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Volume: 121 No.63, February 21, 2024

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POLICE KILLINGS RULED HOMICIDE ‘Justice is served’ Former MP says mother after jury returns finding wanted

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net THE mother of one of two men police killed on Tonique Williams-Darling Highway on December 2, 2017, said “justice was served” after a Coroner’s Court jury returned a homicide by manslaughter finding at the end of an

inquest yesterday.

This is the fourth finding of homicide by manslaughter against the police in the last year and raises fresh questions about how the police and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions will respond.

Coroner’s Court inquests do not determine criminal

THE BAHAMAS AMONG FOUR REMOVED FROM EU BLACKLIST

by police

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Bahamas “can only survive in this new world order” through ongoing compliance with global demands, the Attorney General asserted yesterday, as it escaped the European Union’s (EU) tax blacklist.

SEE PAGE THREE

FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

MOTHER AND FOUR-YEAR-OLD SON DIE IN THREE-CAR CRASH

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net A YOUNG mother and her four-year-old son are dead after a three-car collision in Abaco yesterday.

Police have not identified the victims, but The Tribune understands the mother is 22-year-old Michelleda and her son, Armani.

MAN DISAPPEARS BEFORE MURDER TRIAL LEAVING FAMILY $30K FEE

Police said the crash happened around 8am on Tuesday near Ernest Dean Highway.

The woman and her son were reportedly in a Honda Fit travelling north on Ernest Dean Highway when she veered into oncoming vehicular traffic and collided with a male

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net

SEE PAGE FIVE FORMER Exuma MP and Supreme Court judge Elliot Lockhart is wanted by police, accused of fraud by false pretences. See PAGE THREE for story.

MARSHAL ASKS COURT TO REJECT POLICE APPEAL

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net THE marshal of the Coroner’s Court asked a Supreme Court judge yesterday to reject police officers’ efforts to appeal last year’s homicide by manslaughter finding in the killing of Azario Major.

Angelo Whitfield, the marshal, appeared before

AZARIO MAJOR Justice Franklyn Williams on behalf of the Office of

the Attorney General.

A five-person jury ruled against two officers last year. Azario was killed outside Woody’s Bar on Fire Trial Road on December 26, 2021.

Mr Whitfied asked the judge to dismiss the officers’ appeal application, arguing that their attorney, Keevon Maynard, gave no

Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper

SEE PAGE THREE

A GRANDMOTHER and a mother must pay $30,000 after the man for whom they stood surety allegedly threw his ankle monitoring bracelet into a well and disappeared a SEE PAGE SEVEN

CORRECTION IN a story published in Tuesday’s Tribune, the charge facing a Cuban woman in court was incorrectly stated. The charge read to Yudith Gonzalez, 35, in court was prostitution. No further charge was included.

We apologise for the error. Her case is due to continue on May 6.

PAGE 2, Wednesday, February 21, 2024

THE TRIBUNE

Environmentalist Darville concerned over SpaceX rocket landing agreement

TWO booster rockets from the Falcon 9 SpaceX heavy, return for a landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, Tuesday, February 6, 2018.

Photo: John Raoux/AP

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net LEADING environmentalist Joe Darville is concerned about government’s first-stage agreement with SpaceX for rocket landings in The Bahamas.

Elon Musk founded SpaceX, which manufactures and launches spacecraft and rockets.

“As an environmentalist and someone who’s extremely concerned about our precious and vulnerable environment, I certainly do have concerns, and if any decision is being taken by the government to accommodate this landing in our territory, then everything should be

put out there to the public with respect to any harm to be done, whether it’s to the area where it’s gonna land, or whether or not any vibratory matters are concerned with respect to animals and specifically to birds,” Mr Darville said yesterday.

The Ministry of Tourism, Investments and Aviation announced the signing of a letter of agreement with SpaceX over the weekend.

The ministry said SpaceX is designing space exploration missions where one of the company’s autonomous drone ships will serve as a Falcon 9 landing location east of The Exumas.

The ministry said this will provide the platform for “a spectacle that will

be visible only in The Bahamas”.

Mr Darville said: “In the past, some stuff has landed in our ocean but now in modern times, when we are concerned about our atmosphere, and ocean and our land, a little bit of land that we have, and the species that we have in The Bahamas, we got to be extremely reticent about anything that may not have been traditionally landing or taking place to be landed in our territory and islands or wherever.

“I would say that the government should be upright and forthright in revealing to us any particular elements that may be impacted by such a landing in our territory.

The people need to know.”

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, February 21, 2024, PAGE 3

Police killings ruled homicide from page one

liability, but adverse findings against the police could spark criminal prosecutions. Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Cordell Frazier has not yet said whether she will charge officers in the previous cases that attracted a homicide by manslaughter finding but has said she is reviewing the cases.

Richard “Buddy” Bastian and Harold “Kevin” Brown were killed on Tonique Williams-Darling Highway around 1am on December 2, 2017. Bastian was pronounced dead at the scene. Brown later died in hospital.

Five jurors reached a conclusion about the shooting yesterday after hearing testimony and watching security footage that showed police running and firing their weapons

at two men who were fleeing a bar. While footage showed muzzle flashes from the guns of the officers, there were no muzzle flashes from the direction of the slain men.

Bastian’s mother, Patricia Bastian, broke down in tears outside the court after the verdict.

During five days of testimony in the matter, police testified that they responded to calls of gunfire at King’s Bar on Robinson Road and Washington Road. Dispatch reportedly told officers that the suspects fled the area in a silver vehicle.

The seven officers who are the subject of this inquest went to Pressure Point Bar on a track road off the highway under the command of Superintendent Mark Barrett.

Chief Superintendent of Police Theodore

Campbell, who was part of this squad but one of the last to arrive at the scene, claimed he saw one of the deceased open fire into the crowd outside the bar in a silver Honda Civic. He said police identified themselves and returned fire at the man after they shot at them.

A police chase ensued and ended with the deceased’s car crashing into the fence of Ron’s Auto near the highway.

A shotgun, which police said the deceased fired into the crowd, was recovered along with a gun registration form in the name of Harold Brown.

While police maintained that the deceased opened fire on them, the testimony of an anonymous witness, which was read by Angelo Whitfield, the court marshal, disputed this.

The witness claimed they

were conversing with the deceased at the bar before a “commotion” occurred.

The witness said Brown pulled out a shotgun from his car and fired it into the air.

The witness claimed he told Brown: “What are you doing? Put that back. Let’s get out of here.”

The witness claimed that shortly after, they saw police shoot up the deceased’s car.

The witness said a female police officer laughed when they told her, “Don’t kill them, their family is police also,” and that officers continued to shoot.

The witness claimed the deceased never fired at officers.

Pathologist Dr Caryn Sands testified that Bastian’s cause of death was a gunshot wound to the torso and extremities. She listed Brown’s cause of death

as gunshot wounds to the head, right hand and both thighs.

She explained that she found six gunshot wounds on Bastian’s body and five gunshot wounds on Brown’s corpse. She said that two bullets were recovered from Bastian’s body.

K Melvin Munroe represented the officers in this inquest. David Cash represented the estates of the dead men.

Before the finding was released, Mr Munroe submitted to the jury that officers fired at the men to protect innocent lives in response to a gun threat in a crowded bar. He said officers fired because they feared for their lives and those of the people around them. He said none of the officers intended to take a life that night but only wanted “to protect and

serve the public”.

Mr Cash, on the other hand, submitted to the jury that police should have found a nonfatal way to subdue the men. He said it “should not cost you your life to run away” and argued that police fired at the men while they tried to drive away from the scene. He said officers acted as judge, jury and executioner.

Acting Coroner Kara Turnquest Deveaux presided over the inquest.

Reacting to the finding yesterday, Mr Cash said: “This verdict is the public’s outcry for police accountability, open investigations into police shootings and open justice. The families thank the court and the jury and are happy that the wheels of justice still turn in this country even though it may be a slow and arduous journey.”

Marshal asks Coroner’s Court to reject police appeal from page one evidence that the Coroner was not impartial or that the jury was coerced into making the finding they did.

Mr Whitfied also said the officers’ attorney did not give specific reasons for quashing the finding.

He said the application did not give evidence that pretrial publicity prejudiced the jury and affected their finding.

He said Mr Maynard did not provide evidence that the jury saw a prominent video of the incident, which was published before the inquest and reportedly had over 100,000 views.

Mr Whitfield expressed confidence that the jury approached the inquest fairly and impartially.

Mr Whitfield said if the judge overturns the inquest finding, gathering evidence again may be difficult because witnesses are unlikely to go through another painful inquiry.

Mr Maynard started his response to these submissions by apologizing for delaying his initial application to the

judge.

He said his appeal application has a chance of success and that granting it would not prejudice the respondents.

Referencing negative pretrial publicity, Mr Maynard said a video posted on Facebook by Christian AdamG about the matter before the inquest was highly prejudicial to the case.

He said the coroner should have stayed the case because the jury couldn’t be properly directed away from the pretrial publicity.

Before saying that the matter would be adjourned to a later date, Justice Williams reminded both parties that the matter under scrutiny was an inquest and not a criminal trial.

He also noted that while he requested the transcripts from the inquest in November, he had yet to receive them.

Azario’s relatives want the officers to face criminal charges. Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Cordell Frazier has said she won’t decide on this until the various appeal attempts end.

AZARIO MAJOR

Former MP wanted by police

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net FORMER Exuma MP and Supreme Court judge Elliot Lockhart is wanted by police accused of fraud by false pretences.

Police released a wanted poster for Mr Lockhart, 68, yesterday, listing his last known address as 67 Ocean Drive, Adelaide Village.

Details of the matter for which police want Mr Lockhart were not revealed, but last year, former clients of Mr Lockhart, KC, applied to send him to prison after he allegedly failed to refund more than $3m they claim they gave his firm to hold in escrow.

Court documents claimed Dr Paul Fuchs sent Mr Lockhart’s firm $3,033,453.80 to hold in escrow for proposed real estate transactions and ancillary applications –– but the money was not returned when the proposed deals were cancelled and abandoned.

Mr Lockhart and Patricia Bullard, the interim administration director of Lockhart & Co, are defendants.

FORMER EXUMA MP ELLIOT LOCKHART Supreme Court Justice Denise Lewis-Johnson froze various accounts connected to them in September and ordered them to produce evidence of their worldwide assets exceeding $3m and their efforts to return their clients’ money.

Dr Fuchs’ lawyers applied to commit Mr Lockhart and

Ms Bullard to prison in October, arguing that they did not comply with Justice Lewis-Johnson’s September 13 order.

In addition to his notable legal and political career, Mr Lockhart is a former chairman of Nassau Flight Services, the Gaming Board of The Bahamas and the Police Inspectorate.

Country’s lack of capacity to analyse rape kits criticised PAGE 4, Wednesday, February 21, 2024

THE TRIBUNE

By JADE RUSSELL Tribune Staff Reporter jrussell@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMAS Crisis Centre Director Dr Sandra Dean-Patterson said for the last 30 years, sufficient capacity to analyse the evidence in rape kits has not existed, resulting in sexually assaulted victims being vigorously interrogated in court to prove their case.

“You know, it’s just unbelievable to me that we still do not have the capacity to analyse information in rape kits that are collected over the years,” she said. “We don’t have that. So, we put our victims in a position where they have to be interrogated, torn apart in the court when we could if we had the capacity to have this evidence analysed, that would speak for itself.”

Dr Dean-Patterson spoke during a Q&A session after the Rotary Club of Nassau hosted panellists to discuss solutions to crime at St James Native Baptist Church. Dr DeanPatterson was not an official panellist.

National Security Minister Wayne Munroe, Bahamas Bar President Khalil Parker and Bahamas Christian Council President Delton Fernander were panellists.

Mr Munroe said police are focusing on how to make it easier and more comfortable for women to report sexual offences.

Dr Dean-Patterson was asked about solutions to curb violence against women.

She said that local resources are still lacking

NATIONAL Security Minister Wayne Munroe, a representative from the RBPF, Bahamas Bar President Khalil Parker and Bahamas Christian Council preseident Delton Fernander were panellists at the Rotary Club’s forum on crime and solutions to crime.

Photo: Moise Amisial to help rape victims.

“When a person is raped and they go to the hospital, the evidence is taken,” she told reporters after the event. “But unfortunately, up to now, we haven’t been able to analyse it locally.

“And so, a lot of times, the cases depend on the stories of the victim. So victims are put through a whole lot of horrendous things during the courts because we don’t have access to that kind of information.

So,

hopefully, the minister is saying that we’re moving on that at last, 30 years later. So we’re looking forward to seeing it.”

Dr Dean-Patterson added she has spoken to Minister Munroe about her concerns.

She said many women and children are struggling in various ways.

“We have reports of women living in their cars because they have been evicted or they don’t have the kind of resources,” she said. “There’s a lot

more that we can do to resource our family court system so that we can prevent persons from being in situations where they don’t have money, and they don’t have things to call on. So we have a lot of work to do.”

FIREFIGHTERS work to extinguish a blaze that began on the second floor of a two-storey building on the corner of Elizabtth Street and Bay Street yesterday.

Photo: Dante Carrer

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Please send resumes to

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To advertise in The Tribune, contact 502-2394

Mother and four-year-old son die in three-car crash THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, February 21, 2024, PAGE 5

YOUNG mother and four-year-old son that perished in three-car collision in Abaco. from page one driver and a woman passenger in a grey Dodge Caravan travelling in the opposite direction.

Police said the initial impact resulted in the Dodge Caravan colliding with a grey Nissan Cube driven by a woman.

After the crash,

passengers were taken to the island’s local clinic, but the mother and son died on the scene after suffering serious injuries.

This latest fatality comes after police reported a hitand-run accident that left a man dead.

That victim was walking along the East Street corridor south of the

Independence roundabout on February 11 when a dark-coloured Suzuki Swift struck him.

The driver fled the scene while the victim was taken to the hospital, where he died days later.

Police are appealing to anyone with information on the incident to contact them as soon as possible.

RELATIVES SAY 15-YEAR-OLD THAT WAS murdered was ‘mannerly’ and ‘decent’

VISIBLY distraught onlookers at the scene where 15-year-old Chester Forbes Jr was killed in a driveby shooting on Monday.

Photo: Dante Carrer

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS hit him hard. saying he did not live a life Tribune Staff Reporter “Every day I come home of crime. lmunnings@tribunemedia.net from work, Pigeon would “He loved his video greet me, uncle uncle uncle, games,” he said. “Very THE 15-year-old boy and he would interact with mannerly, but he would murdered on Monday was me every day for about spend 24 hours a day, if he just taking out the garbage thirty minutes to an hour, had to or if he could, playwhen he was killed, his rela- every day, skylark with ing his video games.” tives said yesterday as they me,” he said.

“Not no gang, don’t keep grappled with why someone Mr Munroe, who has no no company. The only would kill their “mannerly”, children, said his nephew company he keeps is his “decent nephew”. was the son he never had. family.”

Chester Forbes, Jr, and He described him as quiet “He isn’t no gang banger. his older brother were walk- and mannerly.

He is not a troublesome ing on First Street when “You could see this boy person.” the occupants of a grey is a child,” Mr Munroe “Everybody knows that vehicle opened fire in their said. “Obviously, whatever he wasn’t the intended direction on Monday, kill- happened, they know that target. So sad that he was ing the boy whose brother wasn’t their target. I don’t coming out to empty the remained unharmed. know why they went there garbage and became a Antonio Munroe, the and shot him. That’s a child, victim of gunshots, and he uncle of the deceased, who bey. Six times he got shot. I was not the target.” was affectionately called have a problem with that.”

Forbes, Jr, was his “Pigeon”, lived next door Garin Seymour also father’s only child, relatives to his nephew and said the believes his nephew was said. The father declined to news of the boy’s death has not the intended target, talk to the press.

SCREENSHOT from video showing emergency crew working to extricate crash victims from their vehicles.

PAGE 6, Wednesday, February 21, 2024

The Tribune Limited

THE TRIBUNE

PICTURE OF THE DAY

NULLIUS ADDICTUS JURARE IN VERBA MAGISTRI “Being Bound to Swear to The Dogmas of No Master”

LEON E. H. DUPUCH,

Publisher/Editor 1903-1914

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Kt., O.B.E., K.M., K.C.S.G., (Hon.) LL.D., D.Litt .

Publisher/Editor 1919-1972 Contributing Editor 1972-1991

RT HON EILEEN DUPUCH CARRON,

C.M.G., M.S., B.A., LL.B. Publisher/Editor 1972-

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Jury rules manslaughter in inquest - what now?

“JUSTICE is served.” That was the cry of a mother as a jury at Coroner’s Court ruled that a police shooting was homicide by manslaughter.

But for justice to truly be served, the question is what comes next. The coroner’s court ruling, it must be remembered, is not a finding of criminal liability. The job of the coroner’s court is to establish the basics of what occurred surrounding a death – the coroner determines who the victim was, and the when, where and how the death occurred.

A finding of manslaughter at the coroner stage does not hold any one person responsible for what took place, nor will any one person face any legal penalties as a result of this outcome.

The next stage is criminal prosecution – which may or may not happen depending on the ruling from the coroner court.

This case involves the shootings of Richard “Buddy” Bastian and Harold “Kevin” Brown, who were killed on December 2, 2017, at about 1am on Tonique Williams-Darling Highway.

The jury decided after evidence that included video footage showing police firing their weapons at two men fleeing a bar. Some footage showed muzzle flashes from the officers, but no muzzle flashes from the direction of the men.

Other testimony disputed statements by officers that the men had fired at police.

The outcome was that the jury decided this was a case of homicide by manslaughter.

So what is the next step?

Well, it is not just those involved in this case who might be asking that question.

This is the fourth finding of homicide by manslaughter in the past year – but there has been little sign of progress towards any criminal case.

It should be noted that a criminal case has two possible outcomes – guilty or not guilty. Clearing the name of the accused can be as important as convicting the guilty.

For the families of those involved

in such cases, justice is not truly done until the outcome of any criminal case.

If manslaughter has taken place, then someone ought to be held to account.

It should, in fact, be treated just the same as any other case of manslaughter.

In a separate story today, you will read of the case of Azario Major, whose shooting by police was also ruled homicide by manslaughter in a coroner’s court case last year.

The officers in that case are seeking to appeal that ruling. The marshal of the Coroner’s Court yesterday opposed that appeal bid, saying that no evidence had been presented to suggest the coroner was not impartial or that the jury was coerced into their finding, and that the officers’ attorney had not given specific reasons for quashing the finding.

The family involved, meanwhile, sit and wait for the outcome, and prosecutors have not instigated criminal proceedings as yet.

In that case, the acting Director of Public Prosecutions has said she will not decide on the matter until the various appeal attempts end.

And so we end up in a situation where justice is so far not upheld or denied, but is on hold.

We do not yet know if anyone will be held to account at the criminal level for these shootings – just as we do not know if anyone will have their name cleared at the criminal courts.

We are left reflecting on the truism that justice delayed is justice denied.

And that is the case for both parties.

The families of those shot dead, and the officers who may find themselves accused but remain in limbo without the opportunity to walk away with their name cleared.

This is a situation that helps no one – and which attracts concerns over whether all cases are treated even-handedly.

An outcome, one way or the other, is needed – but for now the wait goes on to see if an outcome will even be possible.

FOCOL story seems full of holes EDITOR, The Tribune.

PLEASE permit me to express my view on the recent article you published regarding the FOCOL rights offering.

I think some of the commenters on that article raised interesting points.

The article seemed like a magician was doing a magic trick rather than a financial piece. As was commented, how do you go from a buyback position to asking shareholders to invest more to raise capital.

Also, if you made so much money from the prior year which would have added to your retained earnings, why aren’t you using your retained earnings for whatever plans you have now? That’s part of the beauty of retained earnings. When companies make a lot of money they do one of two things or both, give back to shareholders in dividends or

invest in the company.

So, here you have it, they are making record profits and they haven’t mentioned giving additional funds to shareholders in dividends and they’re not announcing this record profit would be pushed into new investments. They are asking for new money to be put in for capital expenditure. Also, they are coming to the market for new funds but have not stated why the funds are needed. This is highly irregular.

Looking at the article and I think someone commented, the journalist covering this story seemed to be taking notes as opposed to asking questions to dig into the story.

Often it seems some of the people commenting after the articles should be the journalist and the journalist should be the one commenting. Too many in

the media seem to be passing messages. It’s sad.

There were a ton of holes in this ask from FOCOL. To be frank, they shouldn’t be asking for a dime. They should be giving back you shareholders, not taking from them. This is a disgrace.

So, if you read into this, if the money isn’t being spent for projects and it’s not being passed to shareholders this isn’t for the benefit of shareholders. It only benefits the company. The company now passes the risk of this new venture to shareholders while keeping the money they made which they made on the backs of shareholders. This is greed personified.

Can someone somewhere challenge nonsense like this?

CONCERNED BAHAMIAN Nassau February 16, 2024.

FIREMAN battle a fire on the second floor of a two-storey building on Bay Street and Elizabeth Street yesterday.

Photo: Dante Carrer

FNM needs unity to have a chance EDITOR, The Tribune.

I WAS pleasantly surprised when I saw a photo of the Free National Movement Parliamentary caucus in either The Tribune or The Nassau Guardian some weeks ago. The surprise was seeing former FNM Leader Dr Hubert Minnis in the photo as well. It is no secret that there exist tensions between the Minnis and Michael Pintard camps.

Pintard is in an awkward situation. In an ideal world for the Minnis faction, the Killarney MP will wrest control of the FNM from Pintard and lead the FNM to victory in the 2026 general election. I am not sure the FNM can win under the Minnis brand. It’s possible, considering the growing discontentment with the Progressive Liberal Party government. But is the FNM hierarchy willing to make such a gamble? It would then mean a decade in the political wilderness as Opposition. I believe that the best scenario for the FNM moving forward is for the Pintard and Minnis camps to simply learn to coexist under the FNM umbrella, for the good of the country.

It is important that the FNM presents a united face to the Bahamian people ahead of the upcoming general election. Bahamians need to see a party that is cohesive with Pintard and Minnis standing in solidarity. A fragmented organisation would be a turnoff to many Bahamians. If the PLP wins a consecutive general election, which would be a first for that party since 1987, let it be due to Prime Minister

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net Philip Brave Davis’ stellar performance as leader of the country, and not because of a fractured FNM. The FNM must ensure that the PLP does not win another election by default, as it did in 2021.

Only 66,407 of the 194,524 registered voters cast their ballots for the PLP. Of the 194,524 registered voters, only 126,495 or 65 percent voted. While the PLP garnered 52.59 percent of the votes that were cast, in actuality, only about 34 percent of eligible Bahamian voters supported the party.

This means that a staggering 66 percent of eligible Bahamians do not support this government. Of course, the FNM also fared poorly in 2021. Only 36.45 percent of the votes cast were for the FNM. But I am not convinced that the FNM has less than 50,000 supporters. The reason I chose to chime in on this issue is because an unreliable news source is alleging that the Pintard camp is seeking to sever ties with Central Grand Bahama MP Iram Lewis, East Grand Bahama Kwasi Thompson, St Barnabas MP Shanendon Cartwright and Killarney MP Dr Hubert Minnis.

The news source is alleging that the Pintard camp plans on replacing Minnis with former Democratic National Alliance Leader Arinthia Komolafe. If the above is true -- and it is unlikely that it is -- it would

be political suicide for the Pintard camp to pursue this course of action. The unnamed writer of the above is obviously aware that Thompson and Lewis are rumored to be Minnis supporters. The situation with Cartwright is baffling, considering that he is FNM deputy leader. The Cartwright angle makes this story all the more unbelievable. What’s more, any attempts to remove Minnis would result in a civil war.

Minnis has far too many loyalists within the FNM, perhaps numbering in the thousands. Pintard would only alienate these FNMs at a time he’ll need all the support he can get.

As well, the move to drop Cartwright, Lewis and Thompson might also cause massive disruption within the party due to all three being MPs. These men are not seatless candidates seeking to win a seat in the House of Assembly. They are all seasoned FNM veterans with clout.

The FNM is not in any position to be playing hardball with its base. For the sake of The Bahamas, it is vitally imperative that Pintard and Minnis set aside whatever differences that they have and work towards strengthening the FNM. Whatever the results will be in the next convention must be accepted by both camps. If Pintard wins, the Minnis camp must accept the wishes of FNM delegates and move forward. The same applies for the Pintard camp.

KEVIN EVANS Freeport, Grand Bahama February 20, 2024.

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, February 21, 2024, PAGE 7

Man disappears before murder trial leaving family Junknoo and Chill at Cynthia ‘Mother’ Pratt Park to pay $30,000 bail surety from page one month before his murder trial.

Supreme Court Justice Cheryl Grant-Thompson ruled on Monday that Allerdice Moxey, 80, and Marrisa Rolle, 40, must pay the funds after they failed to locate Rashad Paul, 33, who went missing early last month.

Ms Moxey, Paul’s grandmother, and Ms Rolle, his child’s mother, signed a $30,000 bail form for him in May 2020 after he was accused of killing Kirby Pierre in 2019.

Paul was required to report to police regularly, keep his curfew and wear an ankle monitoring bracelet.

However, police allege that he breached his bail conditions by removing his ankle monitoring bracelet in January. They also suspect he committed murder last year while on bail.

Despite issuing a warrant for his arrest, police have been unable to locate Paul, prompting the court to summon his suretors.

Both women testified that they did not ensure Paul complied with his bail conditions.

His grandmother, a straw vendor, said she rarely saw him because of work and didn’t have a contact for him, despite providing her property papers to secure bail for him.

Ms Moxey said she usually spoke with Paul over

the telephone but never checked to see if he was attending court or reporting to police.

“The court finds sureties’ conduct or the lack thereof to be reprehensible,” Justice Grant-Thompson said. “The legal obligation of being a surety was not respected by either Ms Rolle or Ms Moxey. This non-adherence/negligence to fully grasp the weight of the important position they signed onto does not make them any less culpable for the defendant’s failure to attend.”

“The sureties had a causal disregard for their obligations. It is clear to this court that neither surety made any constant checks to confirm the whereabouts of the defendant or sought to confirm that he was adhering to the set bail conditions. It was not until the defendant went missing or to use the modern terminology, went off the grid, did the sureties attempt to contact him.”

Justice Grant-Thompson said she would have considered a more favourable outcome if the women “had done everything they were supposed to.” But she said they “rested on their laurels” and must pay for that. She ordered them to pay $15,000 each in two instalments.

The judge said while the court was “loathe” to make the women pay, it had to send a strong message to society.

MAN ACCUSED OF ATTEMPTING TO SOLICIT SEX FROM UNDERAGE GIRLS

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net A 53-YEAR-OLD man was remanded yesterday after he allegedly tried to solicit sex from three teenage girls in Andros.

Magistrate Kendra Kelly charged James “Killer” Coakley with three counts of procuration.

Coakley allegedly attempted to procure

unlawful sexual intercourse from three girls between the ages of 15 and 16 between January 1 and February 7 in Cargill Creek, Andros.

The defendant was remanded to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services. His case will be transferred to the Supreme Court by a voluntary bill of indictment set for service on May 17.

Mario Gray represented the defendant.

TWO-AND-A-HALF YEARS JAIL FOR LOADED GUN POSSESSION

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net A MAN was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison yesterday after he was found guilty of having a loaded gun near his home on Cockburn Street in 2021.

Magistrate Kendra Kelly concluded Trevino Thompson’s trial for possession of ammunition and an unlicensed firearm.

Nathan Smith represented the 33-year-old.

Police reportedly observed the accused throw a gun into a yard adjacent to his own as they tried to search his residence on March 24, 2021.

A Taurus 9mm pistol

with 13 rounds of ammunition was recovered during this incident. Thompson was the only one at home at the time.

After reviewing the evidence against him, Magistrate Kelly found that prosecutor Sgt Vernon Pyfrom proved Thompson’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

It was noted that the defendant was an expectant father and was responsible for another child.

In issuing her two-anda-half-year prison sentence for the offence, Magistrate Kelly told the defendant that while she tried to be lenient, she had to consider the current proliferation of gun violence.

PICTURED are scenes from a grill and chill Junkanoo rush out was held yesterday Cynthia Mother Pratt Community Park.

Photos: Moise Amisial

PAGE 8, Wednesday, February 21, 2024

THE TRIBUNE

It’s easy to blame mother when bad things happen, but not often accurate IT is easy to blame societal issues on women — mothers in particular.

It is easy to blame them on “broken” homes. It is easy to blame them on less commitment to Christianity. The latter two tend to go back to women — seen as responsible for keeping the family and the “home,” regardless of its state and affect on her, together, and responsible for forcing Christianity and relevant obligations like weekly church attendance on the household.

Women have carried the burden of the family and home life while men have been free of blame when the family and/or home life fall apart or fail to function as society deems fit. There is frequent evidence of this in the predictable response to violent crime by men and boys and violence against girls. “Where was the mother?” The mother is somehow expected to work in order to financially contribute to the household, if not pay the bills completely on her own, and be a constant supervisor of her children, monitoring all of their activities in realtime.

Parental responsibility is not to be shirked, we all agree, but some seem to believe the mother is the parent and the father is a “figure”. He is sometimes like a mythical creature, coming and going without prediction. He is sometimes villain, coming only to raise hell when something has gone wrong. He is sometimes an empty body, physically there, but not truly present. He is sometimes non-existent, having been gone long enough to cease to exist. When he is a parent, the father is highly revered, more celebrated than any mother doing it all on her own. When functioning in the role of a parent, the father is exceptional

By Alicia Wallace and the mother is ordinary, because while it is the rule for women to do the work of parenting, a father parenting is an exception.

It is often stressed that two-parent households function better and have better outcomes, as measured by the perceived health and success of the children. This, however, is an oversimplification and a convenient narrative for those who push marriage, monogamy, gender stereotypes by any means and to any effect necessary.

The truth is that children benefit from multiple people teaching, guiding, and caring for them, beyond their basic physiological needs. There is often a primary parent/guardian, whether or not parents/ guardians live together. In The Bahamas, like many countries, that is usually a woman.

There was a time that white women did not work outside of the home and were relegated to “homemaking” and reproductive labour — the work that made (and still makes) it possible for men to work while producing more labourers. It is important to note that the situation for black women was quite different, having always engaged in productive labour while responsible for reproductive labour. White women — the women who were both recognised as human beings and deemed inferior to men, thus relegated to second class citizenship —were to take

care of the household and the children.

Today, women work outside of the home because we have to, whether or not we enjoy it or have particular career aspirations.

For the average Bahamian household, one income is not enough. Minimum wage does not even come close to enabling a person to live in a one-bedroom apartment, much less support a family.

The shift to women engaging in formal employment was not accompanied by a shift to shared responsibility in the home or family life.

People continue to expect and support the idea that women are responsible — entirely or primarily —for domestic and care work and men need not or ought not engage in it at all. This is an obvious inequality that many of us live and witness every day. It is intertwined with the fantasy that the ultimate family structure is a mother, father, and children living in the same house, independent of other family units. This has never been the reality of Bahamian families which function, regardless of living arrangements.

While many grew up in homes with both parents, until and unless there was separation or divorce, it would be, at the very least, reductive to suggest that the typical Bahamian family is a nuclear family, or that this has proven to work.

The Bahamas has a tourism-dependent economy which means its people

Women have carried the burden of the family and home life while men have been free of blame when the family and/or home life fall apart or fail to function as society deems fit. are tourism-dependent.

Most people who are not employed by the government are front desk clerks, servers, cooks, room attendants, casino workers, and the like. These are not nineto-five jobs. These are not jobs that allow parents to take their children to school at 8am, pick them up at 3pm, help them with their homework, make dinner by 6pm, have the family eat together, tuck children in by 9pm, and have time together before going to sleep themselves.

Work life in The Bahamas, for most, requires parents to work opposite shift and have little or no time together or, as most do, depend on other family members for help.

This worked much better a few decades ago when grandparents were retired when or soon after their grandchildren came along.

Now, grandparents are still working, unable to retire due to the cost of living.

They cannot be full time babysitters.

Aunts and uncles step in. Older cousins step in.

People spend their days off, vacation days, university breaks, and other time off to help their family members with childcare. In some cases, where family members are not available, neighbours are asked to keep an eye on the house and/or peep in on the children. In many cases, older siblings are parentified, made responsible for collection from school, homework assistance, making snacks, and sometimes preparing a quick and easy dinner.

Some of them even have morning duty, waking their younger siblings, getting

them ready for school, hustling to the bus stop, and ensuring they all get to school. Two parents cannot do it alone. The nuclear family model is oversold and, in the end, ineffective in reaching the goal of properly raising and caring for children who grow into healthy adults. The salvation by way of a two-parent home is a myth wherever the parents are not wealthy.

We have built a country on shift work, and shift work is incompatible with parenting. Households with children need more people.

This is one of the main reasons many people hire or consider hiring live-in nannies or housekeepers.

This is an issue all on its own, with people — largely migrant workers — being underpaid in addition to being hired under one title while being required to perform the tasks of two. A housekeeper is not a nanny and a nanny is not a housekeeper. Many households find themselves in need of both, and too little money to make the hires. This leads to the exploitation of domestic workers and the parentification of children.

For the health and wellbeing of children, families, communities, and the country, we have to change the narrative. We have to revise the models we have set out. People have to be encouraged to create the households and families that work for them. That may mean more than two generations living in one household. That may mean multiple family units within one family purchasing and living on one multi-family property. That may mean a return to more intimate

relationships among neighbours. That may mean delaying or choosing not to have children. That may mean more communal living. That may mean extended families to include the people we choose. That may mean entirely different family structures.

The “village” people reference has gone away. The people in the village do not always show themselves to be interested in helping to raise children. They show up to complain. To lambaste. To criticize. The village is often changing, as people move from one apartment to the next, not really having a chance to get to know the people around them.

The conditions we live within are not conducive to the lives to which we have been taught to aspire.

Rather than an image, like the nuclear family, we need to reach for a new reality that is healthy, educated, respectful and respected children who grow to live in harmony with one another.

Neoliberalism will not get us there. Burdening women with domestic and care work will not get us there.

We need support for parents. We need support for children. We need new ways to build and be families.

We need to refuse to allow the government to withdraw from its obligations to ensure the social wellbeing of the country, and refuse to allow it to continue along the path of tourism to the detriment, if not exclusion, of all else. There must be investment in systems and services to support the healthy development of young people and, by extension, the country.

Recommendations 1. Assembly by Natasha Brown. Written by a black British women of Jamaican descent, Assembly is a short book that manages to have two plots. The obvious one is the party the narrator is preparing to attend and the other is the layers of her identity and how they may appear or be invoked at this party and by the people in attendance. Race, class, and gender come to the fore as she considers herself and the space she inhabits. As a reviewer on Goodreads put it, “Central to the story is the myth of meritocracy and how hard work and achievement is subjective in a world where generational wealth and social status press their fingers on the scales while accusing everyone else of foul play.”

2. See a play at the PAB Black Box Theatre. Ringplay Season starts on March 7 with “Them” by Winston Saunders and “A Merry Regiment of Women” by Rae Shirley. There are few things as entertaining and thought-provoking as Bahamian theatre. Email admin@ringplay.org for more information on the upcoming plays. If you would like to write a play yourself, register for the inperson or virtual Writing for Theatre workshop with Dr. Nicolette Bethel at Poinciana Paper Press this weekend. Visit poincianapaperpress.com for more information.

3. Visit a Family Island . Now is a good time to start planning a Family Island trip to be taken during the summer months when the rates for accommodations are typically lower as it is the slow season. Take your time to look into the options, and identify those that are Bahamian-owned. Find out which hotels participate in the Two Fly Free programme and see how much easier your trip can be on your wallet. Go to an island you have never visited, or revisit one that has likely changed since you were last there. Go to the farmers market, eat at the fish fry, visit the national park. Go to the beach and see the treasure that awaits. Look up at the starry night sky, and wake up early enough to catch at least one sunrise. Do it with people you love.

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, February 21, 2024, PAGE 9

SORA IS CHATGPT MAKER OPENAI’S NEW TEXT TO VIDEO GENERATOR. HERE’S WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE NEW TOOL

By WYATTE GRANTHAMPHILIPS and MATT O’BRIEN AP Business Writers NEW YORK (AP) — The maker of ChatGPT is now diving into AIgenerated video.

Meet Sora — OpenAI’s new textto-video generator. The tool, which the San Francisco company unveiled Thursday, uses generative artificial intelligence to instantly create short videos based on written commands.

Sora isn’t the first to demonstrate this kind of technology. But industry analysts point to the high quality of the tool’s videos displayed so far, and note that its introduction marks a significant leap for both OpenAI and the future of text-to-video generation overall.

Still, as with all things in the rapidly growing AI space today, such technology also raises fears about potential ethical and societal implications. Here’s what you need to know.

WHAT IS SORA? CAN I USE IT YET? Sora is a text-to-video generator — creating videos up to 60 seconds long based on written prompts using generative AI. The model can also generate video from an existing still image.

Generative AI is a branch of AI that can create something new.

Examples include chatbots, like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and imagegenerators such as DALL-E and Midjourney. Getting an AI system to generate videos is newer and more challenging but relies on some of the same technology.

Sora isn’t available for public use yet (OpenAI says it’s engaging with policymakers and artists before officially releasing the tool) and there’s a lot we still don’t know. But since

Thursday’s announcement, the company has shared a handful of examples of Sora-generated videos to show off what it can do.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman also took to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, to ask social media users to send in prompt ideas. He later shared realistically detailed videos that responded to prompts like “two golden retrievers podcasting on top of a mountain “ and “a bicycle race on ocean with different animals as athletes riding the bicycles with drone camera view.”

While Sora-generated videos can depict complex, incredibly detailed scenes, OpenAI notes that there are still some weaknesses — including some spatial and cause-and-effect elements. For example, OpenAI adds on its website, “a person might take a bite out of a cookie, but afterward, the cookie may not have a bite mark.”

ARE THERE OTHER AI-GENERATED VIDEO TOOLS OUT THERE TODAY? OpenAI’s Sora isn’t the first of its kind. Google, Meta and the startup Runway ML are among companies that have demonstrated similar technology.

Still, industry analysts stress the apparent quality and impressive length of Sora videos shared so far.

Fred Havemeyer, head of U.S. AI and software research at Macquarie, said that Sora’s launch marks a big step forward for the industry.

“Not only can you do longer videos, I understand up to 60 seconds, but also the videos being created look more normal and seem to actually respect physics and the real world more,” Havemeyer said. “You’re not getting as many ‘uncanny valley’ videos or fragments on the video feeds that look ...

TECHTALK

VOLKSWAGEN-BACKED SCOUT MOTORS, IN NOD TO PAST, TOASTS START OF CONSTRUCTION OF ELECTRIC SUV PLANT

By JEFFREY COLLINS Associated Press

THE OPENAI logo is displayed on a cell phone with an image on a computer monitor generated by ChatGPT’s Dall-E text-to-image model, Friday, Dec. 8, 2023, in Boston. The maker of ChatGPT is now diving into the world of AI-generated video. Meet Sora — OpenAI’s new text-to-video generator. The tool, which the San Francisco-based company unveiled last Thursday, uses generative artificial intelligence to instantly create short videos based on written commands.

(AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File) unnatural.”

While there has been “tremendous progress” in AI-generated video over the last year — including Stable Video Diffusion’s introduction last November — Forrester senior analyst Rowan Curran said such videos have required more “stitching together” for character and scene consistency.

The consistency and length of Sora’s videos, however, represents “new opportunities for creatives to incorporate elements of AI-generated video into more traditional content, and now even to generate full-blown narrative videos from one or a few prompts,” Curran told The Associated Press via email Friday.

WHAT ARE THE POTENTIAL RISKS? Although Sora’s abilities have astounded observers since Thursday’s launch, anxiety over ethical and societal implications of AI-generated video uses also remain.

Havemeyer points to the substantial risks in 2024’s potentially fraught election cycle, for example. Having a “potentially magical” way to generate videos that may look and sound realistic presents a number of issues within politics and beyond, he added — pointing to fraud, propaganda and misinformation concerns.

“The negative externalities of generative AI will be a critical topic for debate in 2024,” Havemeyer said.

“It’s a substantial issue that every business and every person will need to face this year.”

Tech companies are still calling the shots when it comes to governing AI and its risks as governments around the world work to catch up.

In December, the European Union reached a deal on the world’s first comprehensive AI rules, but the act won’t take effect until two years after final approval.

On Thursday, OpenAI said it was taking important safety steps before making Sora widely available.

“We are working with red teamers — domain experts in areas like misinformation, hateful content, and bias — who will be adversarially testing the model,” the company wrote.

“We’re also building tools to help detect misleading content such as a detection classifier that can tell when a video was generated by Sora.”

OpenAI’s Vice President of Global Affairs Anna Makanju reiterated this when speaking Friday at the Munich Security Conference, where OpenAI and 19 other technology companies pledged to voluntarily work together to combat AI-generated election deepfakes.

She noted the company was releasing Sora “in a manner that is quite cautious.”

At the same time, OpenAI has revealed limited information about how Sora was built. OpenAI’s technical report did not disclose what imagery and video sources were used to train Sora — and the company did not immediately respond to a request for further comment Friday.

The Sora release also arrives amid the backdrop of lawsuits against OpenAI and its business partner Microsoft by some authors and The New York Times over its use of copyrighted works of writing to train ChatGPT. OpenAI pays an undisclosed fee to the AP to license its text news archive.

‘SOARING’ OVER HILLS OR ‘PLAYING’ WITH PUPPIES, STUDY FINDS SENIORS ENJOY VIRTUAL REALITY

By TERRY SPENCER Associated Press POMPANO BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Retired Army Col. Farrell Patrick taught computer science at West Point during the 1970s and then at two private universities through the 1990s, so he isn’t surprised by the progress technology has made over the decades.

But when the 91-year-old got his first virtual reality experience recently, he was stunned. Sitting in a conference room at John Knox Village, a suburban Fort Lauderdale, Florida, retirement community, Patrick sat up straight as his eyes and ears experienced what it would be like to be in a Navy fighter jet flying off the Florida coast.

“Oh my God, that’s beautiful,” he blurted before the VR program brought the jet in for a landing on an aircraft carrier.

John Knox Village was one of 17 senior communities around the country that participated in a recently published Stanford University study that found that large majorities of 245 participants between 65 and 103 years old enjoyed virtual reality, improving both their emotions and their interactions with staff.

The study is part of a larger effort to adapt VR so it can be beneficial to seniors’ health and emotional well-being and help lessen the impact dementia has on some of them.

During the testing, seniors picked from sevenminute virtual experiences such as parachuting, riding in a tank, watching stage performances, playing with puppies and kittens or visiting places like Paris or Egypt. The participants wore headsets that gave them 360degree views and sounds, making it seem like they had

KAREN AUDET, an 82-yearold retired elementary school teacher, wears a Mynd Immersive virtual reality headset at John Knox Village.

(AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) been all but dropped into the actual experience.

“It brought back memories of my travels and ... brought back memories of my experience growing up on a farm,” said Terry Colli, a former public relations director at the Canadian

Embassy in Washington, D.C., of his 2022 experience.

Colli, 76, liked swiveling in a chair to get a panoramic view. “That was kind of amazing.”

Anne Selby, a 79-year-old retired counselor and artist, found VR “stimulated virtually every area of my brain, all of the senses.”

“I particularly enjoyed the ones dealing with pets because I have a cat and I’ve had pets most of my life,” she said.

Stanford’s peer-reviewed study, working with the company Mynd Immersive, found that almost 80% of seniors reported having a more positive attitude after their VR session and almost 60% said they felt less isolated socially. The enjoyment lessened somewhat for older respondents whose sight and hearing had deteriorated.

Those who found VR less enjoyable were also more likely to dislike technology

in general.

In addition, almost 75% of caregivers said residents’ moods improved after using VR. More than 80% of residents and almost 95% caregivers said talking about their VR experience enhanced their relationships with each other.

“For the majority of our respondents, it was their first time using virtual reality. They enjoyed it. They were likely to recommend it to others, and they looked forward to doing it again,” said Ryan Moore, a Stanford doctoral candidate who helped lead the research.

“We are proving VR to be a tool that really does help with the well-being of our elders,” said Chris Brickler, Mynd’s CEO and co-founder. The Texas-based company is one of a handful that specialises in virtual reality for seniors. “It is far different than a two-dimensional television or an iPad.”

BLYTHEWOOD, S.C. (AP) — Scout Motors celebrated the start of construction on its $2 billion electric SUV plant in South Carolina on Thursday not with a line of people in suits with shovels but with a nod to the company’s gasolinepowered past.

A fleet of old Scout vehicles drove a brick from the site of the former factory in Fort Wayne, Indiana — where the rugged, boxy precursors to SUVs were built in the 1960s and 1970s — to the site where Volkswagen Group-backed new company is trying to revive the brand.

Scout thinks the market for its $50,000 electric SUV isn’t with a futuristic appearance but rather something resembling how the vehicles once looked but with all the environmental and driving benefits of an electric vehicle.

“While we are honouring the hard-working heritage and the soul of Scout, we are ready for the future when it comes to production and technology,” said Christian Vollmer, a member of Volkswagen’s extended executive committee.

The plant in Blythewood, South Carolina, about 20 miles (32 kilometres) north of Columbia is expected to open in 2027 and employ up to 4,000 people if Scout Motors can hit its goal of making and selling 200,000 vehicles per year.

South Carolina offered $1.3 billion in incentives to Scout Motors, including plans to build a new interchange on Interstate 77 leading to the plant, a railroad bridge over the highway and massive improvements to sewer, power and other surrounding roads.

There are also grants the company can use for whatever it needs to get production going.

The Scout Motors site will join BMW in Greer and both a Volvo and a Sprinter van plant near Charleston as South Carolina continues to try to become an automaking hub, especially in the electric vehicle market.

TOP PAID iPHONE APPS (US): 1. Minecraft, Mojang 2. Geometry Dash, RobTop Games AB 3. Shadowrocket, Shadow Launch Technology Limited 4. Bloons TD 6, Ninja Kiwi 5. Heads Up!, Warner Bros.

6. Papa’s Freezeria To Go!, Flipline Studios 7. HotSchedules, HotSchedules 8. Plague Inc., Ndemic Creations 9. The Wonder Weeks, Domus Technica 10. MONOPOLY - The Board Game, Marmalade Game Studio

PAGE 10, Wednesday, February 21, 2024

THE TRIBUNE

Widow and aides of assassinated Haitian President indicted in his killing PORT-AU-PRINCE Associated Press A JUDGE in Haiti responsible for investigating the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse has indicted his widow, Martine Moïse, ex-prime minister Claude Joseph and the former chief of Haiti’s National Police, Léon Charles, among others, according to a report obtained Monday.

The indictments are expected to further destabilize Haiti as it struggles with a surge in gang violence and recovers from a spate of violent protests demanding the resignation of current Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

Dozens of suspects were indicted in the 122-page report issued by Walther Wesser Voltaire, who is the fifth judge to lead the investigation after previous ones stepped down for various reasons, including fear of being killed.

Charles, who was police chief when Moïse was killed and now serves as Haiti’s permanent representative to the Organization of the American States, faces the most serious charges: murder; attempted murder; possession and illegal carrying of weapons; conspiracy against the internal security of the state; and criminal association.

Meanwhile, Joseph and Martine Moïse, who was injured in the attack, are accused of complicity and criminal association.

Charles could not be immediately reached for comment, and Martine Moïse’s attorney did not return a message for comment, Meanwhile, Joseph, the former prime minister, shared a statement with The Associated Press accusing Henry of “undermining” the investigation and benefitting from the president’s death.

“Henry ... is weaponizing the Haitian justice system,

HAITI’s President Jovenel Moise sits with his wife Martine during his swearing-in ceremony at Parliament in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday February 7, 2017. A judge investigating the July 2021 assassination of President Moïse issued a final report on Monday, that indicts his widow, Martine Moïse, ex-prime minister Claude Joseph and the former chief of Haiti’s National Police, Léon Charles, among others.

Photo: Dieu Nalio Chery/AP prosecuting political opponents like me. It’s a classic coup d’état,” Joseph said.

“They failed to kill me and Martine Moïse on July 7th 2021, now they are using the Haitian justice system to advance their Machiavellian agenda.”

Joseph again called on Henry to resign and noted that while he was still prime minister, he invited the FBI to help local authorities investigate the killing and wrote the U.N. and OAS for help.

“I won’t stop my fight.

Justice must be served,” he said.

In his report, the judge noted that the former secretary general of the National Palace, Lyonel Valbrun, told authorities that he received “strong pressure” from Martine Moïse to put the president’s office at the disposal of Joseph because he needed it to “organize a council of ministers.”

Valbrun also said that two days before her husband was

killed, Martine Moïse visited the National Palace and spent nearly five hours, from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m., removing “a bunch of things.”

He said that two days after Jovenel Moïse was slain, Martine Moïse called to tell him that, “Jovenel didn’t do anything for us.

You have to open the office.

The president told Ti Klod to create a council of ministers; he will hold elections in three months so I can become president, now we will have power.”

While the document did not identify Ti Klod, the former prime minister, Claude Joseph, is known by that name.

The judge also stated in his report that Martine Moïse “suggested” she took refuge under the marital bed to protect herself from the attackers, but he noted that authorities at the scene found that not “even a giant rat…whose size measures between 35 and 45 centimeters” could fit under the bed.

The judge said the former first lady’s statements were “so tainted with contradictions that they leave something to be desired and discredit her.”

Others who face charges including murder are Christian Emmanuel Sanon, a Haitian-American pastor who visualized himself as Haiti’s next president and said he thought Moïse was only going to be arrested; Joseph Vincent, a HaitianAmerican and former informant for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration; Dimitri Hérard, presidential security chief; John Joël Joseph, a former Haitian senator; and Windelle Coq, a Haitian judge whom authorities say is a fugitive.

Sanon, Vincent and Joseph were extradited to the U.S., where a total of 11 suspects face federal charges in the slaying of Haiti’s president. At least three of them already have been sentenced.

Meanwhile, more than 40

suspects are languishing in prison in Haiti awaiting trial, although it was not immediately clear how quickly one would be held following Monday’s indictments.

Among them are 20 former Colombian soldiers.

Milena Carmona, wife of Jheyner Alberto Carmona Flórez, told The Associated Press that he is innocent.

“What’s happening is that this crime is a conspiracy of great magnitudes in which powerful people are behind the scenes running everything, and that’s why they’re not given freedom,” she said of the former soldiers.

U.S. prosecutors have described it as a plot hatched in both Haiti and Florida to hire mercenaries to kidnap or kill Moïse, who was 53 when he was slain at his private home near the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince.

The attack began late July 6 and ended July 7, according to witnesses.

Martine Moïse and others who were interrogated said they heard heavy gunfire starting around 1 a.m. that lasted between 30 to to 45 minutes before armed men burst into the bedroom of the presidential couple.

Moïse said she was lying on the ground when she heard the attackers yell, “That’s not it! That’s not it!

That’s not it!”

She said the suspects made a video call to identify the exact location of what they were searching as they killed the president.

She added that she was face down when the suspects tilted her head and tugged on one of her toes “to ensure that she wasn’t alive.”

Once they left, Moïse said she dragged herself on the ground and whispered to her husband that she was going to try and go to the hospital.

“That’s when she noticed that the president was dead and that his left eye had been removed from the socket,” the report stated.

Moïse said a group of

about 30 to 50 police officers were supposed to guard the presidential residence, but the judge noted that only a handful of officers were present that night. One officer told the judge that he heard explosions and a voice through a megaphone saying, “Do not shoot! It’s a DEA operation! US Army!

We know how many officers are inside. Exit with two hands lowered.”

Another officer said the head of security of the first lady found her “in critical condition” surrounded by her two children. He said he also saw an undetermined number of people coming out of the president’s residence “with briefcases and several envelopes in their possession.”

The report quotes Inspector General André Vladimir Paraison saying that the president called him at 1:46 a.m. and told him, “Paraison! Man, hurry up! I’m in trouble! Come quickly and save my life.” He said he encountered heavily armed men and couldn’t access the residence immediately.

Officers at the scene said they found cars, windows and doors at the president’s private home riddled with bullet holes, along with surveillance cameras cut off and a broken lock on the doublewooden door leading to the presidential bedroom.

The judge said some police officers at the residence were disarmed and handcuffed, while others “had time to throw themselves down a ravine” for safety. In addition, the police officer overseeing presidential security was accused of receiving $80,000 to bribe certain officers “to remain inactive” during the assassination, according to the report.

The judge noted how “none of the police providing security to the head of state was in danger. Unfortunately, the head of state was assassinated with ease.”

WikiLeaks founder faces his last legal roll of the dice in Britain to avoid US extradition LONDON Associated Press JULIAN Assange’s lawyers opened a final U.K. legal challenge Tuesday to stop the WikiLeaks founder from being sent to the United States to face spying charges, arguing that American authorities are seeking to punish him for exposing serious criminal acts by the U.S. government.

Lawyer Edward Fitzgerald said Assange may “suffer a flagrant denial of justice” if he is sent to the U.S. At a twoday High Court hearing, Assange’s attorneys are asking judges to grant a new appeal, his last legal roll of the dice in Britain.

Assange himself was not in court. Judge Victoria Sharp said he was granted permission to come from Belmarsh Prison for the hearing, but had chosen not to attend. Fitzgerald said the 52-year-old Australian was unwell.

Stella Assange, his wife, said Julian had wanted to attend, but that his health was “not in good condition.”

“He was sick over Christmas, he’s had a cough since then,” she told The Associated Press.

She said The WikiLeaks founder was following proceedings through his lawyers.

Assange’s family and supporters say his physical and mental health have suffered during more than a decade of legal battles, including seven years in self-exile in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and the last five years in the high-security prison on the outskirts of the British capital.

He has been indicted on 17 charges of espionage and one charge of computer misuse over his

website’s publication of classified U.S. documents almost 15 years ago.

American prosecutors say Assange helped U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning steal diplomatic cables and military files that WikiLeaks later published, putting lives at risk.

To his supporters, Assange is a secrecy-busting journalist who exposed U.S. military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan. They argue that the prosecution is politically motivated and he won’t get a fair trial in the U.S. Hundreds of supporters holding “Free Julian Assange” signs and chanting “there is only one decision – no extradition” held a noisy protest outside the neo-Gothic High Court in London. Rallies were also held in cities around the world, including Rome, Brussels and Berlin.

“If Julian Assange is successfully extradited to the U.S., journalists the world over are going to have to watch their back,” said Simon Crowther, legal advisor to human rights group Amnesty International.

Stella Assange told the crowd the case was about “the right to be able to speak freely without being put in prison and hounded and terrorized by the state.”

Referring to the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in prison last week, she said: “What happened to Navalny can happen to Julian, and will happen to Julian if he is extradited.”

Stella Assange, who married the WikiLeaks founder in prison in 2022 — said last week that his health has deteriorated during years of

confinement and “if he’s extradited, he will die.”

If the judges rule against Assange, he can ask the European Court of Human Rights to block his extradition — though supporters worry he could be put on a plane to the U.S. before that happens, because the British government has already signed an extradition order.

Assange’s lawyers say he could face up to 175 years in prison if convicted, though American authorities have said the sentence is likely to be much shorter.

While several of Assange’s arguments against extradition have already been rejected by British courts, his lawyers are trying to make new points to secure an appeal.

Assange’s attorneys argued that the prosecution is politically motivated retaliation for WikiLeaks’ “exposure of criminality on the part of the U.S. government on an unprecedented scale,” including torture and killings.

“The U.S. was prepared to go to any lengths (including misusing its own criminal justice system) to sustain impunity for U.S. officials in respect of the torture/ war crimes committed in its infamous ‘war on terror,’ and to suppress those actors and courts willing and prepared to try to bring those crimes to account,” Assange’s lawyers said in written arguments. “Mr. Assange was one of those targets.”

Assange’s lawyers also want judges to reconsider allegations that the CIA developed plans to kidnap or kill Assange while he was in the Ecuadorian Embassy. A

DEMONSTRATORS hold banners outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, yesterday. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will make his final appeal against his impending extradition to the United States at the court.

Photo: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP lower-court judge has strategic and national crimes investigations in dismissed the claims, but security interests of the November 2019 because Assange attorney Mark United States” and put so much time had elapsed.

Summers said Tuesday individuals named in the A U.K. district court that there’s evidence “the documents — including judge rejected the U.S. plot was real.”

Iraqis and Afghans who extradition request in “There was a plot to had helped U.S. forces — 2021 on the grounds that kidnap Mr. Assange, to at risk of “serious physical Assange was likely to rendition him to America, harm.” kill himself if held under or else straightforwardly Assange’s legal troubles harsh U.S. prison conmurder him,” he claimed. began in 2010, when he ditions. Higher courts Fitzgerald added that was arrested in London overturned that decision “there is a real possibility at the request of Sweden, after getting assurances of the return of a Trump which wanted to question from the U.S. about his administration” prepared him about allegations of treatment. The British to consider “extrajudicial rape and sexual assault government signed an attack, or worse” against made by two women. In extradition order in June Assange.

2012, Assange jumped 2022.

Lawyers for the U.S. bail and sought refuge Meanwhile, the Ausgovernment will set out inside the Ecuadorian tralian parliament last their case on Wednesday. Embassy. week called for Assange James Lewis, representThe relationship to be allowed to return to ing the U.S., said Assange between Assange and his his homeland. was being prosecuted hosts eventually soured, The judges, Sharp and “because he is alleged to and he was evicted from Jeremy Johnson, could have committed serious the embassy in April deliver a verdict at the criminal offences.”

2019.

British police end of the hearing on He argued in writ- immediately arrested Wednesday, but they’re ten submissions that and imprisoned him for more likely to take sevAssange’s actions “threat- breaching bail in 2012. eral weeks to consider ened damage to the Sweden dropped the sex their decision.

SPORTS PAGE 11

Buddy, Page 14

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2024

Men’s national basketball team named PATRICK MACTAGGART

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

W

hile they won’t have all of the top players, head coach Moses Johnson has released the names of what is considered to be a solid team to represent the Bahamas Basketball Federation at the 2024 AmeriCup Qualifier.

Anchored around National Basketball Association’s free agent Kai Jones and veteran Jaraun ‘Kino’ Burrows, the team will feature a mixture of youth and veteran players in their home-and-away matchup against Puerto Rico.

Joining Jones and Burrows on the team are

Domnick Bridgewater, David Nesbitt, Eron Gordon, Kentwan Smith, Rashad Davis, Emmanuel Newsome, Godfey Rolle, Tavario Miller and Aaron Levarity.

Team Bahamas will first play Puerto Rico on Thursday, February 22 in an away game at the Coliseo Roberto Clemente in San Juan, Puerto Rico, at 7:10pm Eastern time.

They will return home on Friday to prepare for their second matchup on Sunday, February 25 at the Kendal GL Isaacs Gymnasium.

At the conclusion of the first window of the AmeriCup this weekend, the Bahamas will be back in action in November and February, 2025 for the remaining two windows

KAI JONES for a chance to be one of three teams to advance to the FIBA AmeriCup 2025 slated to be hosted at the Alexis Argüello Sports Centre in Managua, Nicaragua.

However, Team Bahamas will also get a chance to play in the Qualifying Tournament for the 2024 Olympic Games in Valencia, Spain, July 2-7.

If successful, the team will head to Paris, France for the Olympics, scheduled for July 26 to August 11.

Johnson, the federation’s first vice president and an assistant coach on the men’s national team, takes over the role as head coach for AmeriCup team in the absence of head coach Chris DeMarco of the Golden State Warriors.

DeMarco, who coached the men’s team as they booked their ticket to Spain by winning the FIBA Men’s Pre-Olympic Qualifying Tournament last year in Argentina, won’t be able to make the trip this week

due to his obligation to the Warriors.

Not available as well are Chavano “Buddy” Hield, now with the Philadelphia 76ers, Deandre Ayton, now with the Portland Trail Blazers and Eric Gordon, now with the Phoenix Suns.

The trio played a pivotal role in Team Bahamas’ victory in the Pre-Qualifying Tournament in Argentina to get to the Olympic Qualifying Tournament. It’s the first time that the Bahamas has reached this stage in the FIBA competition.

Like DeMarco, they are all competing this week for their respective teams as the NBA kicks off the second half of their season following the All-Star break over the weekend in Indiana.

IS CHAMPION OF COTECC

THE Bahamas’ top junior in the U14 division Patrick Mactaggart was victorious in the Grade 1 Copa Universidad Galileo Cotecc Tournament in Guatemala.

The tournament is a top-graded one on the Confederation of Tennis for Central America and the Caribbean (Cotecc) calendar.

The best-of-the-best athletes in the region were participating in the competition from Honduras, Mexico, Guatemala, Venezuela, El Salvador, Bolivia, The Bahamas, Panama and Costa Rica.

In the R16, Patrick won over the host country

IN Mystic Marlins beat Warriors REST PEACE 42-32, fall to the Knights 45-17 SOFTBALL PLAYER SEE PAGE 13

‘SUZY Q’

ON THE REPLAY: The Doris Johnson Mystic Marlins beat the Bishop Michael Eldon Warriors 42-32 on Monday then got blown out by the CR Walker Knights 45-17 yesterday in the 40th Hugh Campbell Classic basketball tourney at the Kendal GL Isaacs Gymnasium. Action heated up during Tuesday’s morning session.

Photo: Moise Amisial SEE THE FULL STORY AND MORE PHOTOS ON PAGE 14

SPORTS CALENDAR

Feb. 2024

BAHAMAS BODYBUILDING, WELLNESS AND FITNESS FEDERATION MAKING STRIDES

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMAS ESPORTS FEDERATION THE federation is searching for eFootball players to represent The Bahamas regionally in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and potentially at the International Championships.

Other opportunities to travel and earn prizes are available.

Individuals interested can send an email to contact@besf242.org or reach out via Whatsapp at 242-425-2288. Persons must provide their full name, email and phone number.

The deadline for registrants is February 23, 2024.

BASEBALL SEYMOUR CAMP THE Anfernee Seymour Foundation is scheduled to hold a baseball/softball camp at the Murphy Town Softball Field in Murphy Town, Abaco, February 23-25 between the hours of 9am and

noon. Interested persons are urged to come out and participate.

BASKETBALL CHANGE IN VENUE FOR NEX-GEN CAMP THE Nex-Gen Camp, which was originally scheduled to be held at the Hope Center, has been changed to the Teleos Basketball Gymnasium on Carmichael Road. Space is limited so persons are asked to book their reservations as soon as possible.

JRC Basketball Academy will stage the third annual elite training camp June 24 to July 13 each day from 9am to noon.

The camp is open to boys and girls who will be placed in groups from ages 6-9, 10-13 and 14-18.

The camp will be conducted by coach JR Cadet, owner of JRC Basketball

SEE PAGE 13

THE Grand Bahama softball community is mourning the loss of one of its finest players - Suzanne “Suzy Q” Adderley.

She started playing softball at a young age in the early 1980s while in high school.

Permission had to be asked of her father, Prince Adderley and ADDERLEY Carolyn Ferguson and the late nurse Anna Hall had the responsibility of picking her up and dropping her back after the game.

She played with the West End Conch Pearls for her entire career until her health deteriorated. She played an integral part of the team when they were crowned the national champions three times.

She was an outstanding outfielder, sometimes played first base and was great with the bats. She was also a member of the ladies’ national team.

She was the proud mother of two children one girl and one boy. May her soul rest in peace.

SINCE returning to office as president of the Bahamas Bodybuilding, Wellness and Fitness Federation, Wellington “Cat” Sears said they have made some strides, but there’s still a lot more work ahead of them.

On Monday, Sears and his treasurer Madeline Nesbitt paid a courtesy call on Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Mario Bowleg, along with director of sports Kelsie Johnson-Sills.

“So far, so good. We are making tremendous progress,” Sears said.

“We have been able to appoint some individuals in key positions and everybody is on board. We have added some things to

OLYMPIAN CARL OLIVER, BBWFF’s assistant treasurer. our agenda of events for the year. This weekend, the federation will be in Grand Bahama with the view of trying to re-establish the Grand Bahama Bodybuilding Association. Hopefully, they will be able to hold their elections during the Northern

Bahamas Championships on June 15.

“They haven’t had an association for over six years in Grand Bahama, so we’re bringing that back on board,” Sears said. “We hope to appoint a group of individuals to oversee the affairs of the association until we have the elections.

“At the same time, we are working on establishing associations in North Andros and Long Island.

We want to get as many associations formed so that we can truly function and operate as a federation.”

Joining Sears and Nesbitt on the executive board, which was elected to serve for the next four years a few weeks ago, are Keith Cox as vice president and Zenetta Cambridge-Davis as secretary general.

SEE PAGE 14

PAGE 12, Wednesday, February 21, 2024

THE TRIBUNE

Kix Academy under-12s earn first win on international soil in Weston, Florida KIX Academy under-12s earned their first win on international soil after beating Herron Academy 5-2 on Saturday during a group stage game of Weston Cup 2024, held in Weston, Florida.

Kai McIntosh, an 11-yearold Kingsway Academy student, scored four goals, while 11-year-old Quinn Major, who attends Thelma Gibson Primary School, scored once.

Later that evening though the team would lose a close match to SABR Team Boca 1-0.

However, the Kix under12s responded strongly on Sunday, during a match against Soccer Stars Academy Deportivo Cali Pembroke that featured heavy rain and a waterlogged pitch.

The game ended 2-2, with goals from Kai McIntosh and Rohurley Alexis, a 10-year-old student at Yellow Elder Primary School.

“We didn’t put out our best effort on Saturday night, so that was a big teaching moment for a number of our more experienced players,” said Kix Academy head coach Jared Higgs.

“The boys fought hard on Sunday during some crazy weather. It was really a battle of wills because neither team could complete a pass because of puddles all over the field.

“In the end the boys showed real heart and got a well-deserved point out of the game.”

These results came just three months after Kix Academy’s under-12s recorded two losses and a tie at Plantation Thanksgiving Classic in Plantation, Florida. Six players from

SHOWN, from left to right, Morgan Wood (coach), Jadon Wright, Maliq Martin, Dominick Peralta, Zane Trustham, Cael Ramsey, Deantoin Bostwick, N’thawa Bennett, Alexander Smith, Zaryan Boodansingh, Makai Sturrup, O’dari Gomez, Zamar Richardson, Raymorn Sturrup (coach).

Freeport, Grand Bahama travelled with the team this trip, including five on the under-12 team.

“The Freeport-based players were a really great addition and we are really pleased to help get them more exposure to organised soccer,” Higgs added.

“Hats off to the coaches and programmes in Freeport for producing very talented players.”

Kix Academy’s under-10s also competed, losing 5-2 to Cyclone Soccer Hollywood on Saturday evening.

Cael Ramsey, a nineyear-old St John’s College student on loan to Kix Academy from Futprep, scored both goals.

Unfortunately, heavy rain throughout South Florida on Sunday saw many games cancelled, including matches for Kix Academy’s u10s vs Miami Strike Force and Plantation FC Eagles.

As per tournament regulations, those games were recorded as 0-0 ties.

FRONT row L to R : Jashon Wilson, Quinn Major, Landon Pyfrom, Tyrell Ferguson jr, Dylan Knowles, Logan Comarcho. Back row L to R : Joshua Edwards, Kai McIntosh, Tonaj Percentie, Hasan Mitchell, Koen McIntosh, Xavier Petit, Rohurley Alexis.

BFA CONDUCTS ANTI-DOPING PRESENTATION IN a significant stride towards promoting clean sport and athlete welfare, the Bahamas Football Association (BFA) conducted an enlightening antidoping presentation at the Andre Rodgers Baseball Stadium on February 19.

The event, part of the national programme/ Centre of Excellence initiative, underscored the BFA’s commitment to integrity, health and education in sports.

The presentation saw a remarkable turnout of 112 attendees, including Frederick Lunn, general secretary, Carl Lynch, deputy general secretary, Bruce Swan, technical director, Adam Miller, sports officer from the Ministry of Sports; Dr Patti Symonette, official doctor for the BFA, Ms. Petra Haven from the Bahamas Anti-Doping Commission, players from the U13 Centre of Excellence and the men’s national training programme, coaches and numerous parents and guardians.

Carl Lynch chaired the event, with Frederick Lunn providing welcome remarks. Technical director Bruce Swan offered insights into the Centre of Excellence programme, emphasizing the core values of commitment, respect and accountability.

“The Centre of Excellence is more than just a training ground; it’s a nurturing environment where we instill values like commitment, respect, and accountability. Our focus on education, including the crucial topic of antidoping, is key to developing wellrounded athletes who excel both on and off the field,” Swan remarked, highlighting the programme’s holistic approach to athlete development.

Dr Patti Symonette delivered a compelling presentation on nutrition and performance, highlighting essential nutrients necessary for athletes’ optimal performance.

The centrepiece of the evening was an interactive anti-doping

DR PATTI SYMONETTE, the official doctor for the BFA, speaks to young athletes.

THE LEADERS shaping the future of Bahamian football, technical director Bruce Swan, with Centre of Excellence coaches Ricqea Bain and Lesly St. Fleur.

PETRA HAVEN, of The Bahamas Anti-Doping Commission leads an illuminating session on clean sport.

A CAPTIVATED audience of players, coaches and family members, all eager learners during the presentation.

presentation by Petra Haven of the Bahamas Anti-Doping Commission. Haven meticulously explained the

anti-doping process, from player selection for testing to the communication of results, and outlined the eight ways a player or coach could be considered doping.

Haven emphasized, “Tonight’s presentation underscores our collective responsibility to uphold the principles of fair play and health in sports. By educating our young athletes and their support systems, we’re building a foundation for a clean and prosperous sporting future in The Bahamas.”

The event not only educated participants on the critical aspects of anti doping measures but also nurtured an engaging dialogue on the importance of clean sport. Attendees left with a deeper understanding of their roles in maintaining the integrity of sports and the health of athletes. The BFA continues to lead by example, showing steadfast commitment to advancing football in The Bahamas and cultivating a culture of excellence and integrity.

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, February 21, 2024, PAGE 13

TOP JUNIOR TENNIS PLAYER PATRICK MACTAGGART COTECC GRADE 1 CHAMPION FROM PAGE 11 player from Guatemala Julian Garcia 6-3, 6-3.

Pat went on to take down the #2 seed from Costa Rica, Alejandro Morales, in straight sets 6-1, 6-0.

In the semifinals, Patrick would face some resistance from Sebastien Martinez from El Salvador.

“The match would prove the perseverance and fortitude of Patrick as he had to dig deep from one set down to win in three sets 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.

“What a thriller of a match. In what would be his first Grade 1 finalist appearance Pat would meet up

against the #3 seed Christofer Nunez who got the edge in the round robins the pair played at the beginning of the tournament,” according to a press release.

Making the adjustments Pat would be the winner of this matchup, winning in straight sets 6-4, 6-1 to capture the U14 Grade 1 title in grand fashion.

“The Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association extends congratulations to Patrick on this significant victory.

Pat continues to be a trailblazer and is charting a phenomenal tennis course.

We celebrate with you and your parents as all your

hard work and dedication is bearing fruit. Pat was also the champion of the Grade 3 Cotecc held in Nassau in November. With these championship wins he will continue to improve his regional standing.

“Patrick was top 15 in the region going into this tournament in Guatemala and this victory is expected to usher him into the talented top 10 in the region!

“Pat was the only player from the Caribbean and he emerged as the #1 player in the tournament. Continue to shine bright Pat as we wish you continued tennis success,” said the release.

THE Bahamas’ top junior in the U14 division Patrick Mactaggart was victorious in the Grade 1 Copa Universidad Galileo Cotecc Tournament in Guatemala.

Alcaraz retires hurt from his Rio Open match due to an ankle injury - Wawrinka is also out RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Two-time major winner Carlos Alcaraz retired hurt from the Rio Open yesterday after two games due to a right ankle injury.

The retirement at 1-1 meant Brazil’s Thiago Monteiro advanced to the second round. He will face his compatriot Felipe Meligeni Alves for a place in the quarterfinals.

Alcaraz twisted his ankle in the first game after only two points.

He received medical attention, broke Monteiro’s serve, but after the Brazilian pulled level he shook his rival’s hand and left the court walking as his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero looked concerned.

The Spanish player said his doctors said the injury was not serious.

“These things happen, even more so on clay,” Alcaraz said. “It was not a problem of the court, I got injured as I switched direction. That happens in this kind of surface.”

Alcaraz said he does feel pain when he walks and that he will have medical scans today.

“I came back to the game to see whether I could carry

on or not. I spoke to the physio on the court and we decided together I should continue to see if this would get better.

“It didn’t happen, so we chose to be careful and abandon due to precaution,” he said.

Monteiro said it was strange to go through after playing so little time against Alcaraz.

“On the court it didn’t look so serious, but then I saw it in the big screen and it was a bad twist. Now I can only cheer for him to recover, he is a star, a dominant one in the new generation,” the Brazilian said.

Alcaraz was the runner-up at the clay court tournament in Rio de Janeiro last year, and its winner in 2022.

The injury adds to Alcaraz’s below-par perfor- CARLOS ALCARAZ, of Spain, celebrates a point during an Argentina Open ATP semifinal tennis mances at the Argentina match against Nicolas Jarry, of Chile, at the Guillermo Vilas Stadium, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on February 17.

Open last week.

(AP Photo/Gustavo Garello) The 20-year-old, who 23-year-old Díaz Acosta compatriot Sebastián Báez. as a wild-card entry with won the title in 2023, was eliminated by Chile’s Nico- beat Jarry in the final to win The 38-year-old Wawrinka a career-high ranking of lás Jarry in the semifinals in his first title on Sunday at won the 2014 Australian 87. He rose to No. 59 on the Argentina Open.

Open, 2015 French Open Monday. “I had to have Buenos Aires.

Tuesday’s match was and 2016 U.S. Open, where a lot of patience because Earlier, three-time major winner Stan Wawrinka delayed for almost two he defeated the world No. of the rain,” Díaz Acosta was beaten 7-5, 6-4 in the hours due to rain in Rio 1 player in the final on said. “Stan is a legend, it first round by Argentina’s de Janeiro. Diaz Acosta’s all three occasions.Díaz was amazing to play against Facundo Díaz Acosta. The next opponent will be his Acosta played in Argentina him.”

SABALENKA FALLS TO OLD FOE VEKIC IN DUBAI, SWIATEK, RYBAKINA, GAUFF ADVANCE DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Aryna Sabalenka lost her first match since successfully defending her Australian Open title when she was overhauled by an old foe at the Dubai Championships yesterday.

The No. 2-ranked Sabalenka blew a set and 2-0 lead as Donna Vekic of Croatia rallied to win 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-0 in the second round.

No. 1 Iga Swiatek lost her serve three times in the first set before coming right and beating Sloane Stephens 6-4, 6-4. Coco Gauff, the No. 3, accounted for Elisabetta Cocciaretto of Italy 6-1, 7-5. No. 4 Elena Rybakina avoided an upset when Victoria Azarenka retired in distress. Azarenka won the first set 6-4 but lost the second 6-2 in increasing pain.

Sabalenka and Vekic go back eight years on the tour, and Vekic dominated the early matchups.

But Sabalenka made the Grand Slam breakthrough when she beat Vekic in the

Australian quarterfinals a year ago en route to her first major title.

Vekic referenced Sabalenka winning “the big one” of their career matchups on Tuesday but her sixth win in their eight contests wasn’t too shabby either.

Sabalenka led 5-3 before settling the first set in a tiebreaker. Sabalenka, coming off a three-week layoff after her Melbourne triumph, then led 2-0 with a point for 3-0.

“I was on the beach already,” Vekic admitted, but a sliced backhand passing winner that Sabalenka let go saved the game and IGA SWIATEK, of Poland, returns the ball to Sloane Stephens, of the United States, during a match of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Monday. launched her comeback.

(AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili) “I won the first set. I was up with break. I didn’t feel set score after nearly two Vekic won a ninth straight champions Jelena Ostaplike I was up,” Sabalenka hours. game and wrapped up her enko and Elina Svitolina said. “The level of play was Sabalenka, forced to her first win over a top-two also advanced to the last 16. so bad today from me. I first three-set game of the player since 2019.

Svitolina has Swiatek feel like the conditions here year, showed more second Also, Wimbledon next. don’t fit me well at all.” serves and exasperation, champion and No. 7 seed Svitolina won their last Staying aggressive but and Vekic was merciless. Marketa Vondrousova meeting in the Wimbledon with improving accuracy, A sixth double fault by defeated Peyton Stearns quarterfinals.

Vekic won the next three Sabalenka put her 3-0 down 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 for the third “She’s going to be motigames, broke for 5-3 and in the third and two more time in eight months. No. vated to beat me this time,” served out to level the double faults dropped her 6 Zheng Qinwen, No. 8 Svitolina said. “But I love 5-0 behind. Moments later, Maria Sakkari and former to play these matches.”

SPORTS CALENDAR FROM PAGE 11

Academy and an experienced 10-year FIBA pro basketball player who played on the Bahamas men’s team that played in the FIBA World Cup qualifying tournament.

The special guest at this year’s camp will be coach Dalton Reitmeier, the head coach at Rabun Gap School USA - a four-year NCAA athlete and former player at IMG Academy.

CHESS CARICOM CLASSIC TEAM THE Bahamas Chess Federation announced that Avian Pride, Dr. Joseph Ferguson, Polina Karelina and Chika Pride will represent BCF and The Bahamas at the 2024 CARICOM Classic Inaugural Team Chess Tournament. The event, hosted by the Guyana Chess Federation, is scheduled for March 3-10.

“This tournament holds significance as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of CARICOM and our federation’s 50th year of FIDE membership,” the BCF said.

“This tournament is also an opportunity to strengthen the bonds of friendship and collaboration within the CARICOM region. Participating in this event offers a unique platform for our players to showcase their exceptional talent.”

FINAL WALK WITH ‘HAWK’ THE general public is being asked to take a final walk with ‘Hawk’ as family and friends pay a special tribute to the late Alpheus ‘Hawk’ Finlayson.

The public is invited to join a special celebration of the life and legacy of Finlayson on Thursday, February 29 from 7-10pm at the Crypto Isle (formerly Luciano’s) on East Bay Street.

For more information, persons are asked to contact Stanley Mitchell at 816-6619 or Quinton Curry at 565-1178.

FAST TRACK INVITATIONAL FAST Track Athletics announced that its third annual Spring Invitational will take place over the weekend of May 10 and May 11 at the Grand Bahama Sports Complex.

The entry fee will be $10 for adults and $5 for children. For more information, persons are asked to contact 242-727-6826 or fasttrackmanagamentoo@gmail.com

TO ADVERTISE TODAY IN THE TRIBUNE CALL @ 502-2394

PAGE 14, Wednesday, February 21, 2024

THE TRIBUNE

‘BUDDY’ HIELD EXCITED FOR 76ERS’ PLAYOFF POTENTIAL

By TENAJH SWEETING Tribune Sports Reporter tsweeting@tribunemedia.net CHAVANO “Buddy” Hield, National Basketball Association (NBA) shooting guard, has greatly benefited from a change of scenery since the NBA’s trade deadline on February 8.

The Bahamian sharpshooter has seamlessly transitioned into the starting lineup for the Philadelphia 76ers and has elevated his offensive play across the board.

The newly-appointed Ambassador-at-Large paid a visit to his home country during the NBA All-Star break and described how it feels to be in prime position to make his first playoff appearance.

“It is very exciting. I have not made the playoffs yet and I am working hard each

and everyday to perfect my craft and get to know my teammates. We do not have the big fella as yet, he is hurt, but hopefully we can make a push and be able to sustain the fifth seed and get even higher.

“We can be able to get even higher once we stay together, learn each other and hopefully we [will] figure it out,” Hield said.

The eight-year veteran has thrived in the “City of Brotherly Love” after being traded by the Indiana Pacers earlier this month.

Hield had some inconsistent play with the Pacers due to limited playing time.

With the team, he averaged 12.0 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.7 assists and shot the ball 44.3 per cent from the field and 38.4 per cent from deep.

However, with the 76ers the shooting guard is averaging 22.2 points, 4.0

rebounds, 7.5 assists while shooting 52.3 per cent on field goals and 45 per cent on threes in 39 minutes per game.

During this four-game stretch, the Sixers sport a 2-2 win/loss record with victories against the Washington Wizards and the second seeded Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Sixers currently hold the fifth spot in the Eastern Conference with a 32-22 record. They sit just one position ahead of Hield’s former team, the Pacers, who are 31-25 on the season.

Hield and the Sixers appear to be a sure lock for the NBA postseason but with the league’s reigning MVP Joel Embiid shelved with an injury, a chance at a deep run may be in limbo.

The Grand Bahama native gave reporters insight on Embiid’s

PLAYOFF HOPES: Philadelphia 76ers’ Buddy Hield in action during the second half of an NBA basketball game on February 14 in Philadelphia.

(AP Photo/Matt Rourke) personality and mindset the basketball court. He is The 31-year-old and the post NBA All-Star Break. excited to play with me and Sixers will be back in action “He is funny. He is a I am excited to play with tomorrow night at 7pm worker and he wants to win him but I am also excited against the fourth seeded and even though he is down to see what we can do and New York Knicks at the with injury, he is gonna try how far we can go,” Hield Wells Fargo Center in Philto fight to get back quick on said. adelphia, Pennsylvania.

Hugh Campbell Classic: Teams advance to the next round

By TENAJH SWEETING Tribune Sports Reporter tsweeting@tribunemedia.net TUESDAY was a busy day at the Kendal GL Isaacs Gymnasium as some teams were sent packing while others advanced to the next round of the 40th Hugh Campbell Classic basketball tourney.

Action is scheduled to continue this morning beginning at 9am at the same venue.

Session One The Blazer Elite Dragons comfortably took down the Greenville Gators to eliminate them from tournament play.

The Dragons won 86-33 in Tuesday’s morning session. The team had five players score in double digits to complete the balanced scoring effort.

Hinrich Monuma scored a game-high 16 points and 5 boards.

Zyon Ferguson led the Gators with 12 points and shot 4-for-6 in the loss.

The CR Walker Knights kept their tournament hopes alive in a 45-17 blowout win against the Doris Johnson Mystic Marlins.

Carlton Johnson and Mckell Feaste shouldered the offensive load for the Knights. Johnson was versatile on the court turning in 16 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists.

Meanwhile, Feaste scored 16 points, pulled down seven rebunds and stole the ball five times.

Stephan Robinson amassed 12 points and eight rebounds for the Mystic Marlins in the tough loss.

It was not easy but the Jordan Prince Williams Falcons narrowly ousted the Teleos Christian School Cherubims 50-49. Malachi Cadeau ensured the Falcons lived to fight another day with his 17 points and six rebounds.

Defensively, he blocked three shots.

On the opposite side, Martino Butler did it all for the Cherubims but his double-double showing was not enough. He stuffed the stat sheet with 22 points, 11 rebounds and two steals.

Ernest Saunders, head coach of the Falcons, was happy to advance but knows there is room for improvement.

“The win is always good but it was an ugly win. I feel like every morning I do not get enough out of my players. Advancement is good but for us to make it further we just gotta be more focused and be ready to execute with more energy and poise,” Saunders said.

The Anatol Rodgers Timberwolves kept rolling and routed the SC Bootle Dolphins 73-32 to shut down their hopes of advancing. The Timberwolves led by only eight (23-15) at the break but, in the second half, they blew the game wide open and never looked back.

Denycko Bowles, head coach of the Timberwolves, said his team was locked in and it translated to a strong win. “Thank God for the victory. I told the guys we gotta come out and be ready to play every game.

In this tournament anything can happen on any given night. I think we held

By NICK INGRAM and MARGERY A BECK Associated Press

CHARITY STRIPE: Action heats up during the morning session of the 40th Hugh Campbell Basketball Classic yesterday at the Kendal GL Isaacs Gymnasium.

Photo: Tenajh Sweeting/Tribune Staff our composure for four Rolle put up 11 points Raymone Woods ended quarters, were aggressive apiece and Dwayne Finley the night with 13 points and on offence and even more came away with 10 points. five assists for the Cougars. aggressive on defence. The Kevaro Russell pitched The Tabernacle Bapguys were locked in and we in a team-high nine points tist Academy Falcons were ready to roll, because for the Jaguars in a losing made it look easy against of that the result was they effort. the Agape Christian came out with the victory,” The Sunland Baptist School Eagles. The Grand Bowles said.

Academy Stingers, Hugh Bahama team prevailed He added that the team Campbell’s defending 74-26. did a good job and are champions, downed the Bradleon McDonald looking forward to their Charles W Saunders Cou- and Gianno Murray scored next opponent. gars 56-39.

12 points apiece for the Derek Francis paced The opening period Falcons. the Timberwolves with a was tightly contested and In the final game of the side-high 19 points and ended tied at 15. However, night, the CC Sweeting managed to pick the ball the Stingers advanced by Cobras bested the Gateoff four times in the domi- eight at halftime and domi- way Christian Academy nant win. nated the rest of the way Eagles 48-29.

Session Two to continue their quest to a Emmanuel Adams came The CI Gibson Rattlers, potential three-peat. away with 13 points and the reigning Government De’Nage Kelly could not five rebounds to lead the Secondary Schools Sports be stopped and mailed in Cobras in the win.

Association (GSSSA) 20 points, seven rebounds, Today’s matchup starts at champions, handed the St three assists, two steals and 9am.

George’s Jaguars a 46-29 blocks for the Stingers. He Tickets are priced at $8 loss to remain undefeated. shot 47.1 per cent in the for adults and $4 for chilTashon Butler and Gerrad win. dren 10 and under.

Bahamas Bodybuilding, Wellness and Fitness Federation making strides FROM PAGE 11 Appointed to serve are Ingrid Bain as the executive assistant, Olympic quarter-miler Carl Oliver as assistant treasurer, Rashad Cunningham as assistant secretary, Nadie Vanderpool as the athletes’ representative, Superintendent Alvin Abury as sergeant-at-arms and Christipher McQueen, Donovan McKenzie and Timothy Rolle as assistant sergeant-at-Arms.

Others are Charles Sealy as chief judge and Chevsughann Roker as the assistant chief judge, Leonardo Dean as team manager and Raymond Tucker as national coach and Jason Johnson as chairperson of media/fundraising. “As with any new organisation, you will have one or two drawbacks and

pitfalls where you have persons elected, but they don’t want to work,” he stated.

“We are a non-profit organisation, so we really can’t force anyone to work.”

Sears, who previously served as president from 1991-2001, said there is a need to host a junior bodybuilding championship as they encourage more participants to get involved.

He replaced Joel Stubbs, who didn’t seek another term in office.

The list of activities on the federation’s agenda are as follows: Car wash - March 22 and April 20.

Annual Fun Run/Walk April 20.

Raffle - May 10.

Bahamas Novice Championships - May 25.

SUPER BOWL CELEBRATION: TWO MEN CHARGED WITH MURDER IN DEADLY SHOOTING

BAHAMAS BODYBUILING, Wellness and Fitness Federation’s treasurer Madeline Nesbitt and president Wellington Sears paid a courtesy call on Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Mario Bowleg and Kelsie Johnson-Sills, director of sports.

Fitness Fair - June 18.

Northern Bahamas Championships - June 15.

Bahamas Fitness Games and National

Championships - June 22.

Central American and Caribbean Bodybuilding Championships - July 25-29.

Miami Grand Prix October 19.

Awards night and fitness ball - November or December.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Two men charged with murder in last week’s shooting after the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl parade were strangers who pulled out guns and began firing within seconds of starting an argument, according to court documents released yesterday.

Missouri prosecutors said at a news conference that Lyndell Mays, of Raytown, Missouri, and Dominic Miller, of Kansas City, Missouri, have been charged with second-degree murder and several weapons counts in the shooting that left one person dead and roughly two dozen others injured.

Both men were shot during the melee, according to probable cause affidavits.

Both have been hospitalised since, Jackson County prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said during a news conference.

The argument began when two groups of people grew agitated over the belief that people in the other group were staring at them, according to affidavits from police. Surveillance video shows Mays and someone with him aggressively approached the other group, police say.

The video showed Mays was the first to begin shooting despite being surrounded by crowds of people, including children, according to one of the affidavits.

Mays told detectives “he hesitated shooting because he knew there were kids there,” according to the affidavit. He told investigators he began firing after someone in the other group said, “I’m going to get you,” which he took to mean they would try to kill him.

He said he chose a random person from the other group to shoot at as that person was running away, the affidavit says.

Miller initially told investigators that he and his friends began running after hearing gunfire and that he was shot in the back, one affidavit says. When investigators told Miller they had video of him chasing someone in Mays’ group and shooting, Miller admitted to firing four to five shots, the affidavit said.

A bullet from Miller’s gun killed Lisa Lopez-Galvan, officials said yesterday.

Lopez-Galvan was in a nearby crowd of people watching the Chiefs rally, according to one of the affidavits.

PAGE 16, Wednesday, February 21, 2024

THE TRIBUNE

EU BLACKLIST ESCAPE KEY TO ‘NEW WORLD ORDER SURVIVAL’ FROM PAGE A20 The EU’s list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes takes its cue from, and is largely determined, by findings on individual countries’ compliance by the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development’s (OECD) ‘harmful tax practices’ forum. This is why The Bahamas has spent considerable time and effort addressing deficiencies identified by the OECD in its economic substance reporting.

Emphasising that The Bahamas must get off, and stay off, such blacklists if its economy and key industries are to prosper, Mr Pinder told Tribune Business: “The financial services industry in this new world order can only survive and develop in a compliant atmosphere.

“Being non-cooperative for tax matters had significant adverse implications, including challenges with cross-border business and payments, stress with correspondent banking and ability to do business in other jurisdictions.”

Blacklisting by the EU, in particular, will have impeded access by Bahamian businesses and financial institutions to European markets. Financial transactions involving European

clients and institutions may have been delayed, or even not processed at all, costing time and money as all Bahamas-originating wires and transfers will likely have been subjected to extra scrutiny.

Besides impacting The Bahamas’ financial services and economic competitiveness, and undermining the ‘ease of doing business’, being on the EU’s blacklist for 16 months will also have potentially impacted the country’s reputation and integrity as well as cost it potential business.

That threat was yesterday removed with The Bahamas having twice last year reformed its economic substance regulatory regime, as well as transforming the reporting portal, to ensure its escape from the EU’s clutches. “We have had to effectively rebuild the entire economic substance compliance process,” Mr Pinder said.

“This includes overhauling the legislative framework to be compliant with international best practices and striking a balance between what the [OECD] forum on harmful tax practices and EU expected and also the continued facilitation of the industry.”

Providing further insight into the work performed,

Mr Pinder added that it involved “rebuilding the compliance unit within the Ministry of Finance to evaluate the reporting data, effectively conduct the reporting and implement proper compliance and enforcement frameworks to demonstrate that we can carry out the obligations under law”.

Finally, there was “the development of a new reporting portal that would ensure accurate data collection, effective reporting where required, and ability to analyse the data and test the economic substance in practice of in scope entities”.

And, to prove The Bahamas’ compliance with EU and OECD mandates for the exchange of economic substance with other nations, Mr Pinder said this nation “conducted a total of 133 exchanges with relevant exchange partners” in 2022 - a 13-fold rise on the previous year.

“This is a considerable increase, as compared with the year 2020 where a total of nine exchanges were conducted, and the year 2021 where a total of ten exchanges were with relevant partners,” he added.

Mr Pinder also warned that, despite yesterday’s EU blacklist escape, The Bahamas must remain “vigilant”

and nimble to stay ahead of further international regulatory initiatives so that it does not run afoul of further blacklistings in the future.

“We have to stay vigilant and constantly monitor the evolution of regulatory standards globally so we can prepare for the changing rules which are bound to come,” he added. “An example of this is the FATF (Financial Action Task Force) and anticipated changes on beneficial ownership reporting for trusts.

“We have identified this is coming, prepared advocacy positions on it, but also prepared ourselves for the necessary reforms that will have to happen. Unfortunately, this has been the expectation in today’s global environment.”

The Ministry of Finance, too, in its own statement on the EU delisting signalled it is looking past yesterday’s events and focusing on the future by taking an “aggressive” and “proactive” approach to remaining compliant with tax-related demands from both the 27-nation bloc and OECD. It explained that it is seeking to attain the Fully Equipped Monitoring Mechanism (FEMM) designation for The Bahamas, which will affirm that this nation has all the necessary

NOTICE

NOTICE

CAPE Horizon Ltd.

Lahor Ltd.

Incorporated under the International Business Companies Act, 2000 of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas registered in the Register of Companies under the Registration Number 211332 B.

Incorporated under the International Business Companies Act, 2000 of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas registered in the Register of Companies under the Registration Number 209697 B.

(In Voluntary Liquidation)

(In Voluntary Liquidation)

Notice is hereby given that the liquidation and the winding up of the Company is complete and the Company has been struck off the Register of Companies maintained by the Registrar General.

Notice is hereby given that the liquidation and the winding up of the Company is complete and the Company has been struck off the Register of Companies maintained by the Registrar General.

Dated this 20th day of February A.D. 2024.

Dated this 20th day of February A.D. 2024.

Rodrigo Rodrigues Celoto Liquidator

Roberto Jorge Haddock Lobo Filho Liquidator

systems and processes in place for “full tracking” of corporate income and assets.

‘Economic substance’ is a test that requires companies to show they are doing real, legitimate business in a jurisdiction and are not merely brass plate, letterbox fronting companies acting to shield taxable assets and wealth from their home country authorities.

The initial Commercial Entities (Substance Requirements) Act 2018 required all companies conducting “relevant activities” to confirm they are carrying out real business in The Bahamas via annual electronic filings - a requirement that has been maintained in the upgraded legislation passed by Parliament last year. BDO, which built the beneficial ownership portal, developed the economic substance counterpart.

Mr Pinder added that meeting the OECD/EU demands, and securing The Bahamas’ removal from the latter’s blacklist, was “no small accomplishment” as the Government paid tribute to the work performed by the Attorney General’s Office in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance’s legal and regulatory affairs unit, Department of Inland Revenue and wider financial services industry.

The Attorney General, though, again hit out at the former Minnis administration for leaving its successor to inherit an economic substance reporting portal and process that he again branded as “deeply flawed”.

“The process which we met on coming to office was deeply flawed - ineffective data collection and a complete inability to report in compliance with our own legislation and international standards,” Mr Pinder blasted.

However, Kwasi Thompson, the Opposition’s finance spokesman, yesterday countered by arguing the Davis administration could have remedied such concerns much more quickly and that The Bahamas need not have been blacklisted in the first place in October 2022 or remained on the list for as long as it has.

“We do maintain that the present administration simply was not as focused

and nimble as it ought to have been in resolving the outstanding matters much earlier. The Bahamas remained on the blacklist longer than was necessary,” the east Grand Bahama MP. This political ‘blame game’ and finger-pointing stems from Opposition claims - previously denied by the Government - that the latter shelved a plan it met already in place to address the EU/OECD concerns and disbanded the Ministry of Finance unit responsible for monitoring economic substance compliance and related issues.

Tribune Business previously revealed that Philip Davis KC, the prime minister, signed three separate letters over a six-week period between December 15, 2021, and January 26, 2022, to the EU pledging that The Bahamas will resolve the 27-nation bloc’s issues over “economic substance” and tax reporting This was clearly never accomplished to the EU’s satisfaction as The Bahamas was duly ‘blacklisted’ some ten months later. It is unclear what happened between those letters and October 2022, and it was only after this nation was listed that Simon Wilson, the Ministry of Finance’s financial secretary, said the Government would have to spend between $4m-$5m on an entirely new reporting system.

However, the Ministry of Finance yesterday said it remains determined to look forward, not back, given the EU’s confirmation of The Bahamas’ significant progress. Pointing to the new portal’s September 8, 2023, launch as ensuring the necessary economic substance data is reported and collected, it added that there is now increased enforcement and compliance focus, as well as training in the portal’s use.

“The Bahamas will continue to remain a responsible international exchange partner, demonstrating and maintaining co-operation and standards in the area of transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes in order to safeguard the forum on harmful tax practices’ rating of “not harmful’,” the Ministry of Finance added.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS COMPANIES ACT, 2000

GLEZCAL TWO LTD. In Voluntary Liquidation

NOTICE is hereby given that in accordance with Section 138(4) of The International Business Companies Act, 2000, GLEZCAL TWO LTD. is in dissolution.

The date of commencement of the dissolution was the 15th day of February A.D., 2024.

Mr. Michael C. Miller, P.O. Box EE-17971, Nassau, Bahamas is the liquidator of GLEZCAL TWO LTD. Michael C. Miller Liquidator LEGAL NOTICE

NOTICE Pursuant to the provisions of Section 138 (8) of the International Business Companies Act (as amended), NOTICE is hereby given that Berios Beria Investments Ltd. has been dissolved and has been struck from the Register with effect from 2nd October, 2023.

Ian Atkins and Paulamae Dean LIQUIDATORS c/o EFG Bank & Trust (Bahamas) Ltd Goodman’s Bay Corporate Centre, 3rd Floor, West Bay Street and Sea View Drive P.O. Box CB 10956 Nassau, Bahamas

NOTICE INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS COMPANIES ACT, 2000

TRIESTE INVESTMENT LTD. (IN VOLUNTARY LIQUIDATION)

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that in accordance with section 138(6) of the International Business Companies Act, 2000, as amended, the winding up and dissolution of TRIESTE INVESTMENT LTD. is complete.

Kim D Thompson Sole Liquidator Address: Equity Trust House Caves Village West Bay Street P O Box N-10697 Nassau, Bahamas

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, February 21, 2024, PAGE 17

EU BLACKLIST ESCAPE BLOCKS DOUBLE-DIGIT INSURANCE RISE their core business” following yesterday’s delisting.

“The good thing about it is if we didn’t get off in February we still had October,” he added. “If we never got off we’d be talking about a lot of costs added to the Bahamian insurance market as a cost to do with the German reinsurance market.

“We would have had increases. If we couldn’t deal with the German reinsurers, the lack of capacity would be more acute. Some people would not even be able to get insurance from ourselves and our peers. If we went another route, it would be a cost factor of 10 percent or more added to the existing premium.”

Mr Saunders said yesterday’s EU blacklist verdict will also enable RoyalStar to honour its previous pledge that most clients will not see a premium rate increase for renewals coming due on March 1, 2024, and onwards.

Had The Bahamas still been deemed non-cooperative for tax purposes, those

prices would have been “increased to accommodate” and get ahead of the potential German reinsurance loss in 2025.

“There will be no rate increases generally,” the RoyalStar head said.

“Those people below book rates will be bumped up to book rates, but those homeowners at book rate will not feel any increase.”

Now that the EU threat has been eliminated, at least for the moment, Mr Saunders said his company and its competitors can refocus with Europe’s shadow now removed.

“We had to do what we had to do. Now we can concentrate on projects we had put on hold, bringing them back to life, and can concentrate on our core business,” he told Tribune Business, “to see where we can diversify to in future.

“We had always planned to look at further diversification in the region. We have two territories we are looking at. I can’t say which ones they are now, but we can put time and effort into

Prince George Wharf vendors to relocate

businesses effectively....

While we recognise that this news may bring challenges, we are confident that by working together we can navigate this transition and emerge stronger.”

Alternative locations for the Prince George Wharf vendors could include Cable Beach and Paradise Island.

Many visitors, including the up to 30,000 passengers that pass through the Nassau Cruise Port daily, stroll down Bay Street but many complain about the area’s condition, cleanliness and the lack of activities.

The Downtown Revitalisation project is aiming to give Bay Street a facelift through the installation of pedestrian zones, a business incubation centre, green spaces, a cultural village and other initiatives.

FROM PAGE A20 “I think everyone now who deals with the German reinsurance market can take a breath and a sigh of relief that we don’t have to worry about the implications for capacity from the German reinsurance market as it now stands,” the RoyalStar chief told Tribune Business of yesterday’s EU blacklist escape.

Bahamian property and casualty underwriters must acquire huge amounts of reinsurance annually because their relatively thin capital bases mean they cannot cover the multibillion dollar assets at risk in this nation, thus making them dependent on global support to accomplish this.

With German reinsurers accounting for 35 percent, or more than one-third of this support, Mr Saunders said Bahamian property and casualty underwriters can now place the “very expensive contingency plans” they either have or were developing “on the shelf and concentrate on

FROM PAGE A20 your current premises on Prince George Wharf by 15 March 2024.” The notice added: “We acknowledge that this news may be met with surprise and disappointment. Please rest assured that this decision was reached after careful deliberation with due consideration for the potential impact on your business and operations.

“Please rest assured that this decision was reached after careful deliberation, with due consideration for the potential impact on your business and operations. Despite the challenges ahead, we firmly

JOB FAIR AIMING TO FILL OVER 300 VACANCIES FROM PAGE A19 All job seekers are advised to pre-register using the QR code available on the job fair flyer posted on the Department of Labour’s social media pages, which can be found on its Facebook page, @ dolbahamas on Instagram, and @bahamaslabour on Twitter.

Attendees should dress in professional attire and bring a Bahamian passport to prove Bahamian citizenship; an NIB Smart card; current police character certificate; and references.

Job seekers who are in need of professional attire can visit any of the Department of Labour’s locations for clothing assistance.

Simone Thurston, acting assistant director of labour, said all persons are welcome to apply. She added that attendees can still present themselves with the required documents even if they are not able to preregister online.

Share your news The Tribune wants to hear from people who are making news in their neighbourhoods.

Perhaps you are raising funds for a good cause, campaigning for improvements in the area or have won an award. If so, call us on 322-1986 and share your story.

believe that this course of action is essential for the overall well-being of our stakeholders and the continued progress of our endeavours”.

Thanking the vendors for helping to make Prince George Wharf “a dynamic and flourishing area, the notice added: “Although we understand that this transition may pose uncertainties, we are fully committed to supporting you throughout this process.

“Collaborating closely with the Straw Market Authority, we are actively exploring alternative options and locations that may accommodate your

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS COMPANIES ACT, 2000

SHINING TREE LTD. NOTICE is hereby given that in accordance with Section 138 (8) of The International Business Companies Act, 2000, the Dissolution of SHINING TREE LTD. has been completed, a Certificate of Dissolution has been issued and the Company has therefore been struck off the Register. The date of completion of the dissolution was the 28th day of December A.D., 2023.

Michael C. Miller Liquidator

NOTICE NOTICE is hereby given that SANJAY CASSANDRA BLACK of P. O. Box SB-51654, #4 Domingo Heights, New Providence, Bahamas, is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for registration/ naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 14th day of February, 2024 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, Bahamas.

feasibility studies in those two territories.

“There are jurisdictions we do business in that we will diversify the product offering by extending motor insurance to some of those territories. That will take time and effort. At least we don’t have this distraction and can concentrate our efforts on those projects. I am sure everybody in the industry you have spoken to are happy this is behind us.”

Mr Saunders said the Government, in the shape of the Prime Minister, Ryan Pinder KC, attorney general, and Simon Wilson, the Ministry of Finance’s financial secretary, had “reassured us they were doing everything possible to get off the blacklist” and praised them for “following through” to ensure the necessary work was done and correct outcome achieved.

Mr Pinder, too, yesterday acknowledged the negative consequences for the ability of Bahamian households, businesses and the wider country to recover from the

effects of natural disasters if German reinsurance capacity was lost due to a failure to exit the EU blacklist.

“We saw in the insurance industry where reinsurance remittances were threatened with a withholding tax, which would not only have a measurable adverse impact on the insurance companies but to each and every Bahamian when faced with recovering from destruction as a result of natural disasters,” Mr Pinder told this newspaper.

Had The Bahamas remained blacklisted, German reinsurers would have been prevented by their home country’s laws from receiving tax relief or deductions on hurricane-related claims payouts to this nation.

Given that such payouts will likely be worth hundreds of millions of dollars if a Dorian-strength storm strikes a major Bahamian island, the loss of such tax relief might have deterred German reinsurers from continuing to support local

carriers by underwriting the bulk of this nation’s risks.

Such a scenario would have occurred at the worstpossible time given that reinsurance capacity and willingness to underwrite risks in the disaster-prone Caribbean is at a near 30-year low. Insurance Company of The Bahamas (ICB), in its 2022 annual report, said the drop in reinsurance availability has already pushed property insurance costs for Bahamian homeowners and businesses to the highest levels it has seen in its 26-year history.

Bahamian insurers also reiterated that, in present market conditions, they would have struggled to replace the loss of capacity provided by German reinsurers. Besides further increasing already-high premiums, they added that the loss of reinsurance supply might also have left them unable to provide coverage for new homeowner and business clients.

PAGE 18, Wednesday, February 21, 2024

THE TRIBUNE

TOP ATTORNEYS BATTLE ON SIR JACK’S BUTLER’S $83K COSTS FROM PAGE A20 entities’ co-chair, Sarah St George.

Mr Bethel, after succeeding with actions at both the Court of Appeal and Privy Council levels in 2018-2019, was awarded his legal costs of $18,873 and $64,341 for the two respective actions.

Both awards were certified and taxed.

Three days before Sir Jack’s late butler passed, Mr Glinton initiated moves to collect on both cost awards from Mr Adams’ clients.

In legal filings, he alleged that he had secured a lien on both awards as legal fees were due and owing to him from Mr Bethel.

However, subsequent to Mr Bethel’s passing, Mr Adams and his clients including the GBPA, Port Group Ltd and Ms St George - became concerned that paying the legal costs directly to Mr Glinton could expose them to liability by triggering legal action from the former butler’s estate.

To overcome these difficulties, Mr Adams and Delaney Partners sought to protect the former’s clients by negotiating a Deed of Release with Mr Glinton and his firm to ensure they would incur no liability exposure by paying the legal costs awarded directly to Mr Bethel’s attorney.

Karla McIntosh, the GBPA’s in-house attorney, alleged in an affidavit: “After much consideration, [the GBPA, Port Group Ltd and Sarah St George] instructed their counsel to pay over to [Maurice Glinton & Company] the sum of $83,014 representing the costs taxed in favour of Julius Trevor Bethel in exchange for a Deed of Release executed by [Mr Glinton] and [Maurice Glinton & Company].

“There were, however, concerns as to whether [Mr Glinton] and [Maurice Glinton & Company] continued to possess the requisite legal authority to provide [the GBPA, Port Group Ltd and St George] a legally valid and effective release and receipt in light of the fact their client, Julius Trevor Bethel, had died.

“There were also concerns that, without a legally valid and effective release and receipt being issued on behalf of Julius Trevor Bethel, his estate might also make a claim against [the GBPA, Port Group and St George] for the sums due and payable by virtue of the certificates of taxation.”

The two sides sought to negotiate the terms of the Deed of Release, but Mr Glinton, on February 2, 2020, reacted negatively to this and hinted that he

would resort to legal action to enforce his claim. This was despite Mr Adams replying that Mr Glinton could make the changes he wanted “and we will consider the same”.

Mr Glinton is effectively alleging that Mr Adams, via the Deed of Release, is interfering with his lien rights and ability to collect on due legal fees owed by his late client. The dispute has spawned multiple other court actions, including a claim by Mr Glinton against Mr Bethel’s mother, Daisy, as administratix of his estate, that the legal costs are subject to his lien and not part of her son’s estate.

Ms St George, the GBPA and Port Group have also initiated legal action asking the Supreme Court to determine whether the funds should be paid to the late Mr Bethel’s estate or Maurice Glinton & Company. Meanwhile, Tynes & Tynes, attorneys for Mr Bethel’s mother, have requested that the legal costs and interest accrued on them be paid to the estate and not Mr Glinton.

The latter, in what Sir Ian described as an “exceptionally elaborate” claim, alleged that Mr Adams had engaged in a purported conspiracy with others to prevent himself and his firm from recovering their legal costs, thereby

$100M GOODMAN’S BAY PENTHOUSE ‘COMPELLING’ AMID PNEUMONIA CLAIM FROM PAGE A20 entities’ co-chair, Sarah St George.

Mr Bethel, after succeeding with actions at both the Court of Appeal and Privy Council levels in 2018-2019, was awarded his legal costs of $18,873 and $64,341 for the two respective actions.

Both awards were certified and taxed.

Three days before Sir Jack’s late butler passed, Mr Glinton initiated moves to collect on both cost awards from Mr Adams’ clients.

In legal filings, he alleged that he had secured a lien on both awards as legal fees were due and owing to him from Mr Bethel.

However, subsequent to Mr Bethel’s passing, Mr Adams and his clients

- including the GBPA, Port Group Ltd and Ms St George - became concerned that paying the legal costs directly to Mr Glinton could expose them to liability by triggering legal action from the former butler’s estate.

To overcome these difficulties, Mr Adams and Delaney Partners sought to protect the former’s clients

“causing financial injury and damaging Mr Glinton’s creditworthiness and character”.

Mr Adams, though, demanded that the action be thrown out on the basis that it was “scandalous, frivolous, vexatious and/or otherwise an abuse of the process of the court and may prejudice, embarrass or delay” a fair trial or the matter being stayed.

Mr Glinton and his law firm, in their submissions, argued that Mr Adams and Graham, Thompson & Company, which was also named as a defendant and the law firm where Mr Adams practiced when the case in question were heard, had imposed the draft Deed of Release as a condition of payment. He added that his lien security overrode all and any other interests in the fees.

Dawson Malone, the Callenders & Co attorney representing Mr Adams, slammed Mr Glinton’s claim as “patently unsustainable and misconceived.

It is bound to fail in its entirety”. He argued that there was no evidence of any interference with Mr Glinton’s interest in the taxed costs, and the draft Deed of Release was to facilitate payment and not stop it.

Graham, Thompson & Company also described the by negotiating a Deed of Release with Mr Glinton and his firm to ensure they would incur no liability exposure by paying the legal costs awarded directly to Mr Bethel’s attorney.

Karla McIntosh, the GBPA’s in-house attorney, alleged in an affidavit: “After much consideration, [the GBPA, Port Group Ltd and Sarah St George] instructed their counsel to pay over to [Maurice Glinton & Company] the sum of $83,014 representing the costs taxed in favour of Julius Trevor Bethel in exchange for a Deed of Release executed by [Mr Glinton] and [Maurice Glinton & Company].

“There were, however, concerns as to whether [Mr Glinton] and [Maurice Glinton & Company] continued to possess the requisite legal authority to provide [the GBPA, Port Group Ltd and St George] a legally valid and effective release and receipt in light of the fact their client, Julius Trevor Bethel, had died.

“There were also concerns that, without a legally valid and effective release and receipt being issued on behalf of Julius Trevor Bethel, his estate might also make a claim against [the GBPA, Port Group and St George] for the sums due and payable by virtue of the certificates of taxation.”

The two sides sought to negotiate the terms of the Deed of Release, but Mr Glinton, on February 2, 2020, reacted negatively to this and hinted that he would resort to legal action to enforce his claim. This was despite Mr Adams replying that Mr Glinton could make the changes he wanted “and we will consider the same”.

Mr Glinton is effectively alleging that Mr Adams, via the Deed of Release, is interfering with his lien rights and ability to collect on due legal fees owed by his late client. The dispute has spawned multiple other court actions, including a claim by Mr Glinton against Mr Bethel’s mother, Daisy, as administratix of his estate, that the legal costs are subject to his lien and not part of her son’s estate.

Ms St George, the GBPA and Port Group have also initiated legal action asking the Supreme Court to determine whether the funds should be paid to the late Mr Bethel’s estate or Maurice Glinton & Company. Meanwhile, Tynes & Tynes, attorneys for Mr Bethel’s mother, have requested that the legal costs and interest accrued on them be paid to the estate and not Mr Glinton.

The latter, in what Sir Ian described as an “exceptionally elaborate” claim, alleged that Mr Adams had engaged in a purported conspiracy with others to prevent himself and his firm from recovering

claim by Mr Glinton and his firm as “doomed to failure”.

It added that the lien rights claimed by the latter did not give them enforcement rights against the other side or their attorneys.

Sir Ian, denying all applications by both sides, disagreed with Mr Adams’ arguments that the case be paused. “From Maurice Glinton & Company’s perspective, Mr Glinton KC and his firm have been ‘out of pocket’ for over three years,” he wrote.

“From the defendants’ perspective, this action continues to hang over their heads with their professional reputations implicated.... Moreover, as a matter of policy, allegations of misconduct made against officers of the court should be investigated with minimum delay.”

As for the summary judgment attempt, Sir Ian ruled: “I am unable to agree with Mr Glinton that Maurice Glinton & Company’s claim is straightforward enough or meritorious enough on its face to warrant summary judgment. Despite Mr Glinton’s best efforts, I am of the opinion that there are issues that ought to be decided at trial....

“Free from authority, it is far from obvious that Mr Adams acted outside of the possible courses of action reasonably competent

members of the profession might have chosen to take in advising his clients to secure a release before making payment of the taxed costs to Maurice Glinton & Company or Mr Glinton. No administrator had been appointed in respect of Julius Trevor Bethel.”

Sir Ian, while finding that the draft Deed of Release “could not prejudice” the rights of Mr Glinton and his law firm, also dismissed Mr Adams’ strike-out bid on the basis that he “cannot be certain on the material before me, and based on the argument that I have heard, that the action is bound to fail”.

Describing Mr Adams’ move as “a strike at the jugular”, the Chief Justice added: “I recognise that this may be an unsatisfactory outcome for Mr Adams, who described the allegations made against him as ‘scurrilous’, but ultimately this claim is not one to which the court should shut its doors.

“Mr Adams may be assured that in the event that the claim is found to be meritless, given the nature of some of the allegations made, this court will mark its disapproval in its reasons.”

GOLDWYNN RESIDENCES PENTHOUSE RENDERING their legal costs, thereby “causing financial injury and damaging Mr Glinton’s creditworthiness and character”.

Mr Adams, though, demanded that the action be thrown out on the basis that it was “scandalous, frivolous, vexatious and/or otherwise an abuse of the process of the court and may prejudice, embarrass or delay” a fair trial or the matter being stayed.

Mr Glinton and his law firm, in their submissions, argued that Mr Adams and Graham, Thompson & Company, which was also named as a defendant and the law firm where Mr Adams practiced when the case in question were heard, had imposed the draft Deed of Release as a condition of payment. He added that his lien security overrode all and any other interests in the fees.

Dawson Malone, the Callenders & Co attorney representing Mr Adams, slammed Mr Glinton’s claim as “patently unsustainable and misconceived.

It is bound to fail in its entirety”. He argued that there was no evidence of any interference with Mr Glinton’s interest in the taxed costs, and the draft Deed of Release was to facilitate payment and not stop it.

Graham, Thompson & Company also described the claim by Mr Glinton and his firm as “doomed to failure”. It added that the lien rights claimed by the latter did not give them enforcement rights against the other side or their attorneys.

Sir Ian, denying all applications by both sides, disagreed with Mr Adams’ arguments that the case be paused. “From Maurice Glinton & Company’s perspective, Mr Glinton KC and his firm have been ‘out of pocket’ for over three years,” he wrote.

“From the defendants’ perspective, this action continues to hang over their heads with their

professional reputations implicated.... Moreover, as a matter of policy, allegations of misconduct made against officers of the court should be investigated with minimum delay.”

As for the summary judgment attempt, Sir Ian ruled: “I am unable to agree with Mr Glinton that Maurice Glinton & Company’s claim is straightforward enough or meritorious enough on its face to warrant summary judgment. Despite Mr Glinton’s best efforts, I am of the opinion that there are issues that ought to be decided at trial....

“Free from authority, it is far from obvious that Mr Adams acted outside of the possible courses of action reasonably competent members of the profession might have chosen to take in advising his clients to secure a release before making payment of the taxed costs to Maurice Glinton & Company or Mr Glinton. No administrator had been appointed in respect of Julius Trevor Bethel.”

Sir Ian, while finding that the draft Deed of Release “could not prejudice” the rights of Mr Glinton and his law firm, also dismissed Mr Adams’ strike-out bid on the basis that he “cannot be certain on the material before me, and based on the argument that I have heard, that the action is bound to fail”.

Describing Mr Adams’ move as “a strike at the jugular”, the Chief Justice added: “I recognise that this may be an unsatisfactory outcome for Mr Adams, who described the allegations made against him as ‘scurrilous’, but ultimately this claim is not one to which the court should shut its doors.

“Mr Adams may be assured that in the event that the claim is found to be meritless, given the nature of some of the allegations made, this court will mark its disapproval in its reasons.”

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, February 21, 2024, PAGE 19

DPM HAILS ‘NEW BENCHMARK’ SET BY 9.655M VISITOR RECORD THE Deputy Prime Minister last night hailed the “new tourism industry benchmarks” set by The Bahamas after its 9.655m visitor arrivals for 2023 beat the previous annual record by 33 percent.

Chester Cooper, also minister of tourism, investments and aviation, in a statement said the figures affirmed this nation’s status as “a top-tier destination” with both stopover and cruise/sea arrivals experiencing double-digit percentage increases compared to 2022.

Stopover, or air, arrivals enjoyed a 17 percent yearover-year increase in 2023 to total 1.72m visitors in 2023 compared to 1.47m for the

prior year. Cruise and sea visitor arrivals, meanwhile, surged by 43.5 percent to 7.935m visitors compared to the 5.53m recorded for 2022.

Collectively, the 9.655m visitor total surpassed 2022’s comparative by 38 percent and was also some 33 percent ahead of the previous record set in pre-COVID 2019. However, the 1.72m air arrivals total was still flat to slightly below the 1.8m attracted to The Bahamas.

While the loss of room inventory, due to the closures of the British Colonial (since re-opened), Melia Nassau Beach and Atlantis Beach Towers properties, may have inhibited stopover visitor numbers breaking 2019 figures this

visitor spending and per capita visitor spending, and whether this is sufficiently being felt by all operators and workers in the tourism space.

The Ministry of Tourism, Investments and Aviation’s statement last night made no mention of tourism spending or economic impact amid lingering concerns from the likes of Obie Ferguson, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) president, that the impact from record visitor arrivals is not being felt at all levels.

However, breaking down the arrivals numbers, the ministry said New Providence attracted 4.442m visitors in 2023, representing

tourist category typically spends around 27 times’ what a cruise passenger does in the destination.

With 2023’s record arrivals numbers driven largely by sea visitors, higher spending and yielding air/stopover tourists now account for less than 20 percent - fewer than one in five visitors - to The Bahamas at just 17.8 percent of the total. Sea arrivals now equal 82.2 percent of the total.

Observers have, over the years, suggested that The Bahamas is too focused on the ‘numbers game’ - meaning simply counting visitor arrivals - and not paid equal attention to the industry’s economic impact, total

a 36 percent increase compared to 2022. Grand Bahama welcomed 559,812 visitors, marking a 44 percent increase, although coming off a much smaller base. The Family Islands, meanwhile, saw a 40 percent rise, with 4.653m visitors arriving by sea and air.

“The Bahamas has not only surpassed our targets but has set new benchmarks in the tourism industry.

These figures are a testament to the hard work and dedication of everyone involved in our tourism sector and the irresistible charm of our islands and the friendliness of our people,” Mr Cooper said in a statement.

“This record-breaking year is a clear indication of The Bahamas’ position as a top-tier destination for travellers seeking unparalleled experiences. Our islands offer a unique blend of natural beauty, rich culture and warm hospitality, making it a favourite of visitors from around the world.”

Latia Duncombe, the tourism director-general, added: “As The Bahamas continues to welcome visitors with open arms, we look forward to building on this momentum. With our commitment to excellence and innovation in the tourism sector, The Bahamas is poised for even greater success in the years to come.”

JOB FAIR AIMING TO FILL OVER 300 VACANCIES THE Department of Labour is partnering with various employers in a bid to fill 300 collective vacancies by hosting a second Job Fair in the Centreville community.

The event, which is scheduled for Saturday, February 24, at Stephen Dillet Primary School on Wulff Road between 9am to 3pm, will feature companies including Comfort Suites, Family Guardian, Mexicaba, AML Foods and

Lowe’s Wholesale Drug Agency.

Howard Thompson, director of labour, said the fair continues an initiative that was relaunched in 2022. “On May 7, 2022, the Department of Labour relaunched its ‘Labour on the Blocks’ initiative in the Centreville community, the first of many communities to have successfully benefited from these employment opportunities,” said Mr Thompson.

He added that, in recent years, the Department of Labour’s Public Employment Services Unit has assisted thousands of Bahamians with obtaining gainful employment through its job fairs and ‘Labour on the Blocks’ initiatives. It now aims to expand these efforts into more local communities so that more Bahamians may have access to available job opportunities.

THE DEPARTMENT of Labour will partner with various employers to host a job fair in the Centreville community on Saturday, February 24. Pictured L to R: Acting assistant director of labour, Simone Thurston; director of labour, Howard Thompson; minister of agriculture and marine resources, Jomo Campbell; and public employment services officers, Allison Mackey and Lemont Anderson.

Photo:Patrick Hanna/BIS

SEE PAGE A17

THE WEATHER REPORT

5-DAY FORECAST

ORLANDO

High: 72° F/22° C Low: 45° F/7° C

TAMPA

TONIGHT

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

Mostly sunny, breezy and pleasant

A moonlit sky

Mostly sunny and pleasant

Partly sunny and pleasant

Breezy with a couple of showers

Partly sunny, breezy and less humid

High: 74°

Low: 62°

High: 76° Low: 60°

High: 77° Low: 66°

High: 78° Low: 64°

High: 76° Low: 62°

AccuWeather RealFeel

AccuWeather RealFeel

AccuWeather RealFeel

AccuWeather RealFeel

AccuWeather RealFeel

AccuWeather RealFeel

75° F

62° F

80°-61° F

78°-64° F

75°-61° F

78°-58° F

High: 71° F/22° C Low: 48° F/9° C

E

W

ABACO

S

N

High: 70° F/21° C Low: 65° F/18° C

10-20 knots

S

WEST PALM BEACH High: 72° F/22° C Low: 51° F/11° C

12-25 knots

FT. LAUDERDALE

FREEPORT

High: 72° F/22° C Low: 54° F/12° C

N E S

E

W

High: 72° F/22° C Low: 58° F/14° C

MIAMI

High: 71° F/22° C Low: 55° F/13° C

8-16 knots

NASSAU

Today

5:47 a.m.

6:03 p.m.

2.6 2.1

12:17 p.m. 0.2 ---------

ALMANAC

Thursday

6:30 a.m.

6:46 p.m.

2.7 2.2

12:07 a.m. 0.0 12:57 p.m. 0.1

Statistics are for Nassau through 1 p.m. yesterday Temperature High ................................................... 75° F/24° C Low .................................................... 68° F/20° C Normal high ....................................... 77° F/25° C Normal low ........................................ 64° F/18° C Last year’s high .................................. 84° F/29° C Last year’s low ................................... 67° F/19° C Precipitation As of 1 p.m. yesterday ................................. 0.04” Year to date .................................................. 2.62” Normal year to date ..................................... 2.47”

Friday

7:09 a.m.

7:25 p.m.

2.7 2.3

12:50 a.m. 0.0 1:33 p.m. 0.0

Saturday

7:45 a.m.

8:02 p.m.

2.7 2.4

1:30 a.m. -0.1 2:06 p.m. 0.0

Sunday

8:19 a.m.

8:37 p.m.

2.7 2.5

2:09 a.m. -0.1 2:38 p.m. -0.1

Monday

8:52 a.m.

9:12 p.m.

2.6 2.5

2:46 a.m. 0.0 3:10 p.m. -0.1

Tuesday

9:25 a.m.

9:47 p.m.

2.5 2.5

3:23 a.m.

3:40 p.m.

Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2024

High: 72° F/22° C Low: 67° F/19° C

N

KEY WEST

High: 69° F/21° C Low: 61° F/16° C

High: 74° F/23° C Low: 65° F/18° C

N

S

E

W

10-20 knots

S

12-25 knots

ANDROS

Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.

0.0 0.0

Sunrise Sunset

6:40 a.m.

6:07 p.m.

Moonrise Moonset

3:46 p.m.

5:03 a.m.

Full

Last

New

First

Feb. 24

Mar. 3

Mar. 10

Mar. 16

SAN SALVADOR

GREAT EXUMA

High: 74° F/23° C Low: 66° F/19° C

High: 74° F/23° C Low: 69° F/21° C

N E

W S

LONG ISLAND

TRACKING MAP

High: 75° F/24° C Low: 68° F/20° C

L

Ht.(ft.)

SUN AND MOON

High: 75° F/24° C Low: 67° F/19° C

H

Low

CAT ISLAND

E

W

TIDES FOR NASSAU Ht.(ft.)

ELEUTHERA

High: 74° F/23° C Low: 62° F/17° C

The higher the AccuWeather UV IndexTM number, the greater the need for eye and skin protection.

High

The exclusive AccuWeather RealFeel Temperature® is an index that combines the effects of temperature, wind, humidity, sunshine intensity, cloudiness, precipitation, pressure and elevation on the human body—everything that affects how warm or cold a person feels. Temperatures reflect the high and the low for the day.

N

W

UV INDEX TODAY

TODAY

12-25 knots

MAYAGUANA High: 76° F/24° C Low: 69° F/21° C

Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.

CROOKED ISLAND / ACKLINS RAGGED ISLAND High: 75° F/24° C Low: 70° F/21° C

High: 75° F/24° C Low: 70° F/21° C

GREAT INAGUA High: 77° F/25° C Low: 70° F/21° C

N

E

W

E

W

N

S

S

10-20 knots

10-20 knots

MARINE FORECAST ABACO ANDROS CAT ISLAND CROOKED ISLAND ELEUTHERA FREEPORT GREAT EXUMA GREAT INAGUA LONG ISLAND MAYAGUANA NASSAU RAGGED ISLAND SAN SALVADOR

Today: Thursday: Today: Thursday: Today: Thursday: Today: Thursday: Today: Thursday: Today: Thursday: Today: Thursday: Today: Thursday: Today: Thursday: Today: Thursday: Today: Thursday: Today: Thursday: Today: Thursday:

WINDS N at 12-25 Knots NE at 6-12 Knots N at 10-20 Knots ENE at 6-12 Knots NW at 12-25 Knots NNE at 7-14 Knots NW at 10-20 Knots N at 8-16 Knots NNW at 12-25 Knots NE at 6-12 Knots N at 10-20 Knots ENE at 4-8 Knots NW at 12-25 Knots NNE at 6-12 Knots NW at 10-20 Knots NNE at 8-16 Knots NW at 12-25 Knots NE at 8-16 Knots NW at 10-20 Knots N at 8-16 Knots NNW at 10-20 Knots NNE at 6-12 Knots NW at 10-20 Knots NE at 8-16 Knots NW at 12-25 Knots NNE at 7-14 Knots

WAVES 6-10 Feet 6-10 Feet 1-2 Feet 0-1 Feet 4-7 Feet 5-9 Feet 2-4 Feet 4-7 Feet 4-8 Feet 5-9 Feet 3-6 Feet 2-4 Feet 1-3 Feet 0-1 Feet 2-4 Feet 3-6 Feet 2-4 Feet 2-4 Feet 3-6 Feet 6-10 Feet 2-4 Feet 1-2 Feet 1-3 Feet 1-3 Feet 3-5 Feet 1-3 Feet

VISIBILITY 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles

WATER TEMPS. 75° F 74° F 73° F 71° F 76° F 76° F 78° F 78° F 75° F 75° F 71° F 69° F 75° F 73° F 79° F 78° F 78° F 78° F 78° F 76° F 76° F 76° F 78° F 78° F 76° F 76° F

business@tribunemedia.net

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2024

$5.30

$5.31

$5.37

EU blacklist escape blocks double-digit insurance rise NEIL HARTNELL t &YJU FMJNJOBUFT By Tribune Business Editor SFJOTVSBODF nhartnell@tribunemedia.net MPTT UISFBU BAHAMIAN households and businesses yesterday escaped t #BIBNJBO potential double-digit increases VOEFSXSJUFST in insurance costs after this nation secured its removal from ACSFBUIF the European Union’s (EU) tax blacklist.

SFMJFG TJHI Anton Saunders, RoyalStar t 3PZBM4UBS UP Assurance’s managing director, told Tribune Business that the SFOFX $BSJCCFBO entire Bahamian property and FYQBOTJPO casualty industry - as well as its

clients - can “breathe a sigh of relief” after this nation’s delisting effectively preserved local insurers’ access to 35 percent of their reinsurance market capacity.

While The Bahamas had one more shot at escaping the EU’s clutches left in October 2024, failure to do so by then would next year trigger the imposition of “punitive” taxes and penalties on German carriers that provide much of this country’s reinsurance capacity as a consequence of continuing to do business with a blacklisted nation.

The financial impact could have deterred the likes of Munich Re, Hanover Re and R & V Re from continuing to underwrite the bulk of The Bahamas’ property and casualty risks, with the resulting loss of capacity causing premium rates to spike and pushing insurance affordability increasingly out of reach of many homeowners and businesses already threatened by more frequent and severe natural disasters.

Mr Saunders, who revealed that premium rates would have increased by “10 percent or more”

THE Bahamas “can only survive in this new world order” through ongoing compliance with global demands, the Attorney General asserted yesterday, as it escaped the European Union’s (EU) tax blacklist.

Ryan Pinder KC, in a series of e-mailed answers to Tribune Business questions, said The Government’s 12-18 month effort in “rebuilding the entire economic substance compliance process” had been rewarded by yesterday’s confirmation from Brussels that The Bahamas was among four nations removed from its non-cooperative tax list.

He added that The Bahamas’ exchanges of economic substance information had increased

13-fold year-over-year to more than 130 in 2022, with the development of a new reporting portal for locallydomiciled companies and “overhaul” of relevant laws also key to ensuring this nation’s blacklist delisting.

The 27-nation EU, in a move widely expected given that The Bahamas’ imminent removal had been leaked a week in advance, said this nation now met its economic substance reporting requirements for countries with either “no or only a nominal corporate income tax” after remedying deficiencies identified by the OECD’s ‘harmful tax practices’ forum.

“Concerning Bahamas and Turks and Caicos, ever since October 2022, deficiencies in the enforcement of economic substance requirements had been identified in both of these jurisdictions by the OECD Forum on Harmful Tax

THE developer behind the $100m, 14-storey Goodman’s Bay penthouse project last night acknowledged their neighbour’s “passion” and “attachment” but pointed to the 300 construction jobs it will create.

Randy Hart, the Wynn Group’s vice-president, said the project will benefit “the broader community” if it receives the necessary planning and environmental approvals after the penthouse complex’s neighbour-tobe complained he was “blasted” by construction debris when the same developer built its existing Residences.

Ed Hoffer, whose property will border Wynn’s

RYAN PINDER KC

t "( A&OUJSF SFCVJME TFDVSFT #BIBNBT SFNPWBM t 4VCTUBODF SFQPSUJOH FYDIBOHFT KVNQ GPME t (PW U 0QQPTJUJPO BHBJO TQBS PO SFTQPOTJCJMJUZ Practices (FHTP),” the EU said in confirming The Bahamas’ escape.

“In the FHTP’s most recent assessment, the recommendations to both jurisdictions to remedy these deficiencies were converted from ‘hard’ to ‘soft’ recommendations,

investment on its eastern boundary, told last night’s public hearing on the penthouse complex’s Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) that he developed pneumonia on six different occasions after his home was impacted by materials from the GoldWynn Residences.

He said: “During phase one I was blasted by concrete aggregates and silica sand. I also had six

which allowed the [EU] Code of Conduct Group to consider these jurisdictions compliant with the standard for jurisdictions with no or only a nominal corporate income tax.”

SEE PAGE A20 different bouts, respiratory bouts, of pneumonia; six different times. So you talked about the workers, you talk about people who do the construction. What about the neighbours?

What about my cats and my dogs, my children and grandchildren?

“I’m not trying to be controversial, but there were no barriers put up, none of that stuff, and I lived there for four-and-ahalf years. He talked about protecting the workers and protecting everything, but what about me? What protection do I have? What guarantees do I have that

SEE PAGE A18

Prince George Wharf vendors to relocate

By FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter jsimmons@tribunemedia.net THE head of the Government’s Downtown Revitalisation Unit yesterday said vendors who were asked to vacate Prince George Wharf will be allowed to operate from “alternative locations”.

Senator Randy Rolle, also the Ministry of Tourism, Investments and Aviation’s global relations consultant, told Tribune Business that vendors were asked to temporarily leave their stalls and relocate as part of ongoing efforts

to revive Bay Street and wider downtown Nassau.

He explained that the vendors knew their location on the wharf was not permanent and they will be given alternative sites.

“It’s an ongoing part of the downtown revitalisation plan. When the vendors were moved there it was not intended to be a permanent location. All of them will be given alternative locations in which to operate,” Mr Rolle said.

“As part of the overall plan to revitalise Bay Street and help with the ambiance, that’s just a part of the ongoing plan. They were all given advance notice of the same.”

SEE PAGE A17

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

$100m Goodman’s Bay penthouse ‘compelling’ amid pneumonia claim

By FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

if Bahamian carriers had been forced to seek alternative reinsurance sources, told this newspaper that the elimination of such a threat via yesterday’s delisting will enable Bahamian carriers to “bring back to life” projects they had previously placed on hold.

From RoyalStar’s perspective, he revealed this will involve further Caribbean expansion into two more territories that he declined to name as well as product diversification through the launch of motor coverage in jurisdictions where it already has a presence.

And, had The Bahamas not escaped the EU’s blacklist yesterday, Mr Saunders revealed it would have resulted in RoyalStar clients experiencing premium rate increases for renewals from March 1 onwards as the company would have had to prepare for a loss of German reinsurance.

That threat, too, has now been removed with the carrier able to adhere it its previous pledge of no rate increase for most insureds.

Top attorneys battle on Sir Jack’s Butler’s $83k costs

EU blacklist escape key to ‘new world order survival’

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

$5.28

Vendors received notices from the Downtown Revitalisation Unit advising that the latter will not be renewing or issuing new licences for Prince George Wharf and that they must vacate by 15 March.

“Today we write to you with a blend of sentiments as we communicate significant developments and upgrades along Prince George Wharf,” the notice read.

“Regrettably, ongoing upgrades and developmental initiatives necessitate changes within our operational landscape.

Consequently, there will be no renewals of current licenses or issuance of new

SENATOR RANDY ROLLE licenses for the foreseeable future. Additionally, the Straw Market Authority will be orchestrating new permanent arrangements.

“In light of these developments, we must inform you that you must vacate

SEE PAGE A17

TWO leading attorneys are locked in a furious battle over $83,000 in taxed legal costs stemming from court cases involving Sir Jack Hayward’s late Bahamian butler.

Sir Ian Winder, in a February 16, 2024, verdict dismissed both Maurice Glinton KC’s bid for summary judgment and Robert Adams KC counter-attack in seeking to have the claim struck-out or stayed by finding that the matter raised serious issues that need to be determined at a full trial.

However, the Chief Justice seemed to signal that his sympathies lay with Mr Adams, now at the Delaney Partners law firm.

For he promised that the Supreme Court would “mark its disapproval in its reasons” should it find that the allegations made by Mr Glinton are “scurrilous” as his adversary is alleging.

And Sir Ian also hinted that the case brought by Freeport-based Mr Glinton and his firm, Maurice Glinton & Company, is not the strongest, writing: “Notwithstanding the eloquence of Mr Glinton’s submissions, my broad assessment of the merits is that Maurice Glinton & Company may well not be the successful party.”

ROBERT ADAMS KC The dispute involves legal costs awarded to Julius Trevor Bethel, who served as the late Sir Jack’s personal assistant and manager of his Freeport residences, in two separate court battles. The first involved his alleged exclusion from the Hayward family trust, The Sir Jack Hayward 1993 Discretionary Settlement, while the second included the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) and its Port Group Ltd affiliate among the defendants.

Mr Glinton and his firm represented Mr Bethel, who passed away from “undetermined causes” on January 17, 2020, in both legal actions. Mr Adams represented several members of Sir Jack’s estate, namely Patricia Bloom and her daughter, Amy, in the trust case, and also acted for the Blooms, the GBPA, Port Group and both

SEE PAGE A18