Corruption Accusations in Mariana Islands Casino Licensing

Legislators in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands have been accused of corruption following a provisional license granted to Hong Kong-based Best Sunshine International.  After casino and gaming legislation was passed in March, concerned citizens say enough signatures were gathered calling for either changes or a repeal of the bill that should have halted the process.

"Really, what we're suspecting is public corruption," Russell Schow, a member of the initiative calling for review of the legislation, told Pacific Beat.  "It's a sole-sourced contract, of that there is no doubt.  The biggest suspicion is that they went and met with [Best Sunshine], this company told them what to write in the bill.

"The legislators knew we had this initiative going out, we had them printed, then they rushed off to Macau, came back, forced this bill through, killed our opportunity to do the initiative.  It's very suspicious."

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