PUBLIC NOTICE OF INTENDED APPLICATION FOR A GRANT OF LETTERS OF ADMINISTRATION

In The Supreme Court Probate Division

In the Estate of ROBIN LAWRENCE SWEETING, late of Oxford & Yorkshire Streets, in the Western District of the Island of New Providence one of the Islands of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, deceased.

NOTICE is hereby given that WINSTON SWEETING of West Dennis Court, Yellow Elder Gardens, in the Western District of New Providence one of the Islands of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas will make application to the Supreme Court of the Bahamas after the expiration of fourteen days from the date hereof, for a grant of Letters of Administration of the real and personal Estate of ROBIN LAWRENCE SWEETING in the Western District of the Island of New Providence, one of the Islands of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, deceased.

WINSTON SWEETING Intended Applicant

The country needs money, but there’s got to be a better way of doing it than driving off everything the country has left.”

The Prime Minister is currently attending the seventh Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean states (CELAC), and has taken Jobeth Coleby-Davis, minister of transport and housing, plus Bahamas Maritime Authority (BMA) officials with him in a bid to push this nation’s credentials as a maritime centre. However, as the industry source acknowledged, the Government needs every cent it can get in taxes.

Meanwhile, aside from the VAT dispute, another legal battle has embroiled the Crystal Cruise vessels’ $128m sale - this time involving their other creditors, who are fighting over whose claims should gain priority and how much they should be entitled to.

The creditors include the Nassau Cruise Port, said to be owed just over $300,000 for dockage and other services provided to the former Genting-owned cruise line when it launched the cruise industry’s post-COVID rebound by home porting in, and cruising around, The Bahamas in summer 2021.

Others fighting for their share of the $128m sales proceeds are GPH (Global Ports Holding) Antigua, an entity owned by Nassau Cruise Port’s controlling shareholder, which is understood to be claiming around $30,000, plus the crew of bit vessels. The competing parties are rounded out by Peninsula Petroleum Far East, the two ships’ foreign fuel supplier, and SMS International Shore Operations US, their export agent.

The details are revealed in a December 19, 2022, judgment by acting Supreme Court justice, Ntshonda Tynes, who confirmed the two former Crystal Cruises vessels were sold for a combined $128m in June 2022 after being arrested under warrants obtained by DNB Bank some four months prior. The proceeds were deposited into an escrow bank account where they were held while creditors came forward to submit claims for monies allegedly owed to them.

DNB Bank then applied for a Supreme Court ruling setting out the order in which the various creditors are to be paid. “As usually happens when there are insufficient funds to fully satisfy the respective claims of all claimants, a dispute has arisen between the claimants concerning their respective rights to be paid out of the proceeds of sale of the vessels Crystal Symphony and Crystal Serenity,” the judge noted.

Acting Justice Tynes said the two vessels’ former crews, Nassau Cruise Port, GPH Antigua and SMS had all taken the position that, as maritime creditors, their claims took priority over DNB Bank’s even though the latter held mortgage security over the ships. Yet they had obtained no judgments to support their case.

The Bahamas’ Merchant Shipping Act gives priority to maritime creditors, such as ship’s crew, over registered mortgage holders so as to ensure they are not left unpaid. As a result, the other creditors were all arguing that DNB Bank must wait until they are paid out before it can recover what it was owed even though it had obtained a default judgment in its favour.

Acting justice Tynes rejected their argument, finding that if correct “it would mean that an interested party can forgo normal court procedures whereby judgments are obtained (be it by default or otherwise) and forgo obtaining the consent of all claimants (whose interests would be affected by disbursement) yet expect to receive a payment out”.

She added: “Not only is this argument not supported by clear legal authority, it does not seem reasonable or in the interest of justice. Neither does it seem reasonable or in the interest of justice that a judgment creditor should be kept out of the fruits of its judgment because it ranks lower in priority than other claimants who are slow or reluctant to prosecute their claims.

“Nor is it necessary for a judgment creditor to await indefinitely payment to higher-ranking claimants when the court has at its disposal the ability to insure the protection of priority claimants by ordering that sufficient funds be reserved to satisfy future favourable judgments and any costs to be incurred in pursuit thereof.”

As a result, Acting justice Tynes “urged” that the crews, Nassau Cruise Port, GPH Antigua and SMS all “prosecute their respective claims with despatch should they so choose” as they needed to either obtain a judgment or consent of other creditors to claim against the $128m proceeds. She also ordered that sufficient funds be set aside to ensure such creditor payouts can be met. Some $2m has been retained as “security for the potential future costs” that may be incurred in prosecuting claims by the crews, Nassau Cruise Port, GPH Antigua and SMS, as well as the Department of Inland Revenue. GPH Antigua was also to “rank in priority” as a maritime creditor and some $30,000 to be set aside to cover its potential claim.

Financial strife at its immediate parent caused Crystal Cruises, which pioneered home porting in The Bahamas alongside Royal Caribbean, to initially suspend operations early last year with the hope they could be restarted in April. This was to allow management to assess the company’s business, and determine its future options, as the parent was set to run out of cash by end-January 2022, but all rescue efforts proved futile and the cruise line was wound up.