Bahamian Opposition legislator, Adrian Gibson, has been granted US$150,000 bail after he appeared in court on Monday on charges of abuse of power while he served as executive chairman of the Water and Sewerage Corporation.
However, Gibson, 37, an attorney, and six other defendants, were all remanded into custody until their bail is signed
Gibson who appeared before Assistant Chief Magistrate Carolyn Vogt-Evan faces a total of 56 counts on allegations that he failed to declare his interest in contracts awarded by the corporation.
Adrian Gibson faced 31 of his 56 charges alone, while together with the remaining six accused, faced a combined total of 101 charges.
Prosecutors allege that Gibson gained a financial advantage of more than one million US dollars from contracts granted to a maintenance and restoration company and he laundered the illicitly obtained funds by purchasing properties and vehicles.
Gibson was not required to plead to the charges.
The prosecution also alleges that the opposition legislator, who served as chairman of the utility company during the term in the office of Prime Minister Hubert Minnis, was aided by Elwood Donaldson, the corporation’s former general manager; his cousin, Rashae Gibson; his campaign general Joan Knowles; Jerome Missick, Tonya Demeritte and Peaches Farquharson.
The charges range from false declaration, bribery, fraud, receiving and money laundering.
All the accused were informed that their case will be heard in the Supreme Court.
Under the conditions of bail, all the accused are required to sign in at the nearest police station every Friday.
In the last five years, momentum has been building against corruption in Latin America and the Caribbean. High-level politicians were found guilty of corruption in Guatemala and Brazil, and a wave of legal action against the perpetrators of grand corruption swept across the continent.
The 10th edition of the Global Corruption Barometer – Latin America and the Caribbean shows that most citizens think their governments are not doing enough to tackle corruption and that corruption levels have increased in the past 12 months across the region.
CMC/
