Money-laundering charges against Zane DeSilva have been dropped.

The Director of Public Prosecutions has opted not to proceed with the case against the MP, which concerned an alleged connection to the loss of nearly $800,000 of taxpayer money.

Mr DeSilva told The Royal Gazette: “Today the prosecution have said that the case against me will not be pursued.

“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.”

Anthony Blakey’s Savvy Entertainment borrowed the funds from the Government five years ago to open a recording studio in Bermuda. Mr Blakey stands accused of not repaying the loan.

The US music promoter was charged in absentia at Magistrates’ Court last October with obtaining a money transfer by deception but he has yet to be extradited to Bermuda from the States to face trial.

Mr DeSilva, 63, the Progressive Labour Party MP for Southampton East, appeared at the same hearing, where he was 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” Mr Blakey.

The offence, a breach of section 44 of the Proceeds of Crime Act, was alleged to have taken place between April and August 2018.

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

Mr Blakey received the 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 disappeared.

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

In September 2020, police were drafted in to track him down 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 an MP since 2007 and has served in various ministerial posts.

He was forced to quit the Cabinet in July 2020 after attending a party at Blu restaurant that breached 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.

The pair were cleared of all charges by a Supreme Court jury in October.

NOTE: This article has been edited to remove an inaccurate reference to Mr DeSilva being a Cabinet Minister between April and August 2018. In fact, he resigned as the Minister of Social Development and Sport in January 2018.