05242018 business

business@tribunemedia.net

THURSDAY, MAY 24, 2018

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BAMSI connection to $50m biomass plant development

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A

Bahamian-led consortium is bidding to develop a $40-$50m biomass-fuelled power plant in North Andros through a proposal featuring a tie-up with BAMSI. Tribune Business can reveal that Providence Energy Partners is offering to develop a 10-15 mega watt (MW) plant to supply all Bahamas Power & Light’s (BPL) power needs in North Andros.

The proposal involves generating energy from biomass, which would be produced through the Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Science Institute’s (BAMSI) plans

* Bahamian group in Andros energy solution * Could clear 5,000 acres of farm land * Minister says biomass ‘wonderful idea’ to clear up to 5,000 acres for farm land.

This newspaper was told that that Providence Energy Partners’ project represented a potential “prototype” for future Family Island power generation via renewable sources, although its success hinges on BPL and Government approvals.

Critically, the proposal needs to secure a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with BPL so that it can sell all energy produced by the plant to the state-owned utility’s transmission and distribution

(T&D) system. And, with regulators accusing BPL of failing to meet its renewable energy commitments, a PPA and other approvals have yet to be issued.

Tennyson Wells, pictured, BAMSI’s chairman, confirmed to this newspaper that Providence Energy Partners had presented its project to the Institute’s Board as both sides explored the potential synergies and mutual benefits that could flow from it.

“What they came to us with is they want to take over the power generation from

Behring Point to Red Bays in North Andros,” Mr Wells recalled. “BAMSI needs extra farmland, prepared land, and they wanted to use biomass from that land.

“I told them I would like to see 5,000 acres prepared so that when students come out of BAMSI they could have long-term leases of the land already prepared. If we did that, BAMSI would support their [Providence Energy Partners] efforts to use the trees” cut down for biomass fuel for the power plant.

SEE PAGE 4

Buyer: Grand Lucayan deal ‘near finish line’

By NATARIO MCKENZIE Tribune Business Reporter nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net THE Grand Lucayan’s potential buyer yesterday said the long-awaited deal for the shuttered resort is “near the finish line”, as he blamed its complexity and “so many moving parts”.

Paul Wynn, chief executive of Canadian-based developer, the Wynn Group, provided few

* ‘Very complex with many moving parts’ * Wynn says gov’t not going for all-inclusive * Unable to give timeline, notes pull-out fear specifics on timelines and plans while speaking at the groundbreaking for his $120m condo-hotel and residences project at Goodman’s Bay. He said of his Freeport negotiations: “It’s very

Fiscal Responsibility ‘ineffective’ without tougher sanctions

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net FISCAL Responsibility legislation could be “ineffective” without tougher sanctions due to “The Bahamas’ poor history of non-compliance with similar laws”, a civil society group warned yesterday.

The Organisation for Responsible Governance (ORG), unveiling its recommendations on the draft Bill, said the main concern was the “lack of codified penalties [and] sanctions” for governments

* BAHAMAS’ ‘POOR COMPLIANCE HISTORY SPARKS FEAR * CIVIL SOCIETY GROUP URGES ‘CODIFIED’ ENFORCEMENT * CALLS FOR GREATER POWER TO FISCAL COUNCIL that breached its targets, or “incentives” that encouraged compliance.

SEE PAGE 6

One provider stalls 20% of beneficial owner requests

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net MORE than 20 per cent of beneficial ownership requests were not met by The Bahamas after a nowliquidated financial provider denied regulators access to the information.

The details are contained in the latest “peer review” of this nation’s compliance with ownership and tax information exchange standards by the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development’s Global Forum (OECD), which

* DENIED BAHAMAS REGULATORS ACCESS * ENTITY IN LIQUIDATION BUT STILL NO DETAILS * BEARER SHARES ISSUED IN LEGAL VIOLATION found that bearer shares were still being issued despite The Bahamas abolishing them in 2000.

Disclosing The Bahamas’ performance in the five-year

SEE PAGE 5

complex, and a very difficult project for the country, but I think we’re almost at the finish line now. It’s been very hard, and the Government has been absolutely fantastic trying to get the Grand Lucayan open and working

again. There are just so many moving parts. We’re near the finish line. The Government has been handling this quite well.”

While not offering many

SEE PAGE 7

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Works minister seeks ‘lot more funds’ in budget

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE MINISTER of Works yesterday said his ministry needs “a lot more” money than presently allocated in next week’s Budget to address “hundreds of millions” in infrastructure needs.

Desmond Bannister, pictured, told Tribune Business that the Ministry of Works, which is responsible for all public infrastructure development, upgrades and repairs, is “hoping there will be an increase” in the projected $113-$120m capital works budget for 2018-2019.

He disclosed that his ministry was awaiting the Ministry of Finance’s response to its “projections”, but said New Providence alone required more expenditure than the Ministry’s current total budget given “what a mess the whole place is”.

“With the kinds of things we are looking to do, we hope there will be an increase,” Mr Bannister said of the Ministry of Works’ capital Budget.

“Quite frankly, with the work we have to do, and revitalisation of the economy, it would be good if we got a lot more.

“We’ve made some projections to Finance, and we’ll see what they say. As you and I look around in just New Providence, you could see what a mess the whole place is. There are hundreds

* ‘HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS’ IN CAPITAL NEEDS * SAYS ‘WHAT A MESS’ NEW PROVIDENCE IS * EDUCATION WANTS EXTRA $600K FOR BTVI of millions to be put into this project.”

Despite the evergrowing demands caused by the need to improve and maintain public infrastructure on multiple islands, Mr Bannister said the Ministry of Works was not seeking an increase beyond its capacity to execute.

“The question for me is how much can my Ministry usefully spend in a year,” he explained. “Based on the capacity we have, we figure out what we can spend for useful purposes, and that’s what we’ve given to Finance.

We know what we can do in a year.”

Mr Bannister declined to detail the various capital projects the Ministry of Works will target in 2018-2019, saying these will be provided in his Budget address to the House of Assembly next month.

As to whether the Government will look more to private capital and investors, and public-private

SEE PAGE 5

PAGE 2, Thursday, May 24, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

SHOW RESOLUTION ON IMAGE APPEARANCE I F you have been around since the beginning of digital photography you will know how much progress has been made.

Today’s models make the first digital cameras look incredibly weak, which is largely due to resolution.

can manipulate the subpixels to give the illusion of having a higher resolution. That results in a better image. Microsoft calls this Clear Type, and it is mostly used for text.

The difference between print resolution and screen resolution

What is Image Resolution and why does It matter?

Think of resolution as “image quality”. Put in very basic terms, resolution is the quality of an image.

As the resolution goes up, the image becomes clearer.

It becomes sharper, more defined and more detailed.

Why is that? Because there is more information in the same small space. Your computer, laptop and smart phone both have image resolutions. And there is a certain number of dots in the space that is the screen.

The more dots in the width and height of the screen, the higher the resolution. The fewer dots, the lower the resolution. If you remember those old computer monitors from the 1990s, you will recall how blurry the images were.

These days, most basic laptops and LCD screens have a much higher resolution.

There is more detail in the space of your screen

The Art of Graphix

BY DEIDRE M BASTIAN

because there are more dots to display the details of the images. That is all resolution is. It is the number of dots (pixels) in any given space.

Cheating Resolution You can cheat resolution, and make an image seem smoother than it otherwise would be, by using a technique known as antialiasing. This smoothens out the jagged edges in text, or angled lines in your image.

Each pixel is made up of small red, green and blue sub-pixels. By changing the amount of red, green and blue, a computer screen

Resolution starts to become a bit more complicated when you want to print your images. Now, instead of dealing with a screen that does not change, you have the option to print the image at any number of resolutions. Which one is right? What should you use to get the best quality?

First of all, realise that resolution often takes a back seat to the paper you are printing on. If you do not have the right kind of paper, the ink will bleed, and it will not matter how detailed your image is.

Print resolution tends to be much larger than screen resolution. That is because the ink dots, when printing, can be much closer together than normally seen on a screen. Notably, you can fit more “pixels” in a printed photo than you can on a screen.

As a result, never print your image at the same resolution of the screen you are viewing it on. That is

a quick way to get some very strange results. Most computer monitors display images at 72 dots per inch.

When you print, you should be anywhere from 300 dots per inch to 1,800 dots per inch undet the most sophisticated equipment.

A mistake that totally destroys resolution

As a last piece of advice, I want to remind you not to do this one thing that will totally destroy all quality in your images. If you ever need to crop an image or make it smaller, never, ever resize it back up to the original size. Doing so will ruin the quality of the image, and you will be left with nothing but a blurry mess.

Just remember that you can always go down in size but, once you do, it is irreversible. You cannot go back up. That is one of the main reasons I recommend you always keep a back-up of your original photo when editing.

Long-time readers will know I recommend avoiding the “digital zoom” feature on any cameras as well. Digital zoom is a bogus feature that camera makers build into their cameras to make them seem more capable.

When you use the digital zoom, you are not really

zooming in; you are simply magnifying the image that is already stored on the camera. It is no different from going into Photoshop, cropping the image, and then resizing it back up.

Avoid it, and you will always have crystal clear images.

Resolution is not a bad concept once you break it down into the fundamentals. It is image quality, plain and simple.

How Do I Know if I Have a High-Resolution Image?

Your art needs to be a 300 dpi (dots per inch) high-resolution jpg, tif, or eps file.

An eps format is common for logos. You may submit an eps image. Do not submit a png image.

A “dot” (also known as a “pixel”) describes the number of discrete points that can be captured by digital cameras.

“Dots per inch” (dpi) measures the density of the image when printed. 72 dpi is an image that has very little ink in a square inch.

300 dpi has a lot of ink in a square inch. To be included in the product showcase, your image must be at least 2 inches x 2 inches (600 pixels x 600 pixels) at 300 dpi. Otherwise, it will be “pixilated”.

Low resolution photo: Any pictures found on the

web are low resolution, and not suitable for print quality.

A picture that is low-resolution cannot be made into a high resolution photo.

High resolution photo: A high resolution picture is determined by its number of pixels - more pixels improve the sharpness of the picture.

This is print quality.

The amount of space a picture takes up on your computer, and how long it takes to e-mail, is determined by the picture’s file size. The more pixels a picture has, the larger its file size will be.

Until we meet again, fill your life with memories rather than regrets. Enjoy life and stay on top of your game!

•NB: Columnist welcomes feedback at deedee21bastian@gmail.com.

ABOUT COLUMNIST: Deidre Bastian is a professionally-trained graphic designer/ marketing coordinator with qualifications of MSc, BSc, ASc. She has trained at institutions such as: Miami Lakes Technical Centre, Success Training College, College of The Bahamas, Nova Southeastern University, Learning Tree International, Langevine International and Synergy Bahamas.

RBC unveils ‘contactless’ payment technology plan ROYAL Bank of Canada (RBC) yesteday unveiled plans to launch contactless payment technology for merchants across The Bahamas and the Caribbean The bank said pointof-sale devices will allow merchants to accept contactless-enabled payment cards, boosting the pointof-sale experience for their customers These point-of-sale devices will facilitate contactless payment acceptance, or “Tap”, as it is more commonly referred to.

“We are proud to be taking these next steps with contactless acceptance in our markets,” said Rob Johnston, RBC’s head

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of Caribbean Banking.

“This enhancement further demonstrates our commitment to better serve our clients by providing innovative and secure payment solutions.”

Contactless payment technology is a secure method of purchasing products or services via contactless-enabled payment cards, which employ Near Field Communication (NFC).

It offers advantages to both merchants and their customers by improving the convenience and speed of small payment transactions.

The technology facilitates purchases with a contactless-enabled payment card

by allowing a company’s customers to simply “Tap to Pay” for a purchase on RBC NFC-enabled point-of-sale devices.

Customers will be able to use contactless-enabled payment cards from any issuer at RBC point-of-sale devices.

“Our investment in contactless payment technology is another step forward to achieve our strategic priorities and bring the bank of the future to our clients,” added Mr Johnston. “RBC is serious about innovation, and this investment is just one of the ways we are enhancing our digital capabilities across the Caribbean.”

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, May 24, 2018, PAGE 3

EX-BAR PRESIDENT FEARS ‘START OF SLIPPERY SLOPE’

By NATARIO McKENZIE Tribune Business Reporter nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

A FORMER Bar Association president yesterday expressed ‘concern’ over the Financial Transactions Reporting Act’s (FTRA) potential to breach attorney-client privilege, warning: “That’s the beginning of a slippery slope.”

Wayne Munroe QC told Tribune Business that some parts of the legislation have never been a problem for attorneys, but expressed concern over the treatment of attorney-client privilege.

While giving a recent overview of the FTRA, Attorney General Carl Bethel QC said it was expected that lawyerclient privilege will be kept within due bounds. He added that attorneys and accountants are now being looked upon as ‘financial institutions’, having been previously designated as Non-Financial Businesses and Professions (DNFBPs).

Mr Bethel said lawyers, accountants and certain other professionals merely

ATTORNEY WAYNE MUNROE, QC. have duties of customer due diligence, and possibly making Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs).

“Even before the amendments, lawyers were defined as financial institutions for some purposes, and that is not an issue with lawyers per se. Some parts of the financial legislation have never been a problem for lawyers.

For instance, suspicious

Photo: Terrel W Carey/Tribune Staff

transactions reporting,” said Mr Munroe.

“The only issue for lawyers is the concept of attorney-client privilege because it is the client’s privilege. For instance, a client can’t use a lawyer to facilitate a criminal transaction because attorney-client privilege doesn’t apply to that. You can make a suspicious transaction report on

that basis.

“Simply permitting the Compliance Commission to come in and look at your records; that’s not permitted. Attorney-client privilege says who is my client is a matter of privilege. If, for instance, Oprah Winfrey is my client, she has a right for no one to know that other than with her permission. The ability

BAHAMIANS URGED TO REJECT ‘CONSUMERISM’

By NATARIO MCKENZIE Tribune Business Reporter nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net BAHAMIANS were yesterday urged to reject a “lifestyle of consumerism”, with a top accountant questioning how many persons are actually “struggling to make ends meet”.

Gowon Bowe, the Bahamas Institute of Chartered Accountants (BICA) president, commenting on the Central Bank Financial Literacy Survey 2018, which found that nearly 50 per cent of Bahamians are struggling to achieve this, told Tribune Business: “A lot of persons look at their circumstances and simply say they are struggling to

GOWON BOWE make ends meet.

“What do they mean by not making ends meet?

When you look deeper into their circumstances, however, there are some truly experiencing that, and others really just suffering from poor financial planning.

Those same

individuals have a $700 iPhone, a $200 pair of sneakers or are going to the hair and nail salon on a regular basis and using monies for what I would call superficial elements. That is a lack of understanding of financial circumstances.”

The survey, conducted on 1,000 Bahamian adults by the Public Domain research firm, found that while many Bahamian households knew what to do for financial self-sufficiency, they were finding it “challenging to execute their plans”.

Those earning less than $30,000 per year faced the most difficulty in meeting “all their financial demands”, with 44 per cent of households in the

medium income bracket of $30,000-$60,000 also reporting similar struggles. Even 35 per cent of those earning greater than $60,000 reported trouble in “making ends meet”.

“When income was insufficient to cover household expenses, 40 per cent of respondents saw reducing spending as the solution to covering their expenditures, followed by working a second/third job (17 per cent), and borrowing money from family and friends (ten per cent).

Each of the other means of coping [including payday lenders and numbers winnings] garnered less than

SEE PAGE 10

to have onsite inspection might offend attorney-client privilege.”

Mr Munroe noted that in Canada, attorney-client privilege has been defined as a human right. “The challenge is: Can you have on-site inspection of lawyers without breaching attorneyclient privilege,” he said. “I don’t know of any country where it happens. That’s the main concern.

“It would definitely be an issue because in Canada they define attorney-client privilege as a fundamental human right, and so why would a fundamental human right of people who consult Bahamian lawyers be any different than people who consult American lawyers or Canadian lawyers or English lawyers. That’s the beginning of a slippery slope. If you could break attorney-client privileges for these matters, where would you stop?”

Mr Bethel noted during his presentation that it had been suggested in a meeting with the Bar Council that the Canada issue be looked at. Mr Bethel suggested,

however, that Canada and the Bahamas should be looked at differently.

He said: “The reality is that Canada is a country with enormous natural resources, 40-50 million people, and a standing army, navy and air force.

They do not need the world as much as we do. We have an entirely open economy.

We are an integrated part of the world, and we are very small. We do not have the luxury that a Canada can enjoy.”

The Attorney General added: “I know that there has been an issue between the Bar Association and the Compliance Commission. But unfortunately, under the new law, this must be resolved in favour of a co-operative relationship between the profession and the Commission.

“In this regard, major law firms will be expected to hire compliance officers. In smaller law firms, a senior partner can be nominated for this role. And in oneperson law firms, the sole attorney can serve as the compliance officer.”

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THE TRIBUNE

BAMSI connection to $50m biomass plant development FROM PAGE ONE Providence Energy Partners is an affiliate of Providence Advisors, the Bahamian investment and financial advisory firm. Kenwood Kerr, principal of both entities, declined to comment when contacted by Tribune Business on the grounds he did not want to prejudice talks with both BPL and the Government.

Mr Wells, though, said Providence Energy Partners’ plans would create hundreds of jobs and benefit the environment, since use of biomass fuel would both eliminate “invasive species” and reduce BPL’s reliance on fossil fuels through their replacement with a cleaner source.

“Their objective is to try and do away with the invasive trees,” he told this newspaper. “Those invasive plants, they’ll come and be clearing them out. It could create 100-150 jobs in Andros with people gathering wood and cutting down trees, and buying that off them as biomass for the plant.

“It would create quite a number of jobs in North Andros, and stop us buying the diesel fuels for the generators down there. We’ll see

how it goes. It depends on what BPL and Cabinet say.”

Mr Wells confirmed that BAMSI and its directors are very familiar with Providence Energy Partners’ proposal.

“There was a Board meeting; it was discussed,” he said. “I told the Prime Minister about it, and he said they [Providence] had put a proposal in.

“I had a further meeting with them, and they made a presentation to the Board of BAMSI as to what they’d be looking to do. BAMSI continues to support them putting a plant there. That’s really where it is.

“I got a copy of their proposal about a week or so ago.

They put it to BPL, and BPL will have to make the decision on a PPA with them.

The Board of BPL will be the final arbiter.”

Desmond Bannister, minister of works, told Tribune Business he was aware of the Providence Energy Partners offer but declined to comment further on the basis he did not want to “pre-empt” any decision by BPL’s Board.

“I don’t want to comment on it, as the Board has to consider the issues. I don’t want to pre-empt them,” the Minister said, while doing little to disguise his enthusiasm for biomass.

CLOSURE

KENWOOD KERR He added: “The biomass idea is long coming. It’s a wonderful idea, and we’ll see how the Board deals with it.”

Mr Bannister had also touted biomass’s virtues, and the potential ability to turn “invasive species”, in another recent interview with Tribune Business in which he acknowledged that the recent

www.ub.edu.bs

The University of The Bahamas Oakes Field Campus and Grosvenor Close Centre will close early at 12:00p.m. on Thursday, 24th May, 2018 in preparation for the Spring 2018 Commencement scheduled to be held at the Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium, beginning at 4:00p.m. However, Chapter One Bookstore will remain open, as normal, until 6:00p.m.

Additionally, UB-North in East Grand Bahama will close at 1:00 p.m. on Thursday, 31st May, 2018 in preparation for Spring 2018 Commencement scheduled to be held at the Grand Lucayan Resort, beginning at 6:30 p.m.

UB’s Oakes Field Campus and UB-North will reopen as normal on Friday, 25th May and Monday, 4th June, 2018 respectively.

We apologize for any inconvenience caused.

increase in global oil prices to over $80 per barrel was “a huge concern”.

“We’ve seen how oil has gone up tremendously. That’s a huge concern,” the Minister said. “As we move on with new developments we are looking to both alternative fuels and alternative fuel methods, and are looking to engage renewables where we can.”

Mr Bannister said the oil price increase will “not hold us back with the progress we seek to make to ensure we have more reliable service, more reliable costs for the Bahamian people”.

He added that too many Bahamians were focused on solar as the only available renewable energy option, and ignoring other avenues available for generating cheaper, cleaner power.

“In a number of areas BPL is looking at renewables.

With respect to progress on their plans, it has been amazing in the last few months in a number of different areas,” Mr Bannister told Tribune Business.

“But, as a country, we have to remember this. In some areas there are so many people who link renewables

solely to solar, and we know that utility-scale solar takes tremendous amounts of property. We are looking at renewables in its truest sense, not simply solar. It’s important to appreciate that.”

Mr Bannister said some proposed renewable projects are “going to change the state of The Bahamas in terms of invasive species”, in what could have been a reference to the Providence Energy Partners project.

“We are looking at invasive species to generate energy, and get rid of invasive species,” he told Tribune Business. “BPL is looking at all types of things. They’re going to be innovative and creative for the Bahamian people.”

But Darnell Osborne, BPL’s chairman, appeared less enthusiastic than Mr Bannister about the merits of Providence Energy Partners’ project. She said any outsourcing of Family Island generation would have to go through the same open, competitive tender process that was recently used to select Shell North America as the preferred partner for New Providence’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) fuelled power plant.

“I have no comment because we’re dealing with New Providence right now,” Mrs Osborne replied, when contacted by Tribune Business. “I have no comment on the Family Island plans.

“Whatever we do we will go out to tender the same way we did with New Providence. That’s consistent with the same way Ragged Island is being handled. We’re not in any negotiations at the moment with anyone on the Family Islands.”

Disclosure of the Providence Energy Partners offer comes at a sensitive moment for BPL, which has been accused by the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) of “compromising the introduction of sustainable renewable energy in the shortest possible time” through its failure to produce a Renewable Energy Plan (REP).

URCA expressed concern that BPL’s continued delay

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was jeopardising the National Energy Policy (NEP) goal of generating 30 per cent of this country’s energy needs from renewable sources by 2030.

It added that BPL may have broken the law, and terms of its licence, by failing to meet its legal obligation to produce an REP, featuring timetables and performance benchmarks, within six months of the Electricity Act 2015 taking effect.

This occurred more than two years’ ago.

Mr Wells, though, said the Providence Energy Partners project could help transform BAMSI and the Government’s agriculture vision into reality. He explained that land cleared for biomass fuel would enable BAMSI’s student graduates to immediately translate their knowledge to food production.

“We will get a farming community there, and have a farming town there,” Mr Wells told Tribune Business of his long-term plans.

“BAMSI would benefit and the country would benefit because, when these students come out of school, we would say: ‘Here’s five - ten acres of land, go and farm it’.”

He added that BAMSI’s graduates would already be trained in the science of agriculture, equipping them to succeed once they were able to access sufficiently fertile land - something the biomass plant will assist with.

“They need between three to five acres to prepare their land,” Mr Wells said. “At least it would be there, prepared, and not go to waste like it was in the past. Five thousand acres in total is what I’m throwing out there, but it may not be right.

“BAMSI already has 1,000 acres there, and I figure if you add 5,000 acres of land... you’re talking about $50m of produce. That’s a significant dent in our import substitution for agriculture products - $50m easily, maybe $100m.

I don’t really know.”

The Bahamas’ annual food import bill is estimated at close to $1bn, but Mr Wells recalled his school days when he was a student at St John’s in Nassau. His father was a subsistence farmer in Long Island, and he would send Mr Wells fresh produce to sell at the weekends.

“In those days it was pounds, shillings and pence,” he recalled. “I would have one thousand pounds in my pocket, hundreds of pounds in my pocket some times,

by Sunday evening. It can be done, and we [BAMSI] intend to do it.”

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, May 24, 2018, PAGE 5

One provider stalls 20% of beneficial owner requests FROM PAGE ONE period to 2017, the OECD report found that overseas regulators submitted 47 requests to this nation for information on the legal/beneficial ownership of specific corporate entities.

While most countries “were generally satisfied” with the information provided, the report added: “A number of exchange of information requests are still pending. In 11 of these requests, ownership information needs to be obtained from the same service provider, which is a Financial and Corporate Services Provider (FCSP) licensed by the Securities Commission.

“The information relates to several International Business Companies (IBCs), and has so far been unavailable. The FCSP indicated that its head office, located in another jurisdiction, removed the access rights to the (electronic) information which is kept by the head office.”

The OECD “peer review” declared this to be unacceptable, arguing that global best practices dictate that such information be available to the “competent authority” responsible for exchanging it - in this case, the Ministry of Finance. The Bahamian financial services provider was not identified.

“The Competent Authority should have powers to obtain the information,” the report said. “It seems likely that in this case the customers may have been introduced to the Bahamian FCSP by its foreign head office.”

Regardless, the OECD “peer review” said the situation breached the Securities Commission’s requirement for all licensees to maintain necessary beneficial ownership information on all entities for which they act as the registered agent.

“Whether the customers

were introduced by the foreign head office or not, it is clear that the Bahamian FCSP should have the ownership information on its customers in its possession or control,” the OECD report said. “In practice, this was not the case.

“The Bahamas’ authorities indicated that they have revoked the licence of the Bahamian FCSP in the second half of 2017, and are now in contact with the liquidator to try and obtain the information.

“Nevertheless, more than one year had passed since the potential unavailability of the information was discovered. In addition, there were other external factors (relevant information available in the public domain) that should have given rise to the supervisory authorities taking action at an earlier stage,” it continued.

“In such circumstances, it is recommended that The Bahamas enhances its monitoring and enforcement practice, and be more proactive in the case of external events affecting one or more Bahamian services providers.”

This episode likely provides further explanation for why the Government has moved to create a centralised Beneficial Ownership Registry through tabling the Register of Beneficial Ownership Bill 2018 in the House of Assembly.

The financial industry is resistant to moving forward with the legislation at this time, largely because it believes it has more pressing priorities as a result of the European Union’s (EU) “economic substance” and elimination of “ring fencing” demands, and the need to complete automatic tax information exchange implementation.

While many in the sector feel The Bahamas will have little choice but to move

SEE PAGE 7

Works minister seeks ‘lot more funds’ in budget FROM PAGE ONE partnerships (PPPs), to meet The Bahamas’ infrastructure needs, Mr Bannister replied: “That’s a question for the Ministry of Finance. I’m simply the guy who’s going to try and get things done.

The Ministry of Finance makes determinations as to how its financed.

“Our question is the provision of more money. We’ve got three more years to get some serious things done, and we’re committed to getting them done. Every island.”

The Minister revealed that his capital budget for 2018-2019 was likely to be in the $113-$120m range when he addressed the recent Eleuthera Business Outlook conference, and he warned Bahamians at the time “not everything will get done at once”.

Mr Bannister is not the only Cabinet member seeking increased budgetary financing for the upcoming 2018-2019 fiscal year, which begins on July 1. Jeffrey Lloyd, minister of education, said he planned to seek an extra $600,000 for the Bahamas Technical & Vocational Institute (BTVI) as it “cannot meet the needs and the demands of our society here in The Bahamas”.

With the increased demand for technical and vocational graduates not yet being met through BTVI, and the demand for more persons with those skills, Mr Lloyd said his Ministry was requesting increased government funding.

Addressing a BTVI graduation ceremony, he added: “When we look at our beautiful, wonderful, talented, gifted students, this system must respond to their needs in a timely fashion.”

The two ministers’ comments illustrate the pressures

facing KP Turnquest, Deputy Prime Minister and minister of finance, as he seeks to craft a budget that balances the urgent need for the Government to achieve its fiscal consolidation targets without cutting too deeply in critical areas.

While the former Christie administration sought to hold its capital spending flat at $240m per year, the Minnis government has achieved its first-year deficit reduction solely through cuts in this area - which is largely comprised of the Ministry of Works’ budget.

Mr Turnquest previously told Tribune Business it was “fair enough” to say that the Government was having difficulty bringing its fixed costs under control, with the near-32 per cent reduction in its 2017-2018 first-half deficit stemming entirely from cuts to the Budget’s capital spending side.

He conceded that this was not ideal, given that capital projects are designed to upgrade vital infrastructure and deliver long-term value for the Bahamian people, but pledged that the Minnis administration would “make up ground” in this area when it unveils the 2018-2019 Budget in May. While there was a $92.3m year-over-year reduction in the first-half GFS deficit to $198m, the Deputy Prime Minister conceded that this “largely reflected” the 50 per cent slash in capital spending.

This fell from $152.2m in the same period in 2016-2017 to $75.8m for the six months to end-December, representing a $76.4m reduction,

although some of the prior year’s figure related to Hurricane Matthew restoration.

While capital spending is easier to cut and control, hence the Government’s focus in this area, Mr Turnquest said it was conscious that long-needed infrastructure upgrades could not be starved of capital for long.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) reiterated similar sentiments in its recent Article IV report,

which called on The Bahamas to make a further $240m “adjustment” to bring its fiscal deficit in line with the 0.5 per cent of GDP goal set in the Fiscal Responsibility Bill.

“Staff urged the authorities to identify measures to undertake this adjustment with a strong focus on reducing current spending and avoid an undue compression of capital spending,” the IMF said.

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PAGE 6, Thursday, May 24, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY ‘INEFFECTIVE’ WITHOUT TOUGHER SANCTIONS FROM PAGE ONE It also called for the independent, five-member Fiscal Responsibility Council that currently has just an oversight and advisory role to have more power to “proactively contribute to fiscal strategy and decisions, and enforce its advice, recommendations and decisions”.

“Throughout the Bill there is a noticeable lack of reference to penalties or incentives to encourage compliance and rectify behaviour in the implementation of fiscal responsibility and discipline processes,” ORG said.

“Where there is mention of penalty, said penalties are not defined or codified and are left to Ministerial discretion, allowing room for uneven or unfair application, or the perception thereof...

“Given The Bahamas’ poor history of compliance with similar reporting laws, such as public disclosure, there is concern that without methods of enforcement there is a risk that the Fiscal Responsibility Bill could ultimately be ineffective despite its thorough reporting mandates and methodically outlined goals.”

ORG’s recommendations, issued yesterday, mirrored concerns voiced by fellow

civil society organisation, Citizens for a Better Bahamas, which acts as the local Transparency International representative.

Its principal, Lemarque Campbell, last week told Tribune Business that the Fiscal Responsibility Bill needed “more teeth” against governments that frequently breached its mandates, and failed to achieve both the fiscal deficit and long-term debt-to-GDP ratio targets set out in the legislation.

Explaining ORG’s call for the Bill to include a codified “system of penalties and incentives”, Matt Aubry, its executive director, conceded to Tribune Business that not all countries incorporated such sanctions in their own legislation, “Having these mandates [targets], the biggest challenge becomes having compliance and a level of enforcement to ensure these mandates are met,” Mr Aubry explained. “There are some places that include penalties and sanctions, and some that don’t.

“Brazil has sanctions, Australia has some mechanism for sanctions, and others have sanctions in other legislation and incentives. Some others, like New Zealand, don’t.” Mr Aubry then pointed to Nigeria,

where its Independent Fiscal Responsibility Council - similar to the body proposed in Bahamian law - was now calling for enforcement measures to be codified legally.

Nigeria presently lacks sanctions, but Mr Aubry said The Bahamas “looks a bit more like Nigeria, not New Zealand” at its current stage of development and “where we are as country”.

He added that The Bahamas’ follow through on enforcement “hasn’t historically been that strong”, hence the need for greater enforcement and sanctions powers in the Fiscal Responsibility Bill.

The present draft merely requires the Minister of Finance to appear before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee and “explain the cause” of any breach of fiscal targets, responsibility objectives and adjustment plans.

If the Committee is dissatisfied with the Minister’s explanation, and proposed corrective action, it can only “recommend that Parliament consider a resolution” requiring either that “action” be taken to improve the situation or additional progress reports.

The Committee can recommend to the Minister of Finance that “a financial

or other penalty” be levied against public officials who breach the Fiscal Responsibility Act, but given the fiscal profligacy of successive administrations, many are likely to agree with ORG and Citizens for a Better Bahamas that the enforcement powers need to be beefed up.

Mr Aubry said the Committee’s powers lacked “specific parameters” and, as a result, there was a lack of understanding as to how the current provisions work and if penalties are pre-determined.

He suggested the Bill’s current drafting left the Committee’s powers vulnerable to being both “overused and underused”, and added: “Absent a better definition and given more teeth, we’d agree with Citizens for a Better Bahamas, particularly around the process of any sanctions and incentives to drive enforcement and compliance.”

As for the Fiscal Responsibility Council, Mr Aubry said ORG supported its members being drawn from five different private sector organisations - the Bahamas Bar Association; Bahamas Institute of Chartered Accountants (BICA); Chamber of Commerce; Financial Analysts’ Society; and University of the Bahamas - and being nominated by the House of Assembly speaker.

“I think that is really important, and a much more positive step in Bahamian legislation,” he added.

“That does speak top a level of independence we’ve not seen. It could be more so, but it’s a step in the right direction.”

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However, ORG said of its concerns: “The function of the Fiscal Council, as stated in Section 17, seems to be limited to retroactive assessments and ‘shadow reporting’ on fiscal performance and compliance, and furthermore there seems to be no legislated means to require government heed said reports.

“The Fiscal Council would be more effective in its objective to drive compliance and performance if it were proactively included as a consultant or contributor in key policy development, such as fiscal adjustments, amendments to the schedules, determination of breaches, and the assessment of timelines, amongst others.”

ORG also called for provisions that requires governments to give “meaningful consideration” to the Fiscal Council’s reports and recommendations. “The law requires the reports but sets no expectation on how those reports should be received or utilised by the Government,” it added.

“Nor does the law outline any recourse the Council might have in the event that it disagrees or advises against actions taken by government, or if its advice or recommendations are repeatedly disregarded by The Minister or other government actors.

“ORG advises that The Council be proactively included in development of timelines, objectives, and policies beyond the retroactive shadow reporting body structured in the Bill. Furthermore, ORG suggests that clear responsibilities of government on the treatment and consideration of

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advice and content from the Council be outlined within the legislation.”

Mr Aubry, though, praised the Government’s decision to draw on “global standard” legislation from New Zealand and other nations in drafting The Bahamas’ own Bill. He also backed the decision to set numeric targets for the fiscal deficit and debtto-GDP ratio - something not all nations do.

“When you look at places like The Bahamas you can say having numeric guidelines makes sense because it shows what you’re trying to work towards,” Mr Aubry told Tribune Business. “Having real, specific guidelines, some legislation doesn’t do that.

“It talks about adopting specific processes but doesn’t talk about criteria and benchmarks that have to be achieved. We would endorse having those specific guidelines and mandates.”

The Fiscal Responsibility Bill’s key targets require the Government to slash the fiscal deficit to 0.5 per cent from 2020-2021 onwards, slashing it from a sum equivalent to 5.8 per cent of GDP in the 2016-2017 Budget year. This means reducing it from near $700m to around $54m.

The Bill’s “first schedule” sets out a “glide path” or “road map” for achieving this, acknowledging - as the IMF stated - that “significant fiscal adjustments” are needed over the next two budget years to hit this objective.

To enable the public sector and wider Bahamian economy “to achieve the fiscal objective in an orderly manner”, and avoid unnecessary shocks, the Bill calls for 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 deficits that “shall not exceed” 1.8 per cent and one per cent of GDP, respectively.

The Bill also sets out a “long-term” target of reducing the Government’s direct debt-to-GDP ratio from the current 58 per cent to “no more than 50 per cent”. The year by which this target is to be achieved has to be set out in the Government’s “fiscal strategy report”, which must be submitted to Parliament no later than the third week of November each year.

ORG, though, said shrinking the annual fiscal deficit to 0.5 per cent of GDP within three years was “an ambitious goal”. It also expressed concern over “the sweeping powers” granted to the responsible Minister to make regulations accompanying the Bill, arguing this opened it to “misuse”.

THE TRIBUNE

Buyer: Grand Lucayan deal ‘near finish line’

Thursday, May 24, 2018, PAGE 7

One provider stalls 20% of beneficial owner requests FROM PAGE FIVE

PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis is pictured presenting Paul Wynn, CEO of Goldwynn Hotel and Residence, with a bracelet crafted by a Bahamian designer during yesterday’s Goldwynn groundbreaking ceremony.

Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff FROM PAGE ONE specifics on his future plans, should the purchase close, Mr Wynn added: “I think they’re taking the avenue of not doing an all-inclusive because it’s just a very difficult competitive environment to go against countries like Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Cuba.”

The Grand Lucayan’s closure, following the devastation inflicted by Hurricane Matthew in October 2016, effectively deprived Grand Bahama of a “mass market” stopover tourism industry.

Around 1,000 direct jobs were lost, while 1,100 rooms that amount to 59 per cent of the island’s inventory were closed.

Mr Wynn acknowledged “pull-out” fears over the protracted negotiations, saying: “It’s been a concern but it’s one of these things. There’s the vendors, the tenants, myself and the Government.

There is a lot of work and the Government is doing all the heavy lifting here.”

As to when he expects the purchase to be completed, Mr Wynn replied: “My hope is some time this summer. I just don’t know at this point, but we’re very close. Grand Bahama has a great future. It’s a hidden gem. We just have to get it out to the public what’s there.

We’ve to get more people on Grand Bahama.”

Mr Wynn’s comments are unlikely to reassure many in Freeport, though, given that the Grand Lucayan’s closure is now in its 19th month. One source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “It doesn’t reassure anybody because nobody can tell you anything.

“They haven’t even got a contract signed. The man’s going to lose interest, and he’s all we’ve got.” Among those desperately hoping for concrete developments are the Bahamian entrepreneurs in the Port Lucaya

Marketplace, which has regularly seen tenants close as a result of the customer base once provided by the hotel.

Kwasi Thompson, minister of state for Grand Bahama, previously indicated that the Government is determined that the Grand Lucayan become self-sufficient and weaned off government subsidies that once amounted to $29m annually.

To achieve this, and build a sustainable tourism product in Freeport, it wants to transform the Lucayan strip into a true “destination” product. Mr Thompson described achieving this as a “jigsaw”, with the Government still trying to fit the many “pieces of the puzzle” - hotel brands, airlift and amenities - together.

In the meantime, construction on the Wynn Group’s GoldWynn condo-hotel and residences - located across from the Prime Minister’s Office on West Bay Street - is expected to begin in July, with a targeted completion date of 2020.

The development is expected to employ approximately 300 Bahamians during the construction phase, and 175 persons when completed. Mr Wynn also announced plans to move his company’s corporate office from Toronto to Nassau.

K Peter Turnquest, Deputy Prime Minister, said: “We’re excited about the new offering, the careers that will arise and the addition to the tourism product.”

Speaking on the Grand Lucayan deal, he added: “It is certainly very encouraging for us to hear him express his continued support and commitment to that project, and we certainly look forward to bringing that to a conclusion in a very short time.”

He added: “Negotiations are now underway with respect to the operator of the project which are coming along nicely. We expect some resolution to the fine details in short order.”

towards such a Beneficial Ownership Registry eventually, they also feel that global standards on the issue are still evolving and have yet to be determined.

The OECD “peer review”, meanwhile, revealed that one of the 11 beneficial ownership requests thwarted by the unidentified provider also involved the issuance of bearer shares - even though this device, once used to conceal the true ownership of corporate entities, was abolished by the 2000 legislation that secured removal from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) “blacklist”.

“With respect to the peer review period, one [country] indicated that it had not received ownership information because the company had issued bearer shares,” the OECD report said.

“The Bahamas reported that in this case the IBC had issued bearer shares in violation of the law in 2005, but redeemed them in 2007.

The partial information that was sent to the [other country] was not up-to-date (the request covered the years 2010 to 2013) and complete, but The Bahamas Competent Authority reported that the case is still open.”

The OECD report described it as “an isolated incident”.

PAGE 10, Thursday, May 24, 2018

BAHAMIANS URGED TO REJECT ‘CONSUMERISM’ FROM PAGE THREE

the GDP per capita is distorted,” he explained.

“Due to the fact that ten per cent of responses,” it is such a small populathe Central Bank said. tion base, outliers will Mr Bowe, though, have a much greater added: “The whole point impact on the average. of the survey and the ini- This isn’t the median, this tiatives thereafter is to is the mean, meaning if focus attention on how do you counted every single persons take the reins of person’s income and took their own financial cir- the median; that average cumstances. That doesn’t would be a lot lower.” mean that by doing these Mr Bowe added: “What things it becomes a good has happened is they have financial circumstance, but taken the GDP of the what it does say is that for country, which includes one, persons start living financial services instiwithin their means, and two, to make sure that you tutions which have a are setting out the priori- significant amount of GDP ties in the right way and, productivity, as well as our thirdly, using the informa- tourism product, which is tion you have available to also looking at a signifiyou to make sure that you cant amount of the higher are getting the best oppor- income tourists coming tunities as a consumer in here.

“The actual productive our current environment.”

The BICA president said activity in the country is the Bahamas’ high gross very high, and the trickle national income per capita down effect is not as signifand GDP per capita were icant, meaning the profits likely “distorted” by high and the monies earned on income earners and sectors the higher earning segment such as financial services. of the economy are repre“If you look at a popula- sented by less persons, and tion size of 400,000, and I the average trickle down have some very high earn- and average income of ers in that number and the the average person is a lot majority are low earners, lower.”

THE TRIBUNE

Uber ends self-driving program in Arizona SAN FRANCISCO Associated Press UBER IS pulling its selfdriving cars out of Arizona, a reversal triggered by the recent death of woman who was run over by one of the ride-hailing service’s robotic vehicles while crossing a darkened street in a Phoenix suburb.

The decision announced on yesterday means Uber won’t be bringing back its self-driving cars to the streets to Arizona, eliminating the jobs of about 300 people who served as backup drivers and performed other jobs connected to the vehicles.

Uber had suspended testing of its self-driving vehicles in Arizona, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Toronto while regulators investigated the cause of a March 18 crash that killed 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg in Tempe, Arizona. It marked the first death involving a fully autonomous vehicle, raising questions about the safety of computer-controlled cars

being built by Uber and dozens of other companies, including Google spin-off Waymo.

Uber still plans to build and test self-driving cars, which the San Francisco company considers to be critical to maintaining its early lead in the ride-hailing market. This as Waymo and other rivals prepare to enter the field with robotic vehicles that may be able to offer cheaper fares.

In a statement yesterday, Uber said its self-driving cars will return to Pittsburgh this summer. The company said it is focusing its efforts to build self-driving cars in that city as well as in San Francisco, although it didn’t make a commitment to bring its robotic vehicles back to the streets of California, where it no longer has a permit to operate them after allowing its license in that state to expire earlier this year.

About 550 Uber employees will remain in Arizona

working on its other operations in the state, including its traditional ride-hailing service with cars driven by humans responding to requests made through a mobile app.

Uber brought a fleet of self-driving cars to Arizona at the end of 2016, just days after the vehicles were banned from California for not having the proper permits at that time.

California’s action prompted Arizona Gov Doug Ducey to send out a derisive tweet in an effort to persuade Uber to bring its self-driving cars to his state.

“This is what OVER-regulation looks like!” Ducey wrote.

Ducey prohibited Uber from continuing its tests of self-driving cars after Herzberg was run over, a ban that a spokesman said yesterday remains in effect.

“The governor’s focus has always been on what’s best for Arizonans and

for public safety, not for any one company,” said Ducey spokesman Daniel Scarpinato.

The fatal collision involving Uber’s self-driving car added to the headaches vexing CEO Dara Khosrowshahi as he tries to repair the damage done by a regime led by his predecessor, Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick.

The company is trying to recover from a wave of revelations and allegations about rampant sexual harassment in Uber’s workforce, a coverup of a massive data breach, dirty tricks and stolen trade secrets .

Khosrowshahi has promised he won’t allow Uber’s self-driving cars back on public roads again until he is convinced the vehicles are safe. That won’t happen until Uber completes “a topto-bottom safety review”, according to a statement the company issued yesterday.

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THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, May 24, 2018, PAGE 11

Amazon, Starbucks pledge money to repeal Seattle head tax SEATTLE Associated Press AMAZON, Starbucks, Vulcan and other companies have pledged a total of more than $350,000 toward an effort to repeal Seattle’s newly passed tax on large employers intended to combat homelessness.

Just days after the Seattle City Council approved the levy, the “No Tax On Jobs” campaign, a coalition of businesses, announced it would gather signatures to put a referendum on the November ballot to repeal it.

Amazon, Starbucks, Vulcan, Kroger and Albertsons each promised $25,000 to the effort last week, according to a report filed by the campaign. The Washington Food Industry Association pledged $30,000.

Referendum backers will have to gather 17,632 signatures of registered Seattle voters by June 14 to get the measure on the ballot.

The so-called head tax will charge businesses making at

least $20m in gross revenues about $275 per full-time worker each year. The tax would begin in 2019 and raise about $48m a year to build affordable housing and provide emergency homeless services.

Opponents say the Seattle measure is a tax on jobs and questioned whether city officials are spending current resources effectively.

Worker and church groups and others praised the tax as a step toward building badly needed affordable housing in an affluent city where the income gap continues to widen and lower-income workers are being priced out.

The clash over who should pay to solve the city housing crisis that’s exacerbated

by Seattle’s rapid economic growth featured weeks of tense exchanges, raucous meetings and a threat by Amazon, the city’s largest employer, to stop construction planning on a 17-story building near its hometown headquarters.

Amazon has resumed planning the downtown

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building, but the company remains “apprehensive about the future created by the council’s hostile approach and rhetoric toward larger businesses, which forces us to question our growth here,” said Drew Herdener,

Amazon’s vice president for global corporate and operations communications.

Four councilmembers initially pitched an annual tax of $500 per full-time employee before a compromise proposal lowered

the tax rate after they could not muster six votes needed to override a potential veto by Mayor Jenny Durkan.

The mayor signed the head tax on May 16, saying “we must make urgent

progress on our affordability and homelessness crisis”.

Seattle’s action came as cities around San Francisco consider business taxes to help offset issues created by the growth of tech companies.

PAGE 12, Thursday, May 24, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

Seething over Russia probe, Trump tears into ‘spygate’ WASHINGTON Associated Press

PRESIDENT Donald Trump, pictured, has branded his latest attempt to discredit the special counsel’s Russia investigation as “spygate,” part of a newly invigorated strategy embraced by his Republican colleagues to raise suspicions about the probe that

has dogged his presidency since the start.

Trump now is zeroing in on — and at times embellishing — reports that a longtime US government informant approached members of his 2016 campaign during the presidential election in a possible bid to glean intelligence on Russian efforts to sway the election. He tweeted yesterday morning that the FBI has been caught in a “major SPY scandal”.

Trump’s latest broadsides set the stage for an unusual decision by the White House to arrange a briefing about classified documents for just two Republican House members, both Trump allies, in a meeting expected Thursday, as Trump and his supporters in Congress press for information on the outside informant.

After Democratic complaints, the White House said late yesterday that it would also give an additional briefing to group of lawmakers known as the “Gang of Eight” after the Memorial Day recess. That group includes the top Republicans and Democrats in each chamber and the top Republicans and Democrats on the House and Senate intelligence committees.

It remains unclear what,

if any, spying was done. The White House has given no evidence to support Trump’s claim that the Obama administration was trying to spy on his 2016 campaign for political reasons. It’s long been known that the FBI was looking into Russian meddling during the campaign and that part of that inquiry touched on the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russian figures.

Trump has told confidants in recent days that the revelation of an informant was potential evidence that the upper echelon of federal law enforcement has conspired against him, according to three people familiar with his recent conversations but not authorised to discuss them publicly. Trump told one ally this week that he wanted “to brand” the informant a “spy”, believing the more nefarious term would resonate more in the media and with the public.

He went on to debut the term “Spygate” on yesterday, despite its previous associations with a 2007 NFL scandal over videotaping coaches.

Democrats said yesterday that the briefing — held as special counsel Robert Mueller investigates Trump’s campaign and whether it was involved in Russian meddling in the US election — was highly inappropriate and asked for the “Gang of Eight” briefing instead of today’s GOP-only meeting. After negotiations with leaders on Capitol Hill yesterday afternoon, White House spokesman Raj Shah announced the additional bipartisan meeting but said today’s briefing would go on.

Some Senate Republicans have asked to be invited to

the meeting as well, arguing that they should be included.

Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa, South Carolina Sen Lindsey Graham and Texas Sen John Cornyn made that request to White House chief of staff John Kelly on Tuesday.

Cornyn, the No 2 Republican in the Senate, said yesterday evening that they had not yet received a response.

The meeting scheduled for today was encouraged

by Trump and brokered by the White House. Expected attendees are FBI director Christopher Wray, national intelligence director Dan Coats, Justice Department official Edward O’Callaghan, House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes and House Oversight and Government Reform chairman Trey Gowdy.

Nunes, an ardent Trump supporter, has been demanding information on an FBI source in the Russia investigation. And Trump took up the cause as the White House tries to combat the threat posed by Mueller’s investigation.

Trump escalated his efforts to discredit that investigation yesterday, tweeting: “Look how things have turned around on the Criminal Deep State.

They go after Phony Collusion with Russia, a made up Scam, and end up getting caught in a major SPY scandal the likes of which this country may never have seen before! What goes around, comes around!”

Former FBI director James Comey, who was fired

by Trump last year, tweeted yesterday morning that

the agency’s use of secret informants was “tightly regulated and essential to protecting the country”.

“Attacks on the FBI and lying about its work will do lasting damage to our country,” he said. “How will Republicans explain this to their grandchildren?

Trump told reporters in response: “What I’m doing is a service to this country and I did a great service to this country by firing James Comey.”

The back and forth between Congress and the Justice Department over the Nunes request — one of many over the course of the Russia investigation — has been simmering for weeks.

The department originally rejected Nunes’ appeal, writing in a letter in late April that his request for information “regarding a specific individual” could have severe consequences, including potential loss of human life. Negotiations over the information stalled, but restarted when Trump demanded in a tweet Sunday that the Justice Department investigate “whether or not the FBI/ DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes.”

The Justice Department agreed by expanding an open, internal investigation to determine whether there was any politically motivated surveillance. And the White House said Kelly would organise the meeting with House lawmakers to discuss the documents, although he and other White House staffers would not be present.

www.ub.edu.bs

CAREER OPPORTUNITY SENIOR MANAGEMENT

Suitably qualified candidates are invited to submit applications for the following position available at University of The Bahamas:General Counsel, who will serve as the chief legal officer of the University of The Bahamas’ system, and provide legal guidance and counsel in executive and policy decision-making to the Board of Trustees and senior leadership. Among the duties and responsibilities are: • Managing the University’s legal representation in all litigation and administrative proceedings; • Providing counsel and advice concerning compliance with laws of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas and all UB Act statutes and regulations affecting tertiary education, including preventative legal services and legal representation in monitoring and resolving disputes that may lead to litigation; • Subject to direction of the Board of Trustees and President, resolving all legal claims and initiating and appealing all lawsuits and administrative proceedings; • Managing outside counsel budgets, issuing contracts for legal services and retaining outside counsel on behalf of all University units; • Providing administrative leadership to the Board of Trustees in litigation reviews; • Serving as attorney to the Board of Trustees in legal matters and communicating legal issues and concerns to the attention of the Trustees, President, and senior leaders; • Reviewing all Board resolutions and policies for form and legality.

Among the essential qualifications are at least 10 years of experience as a practicing attorney in a sophisticated environment such as a large law firm, government agency, university, non-profit organization or corporation and a J.D. LLB and /or LLM degree from an accredited law school. Proven success in providing legal guidance in the context of complex organizations and a deeply held commitment to, and belief in, the value of collaborative decision-making are also essential.

A detailed position announcement is available online at: http://www.ub.edu.bs/about-us/career-opportunities/ .

Applicants should electronically submit via hrapply@ub.edu.bs, to the attention of the Vice President, Human Resources the following documents

by Thursday, 31st May, 2018: • A completed University of The Bahamas Application for Employment (available at (www.ub.edu.bs/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Applicationfor-Employment-Staff.pdf); • A cover letter of interest highlighting work experience and accomplishments relevant to the position; • Current Curriculum Vitae or Resume; and • The names and contact information of three professional references

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, May 24, 2018, PAGE 13

High hopes but tough road for black woman in governor’s race

ATLANTA Associated Press SHE’S A Yale-educated attorney and a romance novelist who served a decade in the Georgia Legislature.

Now Stacey Abrams has gained a shot at becoming the first black woman elected governor in US history.

Abrams, 44, easily won the Democratic nomination in Tuesday’s primary, and strong turnout among Democrats has fueled hopes she can take back the governor’s mansion in November in a state where Republicans hold every statewide office from US senator to insurance commissioner.

“We are writing the next chapter of Georgia’s future, where no one is unseen, no one is unheard and no one is uninspired,” Abrams declared after defeating fellow Democrat and former legislative colleague Stacey Evans.

Democrats see a potential window for victory in the race to succeed term-limited GOP Gov Nathan Deal, but experts say it won’t happen without a hard fight.

DEMOCRATIC candidate for Georgia Governor Stacey Abrams waves to supporters after speaking at an election-night watch party on Tuesday in Atlanta.

Photo: John Bazemore/AP “As long as Republican turnout doesn’t drop off dramatically, the advantage is still in their court,” said Andra Gillespie, a political science professor at Emory University in Atlanta.

Republicans won’t have their nominee until a July 24 runoff between Lt Gov Casey Cagle and secretary of state Brian Kemp — two white men who were the top

vote-getters in a crowded five-candidate GOP primary Tuesday in which contenders focused on the sanctity of gun rights and talked tough on immigration.

Regardless of who emerges as the Republican nominee in nine weeks, Abrams faces a tough political road in what remains a deep red state.

Georgia hasn’t elected a Democrat governor since

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1998. And no Democrat seeking that office in the past 20 years, including former President Jimmy Carter’s grandson in 2014, has gotten more than 46 percent of the vote.

Abrams is betting she can succeed by abandoning the political playbook of previous Democratic nominees, who ran centrist campaigns

aimed at luring back older white voters who had come to favour Republicans. She is instead hoping to appeal to young voters and non-whites who have been less likely to participate in elections.

That strategy seemed to work for Abrams in the primary. She won 76 percent of the Democratic vote to trounce Evans, a white candidate who ran a more traditional campaign.

“Evans was running a professional campaign, she was up on TV, and she got her clock cleaned,” said Charles Bullock, a political science professor at the University of Georgia. “And I suspect that’s because Abrams’ game plan came through for her.”

There might be another glimmer of hope for Georgia Democrats in the primary results Tuesday.

Democratic voters accounted for 47 percent of the 1.1 million ballots cast in the gubernatorial primaries. Republicans outstripped them by more than 53,400 votes. But the numbers show a big leap for the Democrats, whose share of primary ballots in contests for governor

hasn’t exceeded 36 percent since 2010.

“Abrams may have two factors in her favor,” said William Hatcher, an Augusta University political science professor. “First, she has excited the Democratic base.

Second, if the Trump administration remains unpopular, it will make it more likely that suburban moderates turn to the Democrats.”

Abrams is an underdog with a compelling backstory.

Raised by poor parents alongside five siblings in Mississippi, she went on to attend Yale Law School. She worked as a tax attorney and deputy city attorney for Atlanta, then started her own legal consulting firm.

On the side, using the pen name Selena Montgomery, she published several romance novels with titles such as “Hidden Sins” and “Secrets and Lies”.

Abrams won election to the Georgia House in 2006 and rose to become the first black woman to serve as the chamber’s Democratic leader. She resigned her seat last summer to focus on the gubernatorial campaign.

PAGE 14, Thursday, May 24, 2018

NOTICE

MARKET REPORT WEDNESDAY, 23 MAY 2018

t. 242.323.2330 | f. 242.323.2320 | www.bisxbahamas.com

BISX ALL SHARE INDEX: CLOSE 1,934.64 | CHG 0.00 | %CHG 0.00 | YTD -128.93 | YTD% -6.25 BISX LISTED & TRADED SECURITIES 52WK HI 4.40 19.17 7.50 3.76 1.64 0.19 4.05 8.90 6.60 5.30 11.50 2.71 1.61 8.21 6.10 11.48 7.29 13.67 12.51

52WK LOW 3.50 17.43 7.50 3.32 0.90 0.12 3.30 8.40 6.00 3.15 9.00 2.30 1.40 7.25 6.00 8.78 5.67 3.35 12.01

1050.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00

1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00

PREFERENCE SHARES

1.00 103.00 100.00 106.00 105.00 103.00 100.00 10.00 1.01

1.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 105.00 100.00 100.00 10.00 1.00

SECURITY AML Foods Limited APD Limited Bahamas Property Fund Bahamas Waste Bank of Bahamas Benchmark Cable Bahamas CIBC FirstCaribbean Bank Colina Holdings Commonwealth Bank Commonwealth Brewery Consolidated Water BDRs Doctor's Hospital Emera Incorporated Famguard Fidelity Bank Finco Focol J. S. Johnson

Cable Bahamas Series 6 Cable Bahamas Series 8 Cable Bahamas Series 9 Cable Bahamas Series 10 Colina Holdings Class A Commonwealth Bank Class E Commonwealth Bank Class J Commonwealth Bank Class K Commonwealth Bank Class L Commonwealth Bank Class M Commonwealth Bank Class N Fidelity Bank Class A Focol Class B

CORPORATE DEBT - (percentage pricing) 52WK HI 100.00 100.00

52WK LOW 100.00 100.00

SYMBOL AML APD BPF BWL BOB BBL CAB CIB CHL CBL CBB CWCB DHS EMAB FAM FBB FIN FCL JSJ CAB6 CAB8 CAB9 CAB10 CHLA CBLE CBLJ CBLK CBLL CBLM CBLN FBBA FCLB

SECURITY Fidelity Bank Note 18 (Series E) + Fidelity Bank Note 22 (Series B) +

SYMBOL FBB18 FBB22

Bahamas Note 6.95 (2029) BGS: 2015-1-3Y BGS: 2014-12-5Y BGS: 2015-1-5Y BGS: 2014-12-7Y BGS: 2015-1-7Y BGS: 2014-12-30Y BGS: 2015-1-30Y BGS: 2015-6-3Y BGS: 2015-6-5Y BGS: 2015-6-7Y BGS: 2015-6-30Y BGS: 2015-10-3Y BGS: 2015-10-5Y BGS: 2015-10-7Y

BAH29 BG0203 BG0105 BG0205 BG0107 BG0207 BG0130 BG0230 BG0303 BG0305 BG0307 BG0330 BG0403 BG0405 BG0407

BAHAMAS GOVERNMENT STOCK - (percentage pricing) 115.92 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

104.79 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

MUTUAL FUNDS 52WK HI 2.13 4.14 1.99 178.69 153.40 1.55 1.70 1.62 1.10 6.99 8.54 6.15 10.52 11.46 10.46

52WK LOW 1.67 3.04 1.68 164.74 116.70 1.48 1.62 1.57 1.04 6.41 7.62 5.66 8.65 10.54 9.57

LAST CLOSE 4.40 17.43 9.09 3.35 1.00 0.18 3.35 8.89 6.12 3.85 10.05 2.60 1.61 7.64 6.10 10.60 6.43 4.05 12.51

CLOSE 4.40 17.43 9.09 3.35 1.00 0.18 3.35 8.89 6.12 3.85 10.05 2.57 1.61 7.68 6.10 10.60 6.43 4.05 12.51

CHANGE 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 -0.03 0.00 0.04 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1.00 100.00 100.00 100.40 100.00 100.00 100.00 10.00 1.00

1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1.00 100.00 100.00 100.40 100.00 100.00 100.00 10.00 1.00

0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

CLOSE 100.00 100.00

CHANGE 0.00 0.00

108.26 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

0.01 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

LAST SALE 100.00 100.00 108.25 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

FUND CFAL Bond Fund CFAL Balanced Fund CFAL Money Market Fund CFAL Global Bond Fund CFAL Global Equity Fund FG Financial Preferred Income Fund FG Financial Growth Fund FG Financial Diversified Fund FG Financial Global USD Bond Fund Royal Fidelity Bahamas Opportunities Fund - Secured Balanced Fund Royal Fidelity Bahamas Opportunities Fund - Targeted Equity Fund Royal Fidelity Bahamas Opportunities Fund - Prime Income Fund Royal Fidelity Int'l Fund - Equities Sub Fund Royal Fidelity Int'l Fund - High Yield Fund Royal Fidelity Int'l Fund - Alternative Strategies Fund

VOLUME

2,000

VOLUME

EPS$ 0.361 0.932 -0.306 0.281 -0.973 0.000 -1.465 0.638 0.573 0.171 0.627 0.102 0.330 0.000 1.129 0.679 0.610 0.293 0.543

DIV$ 0.080 1.130 0.000 0.230 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.320 0.220 0.120 0.620 0.060 0.050 0.084 0.320 0.500 0.200 0.120 0.580

P/E 12.2 18.7 N/M 11.9 N/M N/M -2.3 13.9 10.7 22.5 16.0 25.2 4.9 N/M 5.4 15.6 10.5 13.8 23.0

YIELD 1.82% 6.48% 0.00% 6.87% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 3.60% 3.59% 3.12% 6.17% 2.33% 3.11% 1.09% 5.25% 4.72% 3.11% 2.96% 4.64%

0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 6.25% 6.25% 6.25% 6.25% 6.25% 6.25% 6.25% 7.00% 6.50%

INTEREST 6.00% Prime + 1.75% 6.95% 4.00% 4.25% 4.25% 4.50% 4.50% 6.25% 6.25% 4.00% 4.25% 4.50% 6.25% 3.50% 3.88% 4.25%

NAV 2.14 4.13 2.00 179.39 135.02 1.55 1.68 1.63 1.09 7.15 8.14 6.41 11.26 11.68 10.24

THE TRIBUNE

NOTICE is hereby given that ROCHELLE BRENDA PHILIPPE of Dean’s Lane off Nasau Street, P.O. Box GT-2557, Nassau, 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 24th day of May, 2018 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, Bahamas.

MATURITY 31-May-2018 19-Oct-2022 20-Nov-2029 30-Jul-2018 16-Dec-2019 30-Jul-2020 15-Dec-2021 30-Jul-2022 15-Dec-2044 30-Jul-2045 26-Jun-2018 26-Jun-2020 26-Jun-2022 26-Jun-2045 15-Oct-2018 15-Oct-2020 15-Oct-2022

YTD% 12 MTH% 0.31% 4.30% 0.16% 5.93% 0.17% 2.36% 4.66% 3.89% 5.58% 6.65% 1.04% 4.26% -1.06% 2.15% 0.58% 3.61% -0.48% 4.84% -1.08% 1.77% -5.96% -3.05% 1.90% 4.59% 7.24% 11.96% 2.77% 3.88% 3.94% 4.69%

NAV Date 31-Mar-2018 31-Mar-2018 30-Mar-2018 31-Mar-2018 31-Mar-2018 31-Mar-2018 31-Mar-2018 31-Mar-2018 31-Mar-2018 30-Apr-2018 30-Apr-2018 30-Apr-2018 30-Apr-2018 30-Apr-2018 30-Apr-2018

MARKET TERMS BISX ALL SHARE INDEX - 19 Dec 02 = 1,000.00 52wk-Hi - Highest closing price in last 52 weeks 52wk-Low - Lowest closing price in last 52 weeks Previous Close - Previous day's weighted price for daily volume Today's Close - Current day's weighted price for daily volume Change - Change in closing price from day to day Daily Vol. - Number of total shares traded today DIV $ - Dividends per share paid in the last 12 months P/E - Closing price divided by the last 12 month earnings

YIELD - last 12 month dividends divided by closing price Bid $ - Buying price of Colina and Fidelity Ask $ - Selling price of Colina and fidelity Last Price - Last traded over-the-counter price Weekly Vol. - Trading volume of the prior week EPS $ - A company's reported earnings per share for the last 12 mths NAV - Net Asset Value N/M - Not Meaningful

TO TRADE CALL: CFAL 242-502-7010 | ROYALFIDELITY 242-356-7764 | FG CAPITAL MARKETS 242-396-4000 | COLONIAL 242-502-7525 | LENO 242-396-3225

Reputable and Growing Gaming Company, accepting resumes for

Business Analyst/Project Manager Essential Duties & Functions: (Includes but not limited to) • Work with stakeholders across Compliance, Marketing, Finance, Operations, IT and Product to understand, document and prioritize requirements.

• Create project requirements documentation for sign off by stakeholders and briefing into technical team.

• Analysis and business process mapping of existing Products and Services with a view to optimization their use and managing out technical debt.

• Manage and align the development roadmap with the high level strategy, working with internal and external stakeholders, including Senior Management, Technology/IT, Marketing and Operations to ensure we maximize the return on our investment in development.

• Full lifecycle management of specific products and features working closely with development resources to ensure you deliver engaging experiences for our customers.

• Work with Operations, Product and Marketing teams to set the roadmap, aligning everyone behind a common goal.

• Heavy focus on documenting backend functionality for Compliance and Operational requirements.

Interested candidates are required to possess the following managerial skills and qualifications: • An analytical mind-set • Strong organizational skills, excellent time management and experience of balancing multiple projects essential • Strong time management skills • Great understanding of a customer’s lifecycle • Knowledge about bonuses and able to calculate bonus costs • Detail orientated • Effective communication skills (both written and verbal) with the ability to tailor your dialogue and delivery to cater for a variety of audiences • Ability to prioritize tasks and manage deadlines for large, multiphase projects • iGaming industry and Optimove experience preferred, CRM experience essential • BA/MA degree in Marketing, Advertising, Communications or a related discipline

Interested qualified candidates may submit their resume via email to info@242careers.com.

Deadline for submissions – May 28th, 2018 Only successful candidates will be contacted.

PAGE 16, Thursday, May 24, 2018

THE TRIBUNE