeared before United States Magistrate Judge Julie Sneed in the Middle District of Florida at the federal courthouse in Tampa.

He was released on bail in the sum of US$50,000.

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.

He is alleged to have laundered the money through the United States.

In exchange for the bribes, Inniss allegedly used his position as the Minister of Industry to help the Barbadian company obtain two government contracts.

Inniss reportedly hid the bribes by arranging to receive them through a dental company and a bank located in Elmont, New York.

The Barbados company executives are said to have transferred the funds to the dental company using an invoice falsely claiming that the payments were for consulting services.

At the time of the transactions, Inniss was a legal permanent resident of the United States residing in Tampa, Florida and Barbados.

“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," said Richard P. Donoghue, United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

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