Curaçao’s Gaming Control Board (GCB) has gone on the defensive, slamming opposition politician Luigi Faneyte’s multiple complaints of corruption and money laundering within the regulator’s new licensing framework (LOK) as “implausible and ridiculous”.
GCB PR and marketing consultant Aideen Shortt told iGB she has filed her own formal complaint with the attorney general‘s office refuting Feneyte’s multiple claims.
Faneyte has filed a number of complaints over the course of the last few weeks, accusing the GCB’s new-look regulations of being “a money laundering law”, which he claims could cause significant problems for Curaçao and the Netherlands.
He has said the GCB is a front for unregulated transactions and accused the country’s finance minister Javier Silvania of corrupting the licensing process.
Faneyte filed his initial report with the attorney general’s office on 25 November, claiming that gambling licences have been issued without legal basis, which has led to financial losses.
The GCB issued a public response to this claim on 2 November, providing various details that clarify how licences are being processed and approved under the LOK system.
But Faneyte has continued to defame the regulator and said he has submitted similar complaints with various international gambling regulators, including New Jersey’s Division of Gaming Enforcement (NJDGE).
Faneyte is acting as a “mouthpiece”
Speaking to iGB, both Shortt and Mario Galea, who is also consulting for the GCB, said they believe Faneyte is acting as a “mouthpiece” on behalf of another entity that is trying to bring down the new licensing regime.
“[We can] distinguish between the two narratives coming out,” Galea told iGB. “We are working on positively identifying who is behind him.”
The new LOK framework, which was approved by parliament on 17 December, seeks to improve the quality of gambling licensees in the jurisdiction, by carrying out additional due diligence and requesting more in-depth information from applicants.
The new system has replaced the previous master licence system and all previous licensees have been required to reapply.
Shortt and Galea said they suspect whoever is behind Faneyte’s claims is facing financial losses or has been damaged by the new LOK regime.
They note that quite a high percentage of licence applications have been rejected by the GCB.
LOK licensing reform “cannot be stopped”
Shortt inisisted that the licensing reform will not be stopped despite Faneyte’s claims. She suspects he will continue to try and discredit minister Silvania.
Faneyte’s 13 December complaint criticised Curaçao’s parliament for passing the new regulation, but Galea has said that his claim that the system is now open to more corruption is “unthinkable” as the new system provides the regulator with more control against operators that don’t meet the stricter rules now in place.
Galea also said there is no evidence that Faneyte has formally submitted complaints to international regulators, despite him claiming to have done so.
He notes that he had previously done some work with the NJDGE and suspected there would be no interest in these claims from the regulator.
“The interest appears to be just the trial by media,” Shortt says of Faneyte’s campaign. “I’m guessing there’s really no interest in having these charges accepted.”
GCB denies Galea’s involved in leaked phone call
On 19 December, the GCB hit back at Faneyte’s latest complaint which refers to a phone call leaked online that appears to feature two people discussing how to circumnavigate regulations in the jurisdiction.
The complaint suggested Galea was one of the parties included in the call, but the GCB has categorically denied those claims.
“The GCB has listened to this conversation and determined the voice of the advisor in question was not recognised. Meanwhile, additional investigation has determined that none of the voices heard in the conversation belong to a GCB advisor,” the regulator said in a statement.
