HAMILTON, Bermuda (CMC) – A former government minister has maintained his “complete innocence” after the director of public prosecutions (DPP) opted not to proceed with the case against him regarding the loss of nearly US$800,000 of taxpayers’ money.

Former Social Development and Sports Minister Zane DeSilva told The Royal Gazette newspaper that the prosecution has said that the case against him will not be pursued, adding, “I have always maintained my complete innocence of this allegation; that has now been vindicated.

“I am, of course, very pleased that this is now behind me for everyone’s sake and I can get on with looking after my constituents and the issues facing Bermuda,” he added.

Last October, a US-based music promoter Anthony Blakey was charged in absentia in connection with his company, Savvy Entertainment, borrowing funds from the Bermuda Government five years ago to open a recording studio here.

Blakey stands accused of not repaying the loan and was charged with obtaining a money transfer by deception. He is yet to be extradited from the United States to Bermuda to face trial.

DeSilva, 63, the ruling Progressive Labour Party (PLP) representative for Southampton East, had been charged with entering or becoming concerned in an arrangement that he “knew or suspected facilitated the use or control of criminal property by or on behalf of” Blakey.

The prosecution said that the offence, which is a breach of the Proceeds of Crime Act, was alleged to have taken place between April and August 2018, when DeSilva was the minister of social development and sport.

He did not enter a plea in October because the charge had to be dealt with in the Supreme Court.

Blakey is reported to have received the loan from the Government in 2018 to set up the Savvy recording studio in Dockyard. But the project never got off the ground and Blakey disappeared.

A demand-for-payment notice issued in June 2019 said Blakey had defaulted on US$778,204 of the loan.

DeSilva, a construction company owner, has been a legislator since 2007, serving in various ministerial posts. But he was was forced to quit the Cabinet in July 2020 after attending a party at a restaurant that breached the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) regulations.

He and his daughter, Zarah Harper, were later criminally charged with providing information to a government official that they did not believe to be true, in relation to the event. But they were were cleared of all charges by the Supreme Court.