Government MP Zane DeSilva appeared in court yesterday charged with money laundering in connection with the Savvy recording studio scandal.

Prosecutors claim that Mr DeSilva entered into or became concerned in an arrangement which he “knew or suspected facilitated the use or control of criminal property by or on behalf of William Anthony Blakey”.

The alleged offence took place between April and August 2018 and breaches Section 44 of the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Mr DeSilva was not required to enter a plea as the charge is indictable. Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo deferred the matter to February’s arraignments session in the Supreme Court.

Mr Blakey, who was not in court, was charged separately with obtaining a money transfer by deception.

Cindy Clarke, the Director of Public Prosecutions, told the court that an arrest warrant for Mr Blakey, who is in the United States, had been issued and extradition proceedings had begun.

Mr Blakey, from Atlanta, secured an $800,000 loan from the Government in 2018 to set up the Savvy recording studio in Dockyard.

The project never got off the ground and Mr Blakey then disappeared.

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

In December 2020, police were drafted in to track down the music promoter after government lawyers were unable to serve him with a legal demand to return the taxpayer funds, plus interest.

Mr DeSilva, a construction company owner, has been a Progressive Labour Party MP since 2007.

He has served as minister without portfolio, minister of health, minister of social development and sport, and minister of tourism and transport.

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