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VOLUME:115 No.238, NOVEMBER 5TH, 2018
HO US E & 16 THE PEOPLE’S PAPER: $1
SPORTS: PANTHERS & WILDCATS ARE NATIONAL SOFTBALL CHAMPS
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‘Fees must fall for NHI plan to work’ Sands warns doctors and insurers will have to cut charges
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net ALL doctors, healthcare facilities and insurers must cut their fees if the revised National Health Insurance (NHI) model is to succeed and be financially viable, a Cabinet minister has warned. Dr Duane Sands, minister of health, told Tribune Business that “compromise” over service charges and pricing was required at “every step along the healthcare delivery pathway” for the NHI scheme to be sustainable. In return, he said healthcare providers and insurers will gain access to a “massively expanded market”
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through NHI’s broadening of coverage to Bahamians who were previously unable to afford private medical coverage and/or go outside the public system. “In order for this thing to be workable, there has to be compromise at every step along the healthcare delivery pathway,” Dr Sands confirmed. “It could certainly not exist if we maintain the cost structure we have now. “The expectation is that everybody ought to look at shaving some part of their rack rate. That includes practitioners, insurers, insurance brokers; everybody along the path in exchange for a massively expanded market.”
PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis renewed his pledge to improve his party’s communications programme as he told participants in a weekend conclave his administration’s mistakes were louder than its accomplishments. Dr Minnis touted his party’s achievements – such as lowering the deficit, a downtrend in crime and
By NICO SCAVELLA Tribune Staff Reporter nscavella@tribunemedia.net
A SUPREME Court jury has acquitted two cousins of the role they were alleged to have played in the slaying of businessman Leo Rahming at the car rental company and carwash he owned in the Marathon area last year. The jury, at the directions of Justice Bernard Turner on Friday, acquitted Renaldo Georges of Rahming’s murder on May 4, 2017, at EZ Kicks and Car Rental, and Terrance Meuze of being an accessory after the fact. Meanwhile, the actual gunman, who is purportedly of Jamaican descent, is still at large, based on the evidence.
GB COUPLE FACE $580K FRAUD CHARGES
By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net
FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS
planned rejuvenation of Over-the-Hill communities – but said these positives are not being heard because of errors. Dr Minnis also reportedly told parliamentarians in a closed session on Friday they must govern together because they were elected together. “The people called for us, the FNM. They wanted us to rescue, restore, rebuild and revitalise our Bahamas. SEE PAGE SIX
COUSINS CLEARED OF ROLE IN MURDER
SEE PAGE 13
MINNIS - ‘OUR ERRORS SMOTHER SUCCESSES’ By AVA TURNQUEST Tribune Chief Reporter aturnquest@tribunemedia.net
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THE British Legion-Bahamas Branch and the Royal Bahamas Defence Force paid tribute to all Bahamian military veterans who served during the First World War during a ceremony at Rawson Square yesterday. More words and pictures - Page 3 Photo: Terrel W Carey Sr/Tribune Staff
A FREEPORT couple accused of defrauding a Grand Bahama company of more than half a million dollars were charged in the Freeport Magistrate’s Court on Friday. Franco Adams, 39, and his wife, Kimberley, 47, of Montrose Drive, South Bahamia, appeared before Magistrate Rengin Johnson to face 34 counts of fraud by false pretences. It is alleged that between 2016 and 2018, the pair, working with others, illegally obtained $584,678.88 from PharmaChem Technologies Grand Bahama Limited. SEE PAGE 12
FEDS TELL BANKS - HAND OVER ‘VENEZUELA’ ASSETS By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net ACCOUNTS at two Bahamian banks, alleged to contain bribery proceeds from a $1.2bn money laundering scheme tied to top Venezuelan officials, are targeted for seizure by the US government. Court documents obtained by Tribune Business reveal that US federal
authorities want to seize assets held in bank accounts with Deltec Bank & Trust and Ansbacher (Bahamas) as part of a crackdown on
corruption linked to the Nicolas Maduro-led regime. The planned Bahamas seizures relate to $12m in bribes that a senior executive at PDVSA, the Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural gas company, has admitted to receiving for his role in helping to loot, and asset strip, PDVSA of millions of dollars. FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS
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FRED SMITH: ‘PROVE YOUR STATUS’ MAKES US ALL JEAN RONY SEE PAGE SEVEN