Donville Innis a former minister in the government of Barbados has been criminally charged in the United States with laundering bribes he received from a Barbadian insurance company, federal prosecutors said on Monday. Inniss formerly served as minister of industry in Barbados and as a member of the Caribbean nation’s Parliament. He was arrested on Friday in Florida and was released on bail after appearing in federal court there on Monday.
Mr. Inniss was charged with money laundering and conspiracy in an indictment in Brooklyn federal court.The indictment says that in 2015 and 2016, Inniss engaged in a scheme to take about $36,000 in bribes from high-level executives of an unnamed Barbadian insurance company. In exchange, it is alleged, Inniss used his position as minister of industry to help the insurer secure two government contracts. It is alleged that concealed the nature of the bribes by receiving them through a dental company and a bank located in Elmont, New York, under the guise of payments for consulting services.
Inniss was a legal permanent resident of the United States, living in Florida and Barbados at the time of the payments.
