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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2023
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By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net DR HUBERT Minnis yesterday accused the Government of “causing” The Bahamas’ tax blacklisting by “shelving” a solution that had been “accepted” by the European Union (EU). The former prime minister, speaking after The Bahamas last week failed to escape the EU’s list of non-cooperative jurisdictions following the latest review, told Tribune Business
his administration had agreed a plan to address the 27-nation bloc’s concerns over this nation’s compliance with its economic substance reporting demands. Disclosing that he had “personally” discussed the issue with EU officials, Dr Minnis said his administration had contracted DataTorque, the New Zealandheadquartered developer of the original substance reporting portal, to implement the necessary upgrades that would address the European dissatisfaction “in no more than six months”.
Suggesting that this work was to cost around $260,000, the former prime minister told this newspaper that DataTorque had started the overhauls prior to the September 2021 general election. After his administration was voted out of office, Dr Minnis said the programme was halted by the Ministry of Finance - a move he alleges led directly to The Bahamas’ blacklisting by the EU in October 2022.
Ex-PM contradicts Wynn on Goodman’s Bay easement By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A FORMER prime minister yesterday contradicted the developer of Goodman’s Bay’s proposed 14-storey penthouse complex over the existence and termination of beach easement access. Dr Hubert Minnis, who is also Killarney’s MP, backed assertions by Edward Hoffer, a leading opponent of the Wynn Group’s project, that the development threatens to “suck up” an easement that runs alongside the side of his house and property next door. Wynn executives told last Wednesday’s Town Planning Committee public hearing on the project that a legal opinion affirmed the easement, which gave the public an access route to Goodman’s Bay and the beach,
was terminated “many, many years ago”. However, Dr Minnis disputed this, telling this newspaper that easements and rights-of-way cannot be extinguished in such fashion. He called for a national programme to ensure that all easements are unblocked and Bahamians enjoy unimpeded access to public beaches. “I know the easement is next to the Greek house. I know that is Hoffer. The Ministry of Works should have a map of that,” the ex-prime minister said. “There’s an easement for public access. That easement is still there. An easement cannot be terminated. Those were designed and placed there for the benefit of the Bahamian people so that they can have access to the beaches. “The last Ingraham administration had started removing the fences and clearing access to those easements. My administration was proceeding with the same programme to
THE COURT of Appeal has slashed by 77 percent the damages awarded to a Bahamian homeowner after fuel leaks from a nearby Rubis gas station contaminated and polluted her property. Sir Michael Barnett, the appeal court’s president, in an October 19 ruling that was unanimously backed by his two fellow judges cut the compensation awarded to Lillian Russell, whose property is adjacent to Rubis’ Robinson Road and Old Fire Trail Road gas station, from $692,825 to $159,450.
The near-$700,000 sum had been granted by former Supreme Court justice Keith Thompson due to the hardship and “distress” Ms Russell and her family suffered from two gasoline leaks. The first occurred in 1994, when the gas station was owned by Texaco (Bahamas) and operated by/leased to Philip Cartwright. The second, more publicised leak, occurred in 2012-2013 just after Texaco’s Bahamas business had been acquired by Rubis. The gas station at that time was leased to, and operated by, Fiorente Management and Investment, whose principals according to this newspaper’s records were husband-and-wife
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
PENTHOUSES at Goldwynn rendering. ensure Bahamians have access to the beaches. Bahamians must have access to beach facilities and it’s essential to have a national programme to identify those easements for the benefit of Bahamians.” Dr Minnis urged the Davis administration and Ministry of Works to
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team, Harcourt and Bianca Carter. Ex-justice Thompson had broken his damages award into $250,000 as “loss of amenity value”, meaning interference with Ms Russell’s use and enjoyment of her property; $3,450 for costs associated with pollution testing and a real estate appraisal; and $439,375 to cover the cost of remediation works. However, Sir Michael found that much of the damages award was based on the fall-out from the 1994 leak. He ruled that Ms Russell’s claim for this contamination could not be sustained as Rubis was not liable since it occurred under Texaco’s ownership, while the action was also
“statute barred” since it was not initiated within the six years immediately following the leak as required by the Limitation Act. While finding that Ms Russell was due $131,000 for her property’s loss of value due to the 20122013 leak, Sir Michael struck out in its entirety the $439,375 “remediation costs” because these represented an “unreasonable windfall” to the homeowner and not reflect the actual loss if she sold her home and still pocketed the compensation. The appeal court president also slashed the $250,000 awarded for “loss of amenity value”,
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FTX Bahamas: ‘Major progress’ in Ray talks By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE SUPREME Court will now hear the petition to put FTX’s Bahamian subsidiary into full liquidation on November 6, it has been disclosed, amid “substantial progress” in resolving the dispute with its US arm. FTX Digital Markets’ Bahamian provisional liquidators, in an October 18 update to creditors and investors, revealed that the winding-up petition hearing was pushed back to allow talks to “play out” on renewed co-operation with John Ray, head of the crypto exchange’s 134
US entities presently in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Brian Simms KC, the Lennox Paton senior partner, and the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) accounting duo of Kevin Cambridge and Peter Greaves, in their update and other court flings signalled there was fresh optimism that a prolonged legal battle over which jurisdiction has control of FTX’s fate - The Bahamas or Delaware - can be avoided. Acknowledging that the original FTX Digital Markets winding-up petition had been scheduled for hearing before the Supreme Court on
DR HUBERT MINNIS
Royal Caribbean’s PI club in DEPP construction go-ahead
Gas leak victim’s damages cut 77% By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
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August 9, the Bahamian liquidation trio told creditors: “The return date for the winding-up petition has been rescheduled to November 6, 2023.” Explaining the rationale for this near-three month delay, they added: “As you may be aware, since the second update, the joint provisional liquidators have been engaged in adversary proceedings initiated by the Chapter 11 debtors and formal mediation. “Outside of those proceedings, the joint provisional liquidators have also engaged in constructive informal discussions relating to the co-operation between the FTX Digital
JOHN RAY
Markets estate and the Chapter 11 debtors. The return date for the court hearing has been rescheduled to enable sufficient time for those discussions to play out.” The “adversary proceeding” is the legal action initiated by Mr Ray in Delaware in a bid to cut-off FTX Digital Markets and
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ROYAL Caribbean’s Paradise Island beach club was yesterday revealed to have passed another regulatory hurdle by obtaining a Certificate of Environmental Clearance (CEC) for the construction phase. Philip Simon, the Royal Beach Club’s president and general manager for the cruise line’s Bahamas operations, in written replies to Tribune Business questions revealed the Department of Physical Planning (DEPP) is “satisfied” with the Environmental Management Plan (EMP) submitted for a project that will see some 100 structures - 53 of which are cabanas - erected on the 17-acre site. “The DEPP is satisfied, and has sent us a final review letter and a Certificate of Environmental Clearance for the construction development of the Beach Club at Paradise Island,” he confirmed. However, he acknowledged that not all government approvals have been obtained, and added: “We aren’t rushing into construction. “We are doing all the necessary and methodical due diligence required in the process, including review of our demolition and site clearing plan, working
towards our eventual equity raise and additional governmental approvals. As we shared earlier this summer, our target start for site clean-up and preparation is late this year with the hope to start construction in early 2024.” Royal Caribbean has already initiated the process to value the four Crown Land acres that will be included in the overall 17-acre site. This valuation will be used to monetise the Government’s contribution in the project and determine the size of the equity stake it will hold via the National Investment Fund, the country’s sovereign wealth fund. Once the value of the Government’s equity stake is determined, the balance of the collective 49 percent Bahamian ownership interest in the Royal Beach Club that will be held by private investors can be calculated. That will then set the stage for the equity capital raise from Bahamian investors, Asked yesterday how far work has advanced on valuing the Crown Land and government equity stake, Mr Simon replied: “We don’t have the final valuation of the Crown Land and our own private property. We have draft numbers that have to be reviewed by the Government before we can publish them and
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