US court imposes US$7 000 fine on convicted ex-ICBL chief Innes

A former chief executive of the Insurance Corporation of Barbados Limited has been sentenced to time served and fined US$7 000 after pleading guilty in a US federal court over her role in a bribery scheme involving former government minister Donville Inniss.

Ingrid Innes, 71, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to two counts of bribery connected with approximately US$36 000 in payments made to Inniss in 2015 and 2016. 

Barbados TODAY understands that Innes, who has been undergoing medical treatment for pancreatic cancer since 2021, had originally planned to contest the charges, but that became untenable because of her health and concerns about the adequacy of medical care she would receive if incarcerated.

The case centred on payments Innes approved for the benefit of Inniss, who was then Minister of Industry and Commerce and had responsibility for the Barbados Investment and Development Corporation, a client of ICBL. Innes was ICBL’s chief executive officer at the time.

The payments were alleged to be bribes intended to help ICBL secure more business.

As reported by Barbados TODAY on January 14, 2020, the payments were based on two fraudulent invoices prepared by the company’s chief financial officer, Kamante Millar, who later entered into a plea agreement and testified for the prosecution against Innes, other ICBL executives, and Inniss.

During Inniss’s 2020 federal trial in Brooklyn, New York, Millar testified that she generated two false internal invoices. The invoices – one for US$16 536.73 in 2015 and another for US$20 000 in 2016 – were used to disguise payments that were ultimately channelled to Inniss’ US-based dental company, Crystal Dental Lab.

According to Innes, a Canadian national, when she was asked to approve the payments to Inniss, she was told they were for consulting fees. She was also told that in Barbados it was not necessarily illegal or unusual for Members of Parliament to own businesses, including consulting companies, or to accept campaign contributions from government suppliers.

It remains unclear whether the payments violated Barbadian law or were intended to influence decisions by the BIDC board, over which Inniss had no direct control. No charges have been filed or pursued to date in Barbados in relation to the case or any of the people involved, despite the US federal indictment citing Barbados’ Prevention of Corruption Act.

The former CEO told Barbados TODAY that she acknowledged the lapse of judgement that led to her authorising the two payments and has taken responsibility for it.

“I understand my actions fell short of the high standards expected of me as CEO,” she said. “I have accepted responsibility for my mistakes, and I look forward to putting this matter behind me so I can focus on my health and family.”

 

The ICBL case – What to Know

• The case dates back to 2018. A federal grand jury in Brooklyn returned an indictment against Innes and former ICBL senior vice-president Alex Tasker on August 22, 2018. The indictment charged them with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and two counts of money laundering.
• Inniss was charged separately. The former minister was charged in a three-count indictment unsealed on August 6, 2018, and was later named as a co-defendant of Innes and Tasker in a superseding indictment.
• Inniss was convicted in January 2020. A federal jury found him guilty of two counts of money laundering and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
• ICBL voluntarily disclosed the payments to US authorities and received a prosecution declination under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Corporate Enforcement Policy. The insurance company surrendered US$93 940.19 in profits that US authorities said it earned from the scheme.
• The FBI’s New York Field Office and International Corruption Squad investigated the case. In 2015, the FBI formed international corruption squads across the country to address the national and international implications of foreign corruption.

 

(BT)