business@tribunemedia.net
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2024
$5.30
$5.31
$5.37
Cruise port principal demands $2m back By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
A PRINCIPAL behind the Long Island cruise port project is demanding that a Bahamian law firm refund him $2m sent for a separate investment deal in the Exumas that ânever took placeâ. Sherif Assal, one of the two investors spearheading the Calypso Cove development, has launched legal action against King & Company seeking the return of funds that were transferred to it over a âproposed developmentâ on Elizabeth Island being spearheaded by two of its clients. He is alleging that he was offered a 30 percent interest in the project, which was to feature a mixed-use resort development over 33.1 acres at the islandâs western end, by Steve Harrington and Eric Kim in return for
a $3m investment in a property valued at $10m. Two-thirds of that sum was purportedly paid through King & Co, but Mr Assal is claiming that the transaction involving his investment was never properly consummated and completed, and that he never agreed his $3m âwould be used to purchaseâ the 33.1-acre site on August 4, 2021. A provider of security services to the global cruise industry for 22 years, he is alleging that it is âunconscionableâ for the Bahamian law firm to have either retained his monies or allowed its clients to finance their Exumas real estate purchase âwithout my permission or knowledge in the circumstancesâ where he has no confirmed equity ownership or other interest in the deal. Mr Assalâs action is also asserting that King & Co
breached the Financial Transactions Reporting Act by âfailing to obtainâ the required Know Your Customer (KYC) information on him prior to accepting the $2m that he wired to it. But Mr King, in an e-mailed message to Tribune Business, denied his firm had violated the Financial Transactions Reporting Actâs (FTRA) customer due diligence requirements or any other Bahamian law. He branded the allegations, and legal claim, as âtotal nonsenseâ and âfabricatedâ, and hinted he may pursue Mr Assal for damages for âtrying to besmirchâ his and the companyâs reputation. âThe firm and the firmâs client did not commit any violation of any Bahamian law,â Mr King told this newspaper, also defending Mr Harrington and Mr Kim. âThe matter is presently before the Supreme
MINNIS BLASTS OVER-THE-HILL TAX FREE ZONES âNONSENSEâ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
Court and the firm has engaged Kingâs Counsel (KC) to represent its interest and to vigorously defend the suit. This claim is total nonsense, lacks merit, substance and is fabricated. âI trust that the complainant understands that by trying to besmirch the firmâs reputation [he] exposes himself to damages. I have been practicing for 27 years, and no client or third party has ever made any such scandalous accusations against myself or the firm. We will see this matter to its end, and I am confident the firm will be vindicated and this case dismissed as lacking any merit. âHowever, due to the fact that the matter is before the Supreme Court we are not at liberty to disclose pertinent facts. The case cannot and will not be tried in the public domain. Any further SEE PAGE 11
WASTE, âPOLITICAL ATTITUDESâ, BAR IMFâS HOSPITAL USER FEE PLANS By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net AN ex-health minister says âwastageâ, combined with zero political appetite, means the IMFâs call for the imposition of hospital user fees on those âwith greatest capacity to payâ is likely a non-starter. Dr Duane Sands, who held the post during the early years of the Minnis administration, also warned Tribune Business that the International Monetary Fundâs (IMF) focus on âdollars and centsâ was not necessarily accounting for the outcome of health treatments amid âdismalâ and âhorribleâ Bahamian healthcare statistics. And he pointed out
that the healthcare financing model suggested by the Washington DC-fund ran contrary to that preferred by the likes of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), as well as the Government, which viewed user fees as a barrier to accessing public sector healthcare at the point of delivering services. âI think we are looking at a philosophical discussion right now,â Dr Sands told this newspaper of the IMFâs call for the imposition of use fees on those with the ability to pay as a means to cut annual taxpayer subsidies to the Public Hospitals Authority (PHA).
THE Government has to refinance almost $2.4bn in maturing debt during the six months to end-June 2024, it has been revealed, with its euro-denominated liabilities almost doubling in percentage terms. The Ministry of Financeâs debt management office, in its statistical bulletin for the three months to end-December 2023, reaffirmed that just over 47 percent of government debt due to mature during the 2024 first half is represented by short-term Treasury Bills. Bahamian
DR HUBERT Minnis last night branded assertions by government officials that ânobody is losing anythingâ from the extinction of Over-theHill âtax freeâ zones as âthe biggest nonsense I have ever heardâ. The former prime minister sought to mount a vigorous defence of the Economic Empowerment Zone legislation passed under his administration amid arguments by current ministers and senior civil servants that it failed to achieve its objectives with most Over-the-Hill businesses and residents unable to access the incentives on offer. With Dr Minnis accusing the Davis administration of reimposing âtaxes on the poorâ by killing-off the Empowerment Zone legislation through failing to renew it once it expired on June 30, 2023, the Governmentâs top finance official reassured that merchants, property owners and households living in those areas can still access the same tax breaks via other incentive-related
legislation. âThe benefits in that Act were not unique to that Act,â Simon Wilson, the Ministry of Financeâs top official, told this newspaper. âThe benefits are still available under the Tariff Act and other Acts. Nobody is losing anything. They are still available. Businesses that apply for the benefits are granted them under the Tariff Act and other legislation. âThe Economic Empowerment Zone legislation did not provide new benefits. It took benefits that existed under the Tariff Act and other pieces of legislation. People didnât access it because they were getting the same thing all along. It wasnât accessing something they couldnât get before under the Tariff Act.â Mr Wilson also suggested there was relatively minimal use made of the Customs duty, real property tax and Business Licence fee waivers by entities and persons living in the targeted areas because the same tax breaks already existed. And he added that many businesses were SEE PAGE FOUR
HOME INSURANCE
LIFE INSURANCE
AUTO INSURANCE
MARINE INSURANCE
SEE PAGE 12
GOVâT SET TO REFINANCE $2.4BN IN SIX MONTHS By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
$5.28
dollar-denominated debt accounts for 79 percent, or $1.893bn, of the total amount that has to be rolled over with the foreign currency share at $505m. âThe debt redemption profile for the balance of the fiscal year includes reissuances of Treasury bills ($1.133bn, Treasury notes ($67.6m) and Central Bank advances ($192m), and the $300m external bond maturity due in January 2024,â the report said, acknowledging that more than one-quarter of the Governmentâs debt portfolio is still due to mature in one year or less. SEE PAGE SEVEN
$*+&,"-./%*$0* =>??>@'(')*)+,A*+---/012+0:BB:C7/899:;+<28 !"#$%&'#(#)# !"##$%"&'(')*)+,-.+,-.. /012+134452367/899:;+<28 #'#0D>"?E'E>"F%@"'(')*)+,GH+.).H /012+:9:<27/899:;+<28 *1*23(*"# I%J#"=%"K?'E>"F%@"'(')*)+,,)+,)LL /012+4M4C6;43:7/899:;+<28 *42)# I#%"I#'&%N='(')*)+,,G+),.* /012+4OC8:7/899:;+<28
Nobody Does it Better!
Covering The Bahamas for over 45 years. ?/0<4'LAHH'2C3'<M/406B';:P4'40Q2R4S':'T/S4'3:0U4' 21'/0BC3:0<4'532SC<6B':0S'B43P/<4B'6;:6'53264<6' 6;4/3'M/P4BV'M2P4S'204BV'5325436RV'P:MC:9M4B':0S' 9CB/04BB4B+
INSURANCE MANAGEMENT
(BAHAMAS) LIMITED. INSURANCE BROKERS & AGENTS
!"#$%!& '& $()"& '& !*+"& '& +*%*,& '& +#,(-"& .& #/(#%(*-& '& )(,"& .& 0",($1& '& 2*-%,#2%*,& $(#3($(%4& '& 2*++",2(#$& '& !5,,(2#-"