Sun confirms gambling mogul sent $300k to Bermuda

Casino developer Nathan Landow and his associates made a $300,000 campaign contribution to the One Bermuda Alliance’s election effort in 2012, the Bermuda Sun will report in its Friday edition tomorrow.

This appears to contradict the declaration of OBA Chairman Thad Hollis earlier this week — who stated that the party had not received any funds from Landow.

The revelation, told to reporter Danny McDonald, comes from a highly placed source with firsthand knowledge of the election campaign donation.  The source will be named in tomorrow’s Bermuda Sun.

This new development will further fan the flames of suspicion in the red hot political scandal known as JetGate, now more than a year old.

Ayo Johnson was first to report the alleged $300,000 campaign contribution from Mr Landow on his online news website called Politica.  Following that report, in a rare public comment about a campaign contribution, Mr Hollis said his party “never received any funds from Mr Landow or any of his known associates”.

Tomorrow’s story will reveal Mr Landow sent money he believed was for the purposes of the OBA’s political campaign, but the money may not have been sent directly to OBA coffers.

There is no law in Bermuda requiring political donations and expenditures to be publicly disclosed, and as a result, campaign financing is rarely revealed. 

It’s unclear whether the OBA’s internal investigation will have the scope necessary to discover where the money went or how it was spent.

Premier Craig Cannonier declined an opportunity this evening to comment on tomorrow’s report. Earlier today, however, he voiced full support of his party chairman’s investigation.

Coincidentally, the Sun’s reporting on Jetgate will publish on the same date as the Bermuda Sun’s 50^th anniversary.  An eight-page special pullout section will discuss the newspaper’s five decades in the community, including a strong heritage of political reporting – which continues today.