Bahamas News

Troubled Czech financier Viktor Kozeny was ordered extradited to the US on corruption charges as ordered by the courts.

Magistrate Carolita Bethel yesterday handed down her ruling in the year - long case that has garnered international media attention from his home country and the U S, which has been lobbying for his return there for years. Kozeny was remanded to Her Majesty’s Prison on October 2005. He is wanted in the U S to face a long list of charges related to million dollar money laundering and fraud scams. He was not charged, but indicted on October 2, 2003 with grand larceny. The indictment stemmed from a 2002 case where he allegedly defrauded clients of New York Company Omega Advisors Inc. of $182 million in his dealings in Azerbaijan in 1998. He could face 25 years in prison in the US.
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Bahamian officials yesterday said they were still awaiting the official results of Daniel Smith’s toxicology tests, despite reports out of the US that the son of Anna Nicole Smith had died of a combination of different drugs.

Chief Magistrate Roger Gomez told The Nassau Guardian yesterday that he was aware of an American pathologist’s findings that the combination of two anti-depressant drugs and methadone, a pain reliever, contributed to the death of Mr Smith.
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Supreme Court Justice John Lyons told the attorney for alleged drug kingpin Samuel “Ninety” Knowles on Thursday that “the game is over” and the attempt to have him brought back to The Bahamas could possibly create a “laughing stock” of the country’s judicial process.

Knowles was recently at the centre of a public furor after government officials extradited him to the United States to face drug related charges. He was extradited despite the fact that a hearing was pending in the Supreme Court.
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Errol Bain, a Mount Moriah constituent, told The Bahama Journal on Thursday he teaches his two young sons about how to resolve conflicts.

It’s why, he said, he was particularly outraged when he heard reports that his MP, Keod Smith, was involved in a fistfight with Kennedy MP Kenyatta Gibson at the Cabinet Office Monday night.
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An Inter American Development Bank [IDB] consultant is continuing to work with energy officials and special interest groups to help the government craft a National Energy Policy, considered one of the most important projects for The Bahamas.

Volatile oil prices represent a continued threat to stabilizing the cost of doing business in The Bahamas. Rising international oil prices this year caused a 55.6 percent upsurge in the value of oil imports and not because the volume increased, but the cost of the commodity.
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New findings that Daniel Smith apparently died from a drug overdose do not appear to have moved Bahamian authorities any closer to deciding that an inquest is necessary into the sudden death of the son of American celebrity Anna Nicole Smith.

They say they will continue to await the results of toxicology and histopathology reports ordered by Bahamas forensic pathologist Dr. Govinda Raju before deciding whether to hold an inquest.
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On remote Cowpen Road in southwestern New Providence, an eatery; a row of townhouses and apartment units; and quaint houses line the thoroughfare in place of what was once an overgrown mass of vegetation.

The southernmost part of Baillou Hill Road that runs perpendicular to Cowpen has a similar story. Over the last three years, the urban sprawl has lead to the area’s relatively quick development inclusive of a sports bar, mini markets and commercial complexes.
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Financial services professionals who are eager to see enacted the proposed amendment to two key pieces of legislation that govern the sector shared the benefit of their expertise with legislators this week, identifying the critical areas likely to benefit from the intended strengthened policies.

The government has promised to soon bring the bills to Parliament for debate and ultimately passage.
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Both houses of the U.S. Congress are expected to vote by the end of the week on a proposition to extend the deadline for the use of passports for travelers re-entering the United States from The Bahamas, the Caribbean region, Mexico and Canada.

The new proposal seeks to introduce the U.S. border protection measure in June 2009 rather than the January 1, 2007 date that had been envisioned for The Bahamas part of the plan. It would be the second delay in the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, if approved.
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Unreconciled accounts, missing inventory and discrepancies appeared to mark the National Emergency Management Agency’s [NEMA’s] accounting of the finances and construction materials that were donated and purchased for the reconstruction effort in the aftermath of the devastating twin storms Frances and Jeanne in September 2004, according to a Compilation Report completed by accounting firm Deloitte & Touche.

The report was contained in the Unaudited Financial Statements of the Bahamas National Disaster Relief and Recovery Fund created by the government to support recovery efforts following national disasters.
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