The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Web shops have provided no evidence for their “bold assertion” that they are in compliance with the Business Licence Act, the Government alleging they “openly admitted, on numerous occasions and platforms”, to being involved in illegal gambling.

Drawing on numerous sources to support the Government’s argument that the Supreme Court should not grant an injunction preventing a web shop industry shut-down, Deirdre Clarke-Maycock, an attorney with the Attorney General’s Office, said the Bahamian public’s interest would be “irreparably harmed” if this happened.

Noting that the companies - FML, Paradise Games, Percy’s Web Cafe, Island Luck, Whatfall, Asue Draw and Chances Internet Services - claimed to collectively operate 134 web shops, Ms Clarke-Maycock said there were only “a limited number of provisions”in the Business Licence Act that a company had to comply with.

Effectively dismissing as insignificant the web shop industry’s assertion that it was in compliance with the Business Licence Act, she alleged that a Ministry of Finance official, Joseph Mullings, was unable to confirm whether this was so.

“I note, however, that the [web shops] have not adduced any substantiating evidence to support the bald assertion that they are in compliance with the Business Licence Act, except for the exhibiting by Paradise Games of licences for 17 of the 26 web shops it claims to own,” Ms Clarke-Maycock alleged

While the Paradise Games business licences variously described them as web cafes, Internet cafes and restaurant and bars, the government attorney said these descriptions applied to companies “where the primary purpose of the premises is to provide facilities for enabling members of the public to access the Internet, although they may also provide for related services such as web design, computer accessories and supplies”.

Ms Clarke-Maycock, though, alleged that she had accumulated evidence showing that the seven companies were breaching the Lotteries and Gaming Act, and engaging in activities not permitted by their Business Licences.

Drawing on numerous public statements by the web shop operators, Ms Clarke-Maycock alleged: “It is clear that the various plaintiffs have openly admitted, on numerous occasions and on various platforms, that their business involves gambling, and that what is offered is inter alia the numbers game, as contemplated in the Lotteries and Gaming Act.”

This, she added, breached the law. As for the claims that the web shop industry had ‘a legitimate expectation’ that their business operations would not be interfered with by law enforcement, as a result of 2010 talks with the Ministry of Finance, the attorney said there was no evidence to support this.

Ms Clarke-Maycock alleged that no “unambiguous representation” was made to the industry that police raids would cease, or that it would be licensed, regulated and taxed.

“Even if a representation had been made to suspend the enforcement of any laws, it could not have been competently made, as the executive [the Government] has no power to suspend or otherwise dispense with the execution of a law, save under express statutory authority,” Ms Clarke-Maycock alleged.

She added that action had previously been taken to close down web shops, referencing the police raid on one FML location that resulted in the seizure of $834,639.

Ms Clarke-Maycock also alleged that the web shop operators had not detailed the financial losses they would suffer if an injunction was not granted, nor that they would “suffer irreparable harm” if this was not forthcoming.

And, if the Supreme Court did grant the industry the injunction it was seeking, she alleged: “The effect of granting an interlocutory injunction would interfere with the police in the execution of their statutory powers, in particular their power to enforce the prevailing laws, as a result of which the public interest would suffer irreparable harm.”