It looks like the crooked lawyers and politicians in the Bahamas have gone too far, for too long. Several groups of disgruntled foreigners, teaming up with Bahamians who have had their fill of a corrupt government, are about to take actions that may quickly and decisively destroy the economy of the rogue island nation.
One such attack will come from a man who has been jacked around and ripped off by virtually every senior level Bahamian politician, as well as the entire corrupt Bahamian legal community.
Mr. Harald Fuhrmann, a German investor who really has gotten the shaft from the Bahamas, is set to embark on a “Battlebus” campaign to take his story to the United States public. The same public that the Bahamas depends upon entirely for their economic survival.
Mr. Fuhrmann will be driving a converted mobile home, plastered with anti-Bahamas slogans, down the east coast of the United States, hitting all the major cities from Boston to Miami. He will be passing out fliers promoting his various anti-Bahamas websites, of which he has created over 30.
It is expected that the campaign will cost the Bahamas millions of dollars in lost investments and tourism business.
“Rightfully so”, Mr. Fuhrmann says. “I will be promoting the country as one of casinos, crime and corruption,” he added.
“Americans have to know how they will be treated if they buy property here,” he said yesterday. “If you buy a house here, you will only have problems. You will be overcharged for everything and you will get no redress from the courts, which are anti-foreign in their attitudes.
“You get the feeling in the Bahamas that the black rulers want to punish white people for the sins of the past. Even younger people are taking that same message on board. The country is not progressing.”
Mr. Fuhrmann joins foreign investors like the Korean boat owners, the Inagua fish farm investor and many, many others who have been fleeced in the Bahamas on business and real estate deals.
Recently, there has been talk that one of the companies, vying for government approval to build an LNG plant, is getting the run-around. Insiders say the powers that be have already made a decision but want to drum up more legal fees for members of the Bahamian legal community, before they dismiss the company’s proposal.
It is not understood why the Bahamian public allows their government to act the way they do. Some say it is fear, others say the entire country is criminally-minded. But, for the government of the Bahamas to have NOT addressed Mr. Fuhrmann’s very real complaints all but proves there is a legal conspiracy against him, and foreign investors in general.
Other groups are getting their ammunition ready and it is expected to be a long hot summer in the Bahamas, as group after group plans to launch attacks on the corrupt nation.
Kathleen Dwyer, an American who was assaulted by a Bahamian fashion designer in the Bahamas, is also having tremendous problems getting her Bahamian attacker brought to justice. She has appeared numerous times in court, flying at her own expense from the US for each court appearance. Every time she appears, the case is adjourned, forcing her to incur additional expenses to appear in court for the adjournment date. It is a truly shocking abuse of the legal process.
Then, there are the Gallaghers, whose little boy Paul Jr. was killed on Paradise Island when a powerboat, owned by an unlicensed and uninsured operator (who is still conducting business), spun out of control and ran over the toddler who was laying with his parents on the Paradise Island beach.
According to the London media, the Gallaghers are hoping to have The Bahamas expelled from the Commonwealth, claiming that they are receiving no help from Bahamian authorities or the Atlantis Resort, where the family stayed when the accident occurred.
The Gallaghers actually want the investigation into their sonﾴs death reopened and the water sports company involved sanctioned. Unfortunately, the Bahamas government is stonewalling them and will neither investigate the incident, nor will they allow the family access to Bahamian courts.
To add salt to the family’s wounds, Mr. Russell Dames, a Bahamas government employee who writes for Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell’s website, bahamasuncensored.com, has basically dismissed the family, saying, “Campaigning to bring redress over the death of a son is one thing but to go to the ridiculous, we cannot accept.” What is ridiculous is the callous and irresponsible attitude of the Bahamas government in this unfortunate situation.
Another case of foreign legal abuse revolves around the gruesome mutilation and murder of a woman in Cat Island. Mrs. Carol Meredith, a 49-year-old American resident, was discovered by police in her own home with a slit throat last October. A man was apparently arrested for the crime but the case has literally disappeared from the court’s schedule. Family members from the US are trying to get justice but, so far, they can’t even get information on the case.
Bahamians are warned to take a higher interest in these and other similar cases before a handful of corrupt attorneys and politicians destroy their country and its economy.
This nearly happened in the late 1980’s, when the government of the Bahamas was found to be actively enagaged in drug dealing and the nation earned the reputation as a “nation for sale”. It should be noted that many of the same individuals who were in power then, are in power now. Today’s Bahamas government is allegedly involved in both drug smuggling and human cargo smuggling, as well as rampant money laundering.
It is apparent that only outside pressure will force the government of the Bahamas to act in a socially and legally responsible manner. People around the world are called upon to help pressure the citizens of the Bahamas to remove the criminals from their government and upper echelons of society, before they lose everything they have worked for.
Unfortunately, too many Bahamians are “in bed” with the crooked lawyers and politicians. So many Bahamians benefit (even indirectly) from corruption, that it may be that the entire country is guilty by association. It appears that crime and corruption are the very fabric and foundation of Bahamian society.
Some Bahamians feel they are immune to these concerns because the Bahamas is a sovereign nation. Little do these people know that complaints are being prepared to have the Bahamas removed from the United Nations for failing to abide by the numeorus agreements and conventions the country has signed on to, particularily those that deal with the discrimination of women and copyright violations. It isn’t just a matter of the Bahamas not living up to their commitments, it is a matter of fraud, with Bahamas government officials underhandedly signing documents and treaties they have no intention of honouring.
