Photos of official with Anna Nicole Smith fuel scandal in the Bahamas

NASSAU, Bahamas -- Photographs of Anna Nicole Smith in bed embracing the Bahamian immigration minister who approved her application for permanent residency revived a political scandal in the islands Monday.

Also Monday, the son-in-law of the American developer embroiled in an ownership dispute over the Nassau mansion where Smith was living said he found methadone in her bedroom refrigerator when he went to secure the estate after her death in Florida last week.

A private pathologist has said methadone contributed to the death of Smith's 20-year-old son, Daniel, in the Bahamas in September. Daniel Smith died while visiting his mother and newborn half sister in a Bahamas hospital, and an inquest into his death in the Bahamas is planned.

Two photographs published on the front page of The Tribune of Nassau on Monday showed Smith and Immigration Minister Shane Gibson, both fully clothed, embracing on a bed decorated with pink flowers and a white ribbon. In one of the photos, they look into each other's eyes, their faces only a couple of inches apart.

Gibson, an elected member of Parliament from the ruling Progressive Liberal Party, has already been accused of showing Smith preferential treatment by fast-tracking her residency application last year. With general elections due this spring, many said the photographs, taken in Smith's bedroom, could damage the ruling party.

Gibson did not return calls seeking comment. But government spokesman Al Dillette dismissed any suggestion of impropriety.

"Minister Gibson is a friend of Anna Nicole, and that's all a matter of public record," he said.

John Marquis, managing editor of The Tribune, declined to say who provided the photographs.

Meanwhile, Ford Shelley, the son-in-law of developer G. Ben Thompson -- who once dated Smith -- said he found the methadone Friday when he went to secure the house after Smith died Thursday in Florida.

Both Smith and Thompson claimed ownership of the $900,000 house. Thompson said he loaned Smith money for the house, but Smith said Thompson had given her the gated mansion as a gift.

Shelley told The Associated Press by telephone from Myrtle Beach, S.C., that he notified police about the drugs.

Shelley said he went to Nassau after hearing that Gibson's mother, who was reportedly caring for Smith's 5-month-old daughter during her trip to Florida, went to the house to remove some of the baby's things.

Howard K. Stern, Smith's most recent companion, has since reclaimed the mansion and is staying there with the baby, Dannielynn Hope Marshall Stern.

Stern is listed on a birth certificate as Dannielynn's father. But at least three other men have challenged the paternity claim.

A former boyfriend, Larry Birkhead, has filed a lawsuit claiming he is the father.

Prince Frederic von Anhalt, the husband of actress Zsa Zsa Gabor, has said he had a decadelong affair with Smith and may be the father. He said Monday he plans to file a paternity challenge in court and wants a DNA test.

And Alexander Denk, who had worked as a bodyguard for Smith, told the television newsmagazine "Extra" that he had an affair with Smith, and that it's possible he is the father.

The baby stands to potentially inherit a fortune from Smith's late husband, oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II, who died in 1995 at age 90.