11242020 BUSINESS

business@tribunemedia.net

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2020

$3.98

$3.92

$4.03

Oil opponents deny ‘malice’ motivation

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A

prominent QC yesterday blasted suggestions by Bahamas Petroleum Company (BPC) shareholders that opposition to the company’s oil prospecting was driven by “malice”.

Fred Smith QC, the Callenders & Co attorney and partner, who is representing the Our Islands, Our Future coalition in potentially imminent legal action to halt BPC’s planned exploratory drilling, told Tribune Business that environmental activists are “purely motivated

to protect the pristine environment of The Bahamas”.

Describing this as simply good business sense, given that it is The Bahamas’ marine and land environment that brought 7.2m visitors to the country prior to COVID-19, Mr Smith argued that these were the true natural resources representing the country’s “gold that glistens all the way into the galaxy”.

He hit out after several nervous BPC shareholders, concerned about the threat of a Judicial Review action that could be filed as early as next week, contacted Tribune Business to voice misgivings about the motives and intentions

* BPC shareholders fret on legal action * Activists say environment is our ‘gold’ * Blast drilling approval as ‘pure insanity’

FRED SMITH QC, Callenders & Co attorney and partner.

driving oil exploration opponents.

One investor, requesting anonymity and describing himself as “just an ordinary shareholder”, urged Bahamians in a letter written to this newspaper not to “let a few thousand persons, some with no connection

whatsoever to your beautiful islands, trick you” into blocking BPC’s plans and the potential financial windfall that may result IF commercial quantities of oil are discovered. While acknowledging the need

SEE PAGE 4

PI resort to open Minister and MP out as after ‘abnormal $2.4m claim defendants * Court removes last few months’ Bannister and Gibson

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A MAJOR Paradise Island resort has confirmed it will re-open on December 10 after several “abnormal” months as the US eased its COVID-19 warnings on travel to The Bahamas.

Jermaine Wright, Comfort Suites general manager, confirmed in a November 12, 2020, letter to the hotel’s travel partners that it will follow Atlantis’ lead and “resume operations” on the same day as its mega resort neighbour.

“The past few months have certainly been abnormal,” Mr Wright wrote in a letter seen by this newspaper. “However, we are positive that with the launch of our new health and safety initiatives, we are ready and eager to welcome our mutual clients back to vacation in paradise.

“We have been busy creating a safe and secured environment for all of our guests so that they

can feel comfortable staying with us. Our focused training for all team members was specifically for this new COVID-19 environment. We have made changes from our plexiglass partitions to our social distancing policies.”

Comfort Suites’ decision to mirror Atlantis on the re-opening comes as little surprise given that it heavily feeds off the neighbouring resort, with its guests able to access the mega property’s amenities and facilities.

Its move comes as The Bahamas received a modest bit of good news from the US State Department, which yesterday disclosed that this nation had “improved” to a so-called ‘Level 3’ status for COVID19 where Americans are being told to “reconsider travel” - rather than “don’t travel” - to this nation.

The latest advisory, issued yesterday ahead of the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, also

SEE PAGE 4

A CABINET minister and current MP have been removed as defendants to a $2.405m unfair dismissal claim brought by the Water & Sewerage Corporation’s former general manager.

Justice Keith Thompson, in a September 18, 2020, verdict ordered that Desmond Bannister, minister of works, and Adrian Gibson, the Corporation’s executive chairman, both be struck out from the legal action initiated by Glen Laville when he was fired following Ernst & Young’s (EY) forensic audit of the water utility.

The judge, who effectively cleaned up confusion arising from efforts by Mr Laville’s attorneys to amend their writ, also removed the Attorney General and Ministry of Public Works as defendants to the former general manager’s claim.

$3.95 GOVERNANCE REFORMER: DPM MUST ‘MAKE CALL’ OVER CLAIMS

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A governance reformer last night said the deputy prime minister will have to “make the call” with the Prime Minister as to whether the $27m “bogus loans” accusations will become too big a distraction.

Robert Myers, the Organisation for Responsible Governance’s (ORG) principal, emphasised to Tribune Business that K Peter Turnquest was “innocent until proven guilty” as the allegations levied against him by Fred Kaiser, his former employer and business partner of more than 20 years’ standing, had not been decided by the Bahamian court system.

Suggesting that the allegations by themselves were

SEE PAGE 5

ALIV ADDRESSES 50% DATA DEMAND GROWTH

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

That leaves the Water & Sewerage Corporation, as Mr Laville’s ex-employer, as sole defendant in the case. Justice Thompson, though, resisted what he described as an aggressive bid

by Mr Gibson and his attorneys, Harry B. Sands & Lobosky, to effectively knock out the former general manager’s case on a legal technicality.

Mr Laville and his attorney, Sidney Campbell, had applied to “re-add”

Aliv’s top executive says the COVID-19 pandemic has driven a 50 percent increase in data demand as it works on finalising a $70m loan from its controlling shareholder.

Damian Blackburn told Tribune Business that remote leaning and working via wireless broadband and other data-based products had forced the mobile operator’s engineering team to “work very hard to keep up” with its customers.

“We’ve seen increasing demand for data from the significant number

SEE PAGE 6

SEE PAGE 6

* But Water Corp reinstated in ex-GM case * Laville beats off chairman’s knock-out bid

PAGE 2, Tuesday, November 24, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

BTC READIES FOR PROMOTION LAUNCH

GARRY Sinclair

The Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) yesterday said it is doubling the amount of data provided on customer plans as it readies to launch its Blue Fridays promotion.

The communications carrier, in a shift from its traditional ‘Black Friday’ offering amid the COVID-19 pandemic, said it is offering consumers free SIM cards and prepaid plans with extra data as part of deals where phone prices are significantly discounted.

Garry Sinclair, BTC’s chief

executive, said: “At BTC, we believe that heart is more than something we have; it’s something we share. We know that 2020 has been a trying time all around, so all season long we will be providing special offers with every single customer in mind.

“We’ve had an overwhelming demand from the public for reasonably-priced quality devices that they can gift to children in need. This Blue Friday offer provides that and a whole lot more. We’ve even taken it a step further, including additional

savings with a SIM card and a mobile data combo card with double data.”

BTC said its Always On mobile data combo plan includes 3GB (gigabytes) of data, and an additional 3GB will be added as part of its ‘Blue Friday’ offer to give consumers 6GB of data, unlimited local calls and text messages.

Unlimited Facebook messenger texts, rollover data, and 50 minutes to call the US and Canada - plus one hour of free data for YouTube - are also included. BTC said consumers

can shop at its virtual store or physical retail locations, although the latter will be limiting the number of persons allowed in at any one time.

BTC added that its outdoor sales teams will be staging ‘popup’ stores at several locations from Wednesday to Friday from 11am to 6pm. They are the Quality Home Centre, on Carmichael and Blue Hill Road; 700 Wines & Spirits, Bernard Road; Dream Girls, Village Road Centre; and Xtra Value Grocery Store, Nassau Village and Oakes Field.

BAHAMAS UNVEILS 14 TOURISM ‘AMBASSADORS’

THE Ministry of Tourism and Aviation yesterday unveiled the appointment of 14 new diving and boating “ambassadors” in a bid to boost promotion of The Bahamas to potential visitors.

Ellison ‘Tommy’ Thompson, the Ministry’s deputy director-general, said The Bahamas had selected professionals involved in scuba diving, boating, travel, underwater photography, media relations and marketing for the role. He added that they all shared a deep affinity for The Bahamas.

“This is a very special appointment for us,” said Mr Thompson. “It signals our dual belief and commitment to sharing, positioning, protecting, preserving and promoting our country’s beautiful environment and natural resources, which for us are our pristine, crystal-clear waters, rich marine life and people.

“Traditionally the marketing and promotions of The Bahamas to the world come primarily from the Ministry of Tourism and Aviation team, who seek to reach, engage and inspire visitors to book a vacation stay with us.

“However, in a

ELLISON ‘Tommy’ Thompson

post-COVID 19 era, we have been met with some setbacks, challenges, opportunities and new ways of conducting business like this ambassadorship programme. The power of unbiased influence that many of these leading industry experts and goodwill ambassadors possess, in the respective residential markets they serve, is unquestionably substantial and invaluable to us.”

The selected ambassadors are all unpaid volunteers who have led many groups to The Bahamas, share a deep love for the destination and are

committed to further promoting the country to the international media and their circle of influence to generate further exposure and bookings for the destination.

They will work with the Ministry of Tourism’s communications and marketing teams to further position The Bahamas as a top dive and boating destination.

The selected ambassadors will also undergo full training in the destination and its offerings before representing The Bahamas at dive tradeshows and FAM (familiarisation) trips.

“Astronauts recently captured the waters of The Bahamas from outer space, and declared it to be the prettiest place on earth.

“Now the world will also know of its astonishing underwater beauty through these appointments and the works of these ambassadors,” said Mr Thompson.

The fourteen selected ambassadors include ten from the diving industry.

They are: David Benz is director of media group for PADI, the world’s largest scuba diver training organisation, with millions of diving professionals having passed

through its 6,600 PADI dive centres and resorts worldwide.

Stephen Frink of Florida is publisher of Diver Alert Network, and one of the world’s most frequently published underwater photographers. He has been bringing groups to The Bahamas for more than 30 years.

Adam Hanlon from the UK is a professional underwater photographer.

He owns two dive shops in England as well as Wetpixel, the world’s foremost resource centre for underwater images.

Cristian Dimitrius from Brazil is an Emmy award-winning cinematographer and underwater photographer, former Nassau resident and plans to film his dives for world TV consumption.

Richard Smith from Illinois is a PADI master scuba Instructor, midwest diving specialist and owner of MDS Scuba Travel.

Known by his radio moniker, “Scuba Dick”, Richard has brought hundreds of divers to The Bahamas over the past 40 years.

Nick and Caroline Robertson-Brown from Manchester, England, are PADI and SSI master instructors, authors and

photojournalists for Sport Diver, Wildlife Photography World, Scuba Verse, Dive Travel Adventures and Frogfish Photography.

Their published work on shark diving in The Bahamas has won international awards, and they are currently writing a book titled, History of Diving in The Bahamas.

Abigail Mullens of California is a PADI dive instructor and professional underwater photographer.

Her images have featured on the covers of magazines including the April 2019 issue of Dive Training Magazine.

Jeanne Cinquegrana of Houston, Texas is a certified SSI and PADI dive instructor and travel expert at OTA Diving Travel in Houston, Texas. She has booked group dives to The Bahamas, even during COVID-19, and has several other group dives planned.

Morad Hassan (Jeanne’s husband) is a travel expert, owns two dive shops and is an instructor who trains scuba instructors. Passionate about marine ecology, ocean protection and shark conservation, he has conducted many group dives to The Bahamas and wants to contribute to conservation

initiatives in The Bahamas with future dive groups.

Boating Ambassadors: Isaac Burgos of Cape Coral, Florida, is a residential developer with an active social media and YouTube following. He has conducted many boating trips to The Bahamas over the past decade.

Sean Ives of Florida has been running charter yachts and private boats to The Bahamas for 20 years.

He has organised many flotillas and events, led trips to The Bahamas and has assisted with relief efforts in Grand Bahama and Abaco.

Karl Hill of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, visits The Bahamas at least eight times per year and, each year, brings 40-plus boats and 200 persons to the annual Bimini Blast. He has also raised funds and assisted with relief efforts for Abaco and Grand Bahama.

Shaughn Miller of Pompano Beach, Florida, has taken to Bimini and Grand Bahama fly and deep-sea fishers, as well as divers.

He is also a professional underwater photographer and videographer.

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, November 24, 2020, PAGE 3

Quarantine stay costs Family Island resorts

By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net FAMILY Island resorts yesterday warned that the continued 14-day quarantine for domestic travellers from New Providence is costing them potential business from the local market.

Matt Brear, general manager of the Cape Santa Maria resort in Long Island, told Tribune Business that while the quarantine’s continuation “isn’t causing any substantial challenges” right now “the only thing it’s doing is delaying our ability to refocus our marketing on to domestic travel.

“Right now we’ve got a lot of empty rooms and we would love to fill them up with local Bahamians, either on the weekend or at Christmas and things like that. But we can’t even do that because of the quarantine requirements,” he explained.

Guests “It’s really just delaying an opportunity for us.

That’s what it’s doing. We are not able to fill our rooms with our usual guests. Why not? Why not capitalise on the fact that a lot of local Bahamians haven’t experienced Long Island or any of the outer islands so much?

“We’ve had such positive and amazing experiences, especially in July when we were open and hosting a lot of local Bahamians specifically from Nassau - people who’ve never been to Long Island before and who had an amazing time. So I think delaying this opportunity is certainly, you know, an opportunity lost.”

Mr Brear said he was unable to quantify how much domestic tourism business Cape Santa Maria may be missing out on, describing this as “potential value”.

“The fact is that we have a lot of hotel rooms and we would love to fill them,”

it looks it looks promising for Christmas, but we have also completely relaxed our cancellation policy,” he continued.

“We’re getting cancellation on top of cancellation, things like that. So, we’re maintaining a level of optimism. We know that, especially with the promising news with regard to vaccines, that it’s another four to six months that we’ll

THE Cape Santa Maria resort in Long Island. he added. “During this concern - getting through COVID crisis I have trav- the Christmas season.” elled to Nassau twice, and The 14-day quarantine I have quarantined on my for domestic travellers way back to Long Island from New Providence was twice for two weeks. supposed to have been “I have had COVID tests eliminated with the launch in Nassau. It is possible to of the so-called “domestic travel from Nassau to Long travel card”. This was supIsland and get a RT-PCR posed to ‘level the playing test, so why locals should field’, or introduce uniform then be required to quar- COVID-19 health protoantine is beyond me to be cols, so that Bahamians and honest.” residents faced the same Describing himself as an regime as foreign visitors. overly cautious person, Mr Brear said: “I’ve been very stringent about adhering to protocols at the resort here, both by my crew and obviBesides taking a COVIDously the visitors. So having 19 test five days prior to a different set of rules for travel, local travellers were local Bahamians seems a bit also being required to take crazy. a rapid antigen test if they “I mean if they take an remained in their island RT-PCR test and fill out destination for five days their visas and undergo or longer. However, the daily monitoring, that’s quarantine has remained plenty. Again, I appreciate in place because of delays an overabundance of cau- in rolling out the domestic tion. But to have two sets travel card. of protocols, depending on Dionisio D’Aguilar, where you’re originating minister of tourism and from, doesn’t seem to make aviation, recently said the much sense and, again, it’s Government had to make an opportunity lost for us. several “policy decisions” “We’re going to be fine in relation to the travel here at home, but I’m down to probably 25 percent of our staffing. My primary focus is, of course, to provide a great experience for our guests, but this is the bread and butter for certainly northern Long Island and that that’s my greatest

Test

ACCUSED EX-MINISTER STEPS DOWN FROM CABLE BAHAMAS

ELMA Campbell A FORMER Cabinet minister who was earlier this year charged with defrauding $1.2m from the Ministry of Tourism was yesterday said to have resigned from Cable Bahamas’ Board of Directors.

Elma Campbell, also an ex-Senator, was said in a corporate filing with the Bahamas International Securities Exchange (BISX) to have stepped down with effect from September 3, 2020, although the formal notification was only provided to the market on November 20, 2020.

It was unclear why it took almost three months from her resignation for the filing to be made, but it came as questions started to be raised as to why Mrs Campbell was still on the Board of a public company given

the nature of the allegations against her.

The former minister of state for Immigration, and ex-ambassador to China, in the last Ingraham administration was just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic charged along with her son, Che Chase, 37, with fraud by false pretenses and 18 counts of money laundering.

The duo pleaded not guilty to the charges, and were subsequently granted bail in the Supreme Court.

It was alleged that Mrs Campbell and her son, with intent to defraud, obtained $1.2m from the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) with a forged cheque in the name of the Ministry of Tourism, making the sum payable to Campbell-Chase Law, their law firm.

card, including whether Bahamians would have to fill out the daily health questionnaire required of their foreign counterparts as well as undergo the rapid five-day antigen test.

Mr Brear, meanwhile, added: “We’ve been open since November 1. We had a couple of good weeks.

We had 50 guests in-house, and the weekend before last we had a fly-in group.

We’re hoping to have a big Thanksgiving. But because of the media in the US very rightly so and I support this - they are along with health experts encouraging people not to travel for the American Thanksgiving, “At one point, I think we had 60 or 80 guests going to be here for US Thanksgiving. Last year we had 120.

This year, we had 60. And now we’re down another 30 percent on that. So we’ll see what happens. We’ll see what materialises.

“Christmas still looks promising. We’re almost at capacity for the week around Christmas, and at about 75 percent for the weeks surrounding that. So,

“Right now we’ve got a lot of empty rooms and we would love to fill them up with local Bahamians, either on the weekend or at Christmas and things like that.

But we can’t even do that because of the quarantine requirements.”

Matt Brear, general manager of the Cape Santa Maria resort in Long Island be struggling here like we are, and like everybody is, but we’re hoping that we’ve managed to bank a little bit in the in the previous years to carry us through.

“It’s going to be another four to six months before we have any semblance of normalcy. In fact it’s going to be a few years before we get back to where we were in 2019. It’s going to be at least four to six months before we get back to where we were, humming along.”

Recuella Smith, accountant at the Exuma Yacht

Club, agreed that the 14-day quarantine’s continuation is hurting her business “because nobody’s travelling. It’s just like all the hotels and everything else. We’re experiencing the same thing”.

While minimal bookings at this point in the year is “typical”, as business does not normally pick up at the Yacht Club until after Thanksgiving, Ms Smith said she currently does not have any bookings for after Thanksgiving either. “We’re hoping for December, but things are up in the air right now,” he added.

Chris Morris, the Cape Eleuthera Resort and Marina’s general manager, said of the quarantine: “It has prevented us from opening for Thanksgiving as we had hoped. Now we are looking at December 18 for our full opening. Our marina is open but not the hotel and restaurant.”

“If people can’t get here, we can’t do business. But we set a date. The only reason it would change is if the emergency orders or something, or the Eleuthera lockdown, doesn’t allow us to. The protocols change day by day, as you know.

“We don’t have a date where the lockdowns are over, but if they were to come out and say that we’re going to be locked down for December 31 that’s a different story.

“We will play it day-byday. We’ve got a full house come Christmas through New Year’s. We are sold out. We’ve got some cottages available, but all of our villas are taken.”

Cheryl Bastian, owner/ operator of Swain’s Cay Lodge in Andros, said: “Business is still dead slow.”

She expects it to pick up around late January 2021.

PAGE 4, Tuesday, November 24, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

Oil opponents deny ‘malice’ motivation FROM PAGE 1

for Bahamians to debate the merits oil exploration, they added that they “cannot help but question a few of the opinions expressed” about BPC’s plans to spud an exploratory well in waters some 90 miles west of Andros near the maritime boundary with Cuba.

Suggesting that political, rather than environmental concerns, may be driving opposition, the shareholder questioned: “How many of the influencers and financial backers of the campaigns to stop exploratory drilling and, eventually, production, are connected to The Bahamas?

“Do they have conflicts of interest? Are they attempting to delay the drill or financially hurt BPC and its shareholder for personal gain? Based on the timing [of the threatened legal action], is there malice involved? And for those vocal objectors who are Bahamian, is it really about the environment or

merely a conduit for political protest?”

The shareholder, whose identity is known to this newspaper but has asked for it to be withheld, also questioned the relevance of debating the environmental concerns now given that commercial quantities of oil beneath the Bahamian seabed have yet to be confirmed.

Suggesting that this was a discussion to be held if BPC’s exploratory wells were successful, they echoed the arguments of James Smith, the company’s Bahamian non-executive director, about this nation already being in the oil industry due to the presence of tankers in its shipping lanes and storage farms such as those at Buckeye Bahamas (BORCO) and South Riding Point.

“Why all this fuss by a few who misleadingly try and give the impression of being the many?” the shareholder asked. “Let common sense prevail rather than using it as an excuse for political grievances, stoked

PUBLIC NOTICE OF INTENDED APPLICATION TO RESEAL A FOREIGN GRANT In the Estate of NICOLE DUMONT late of 15 rue Richelieu, Bordeaux, France, deceased.

NOTICE is hereby given that CASTINO D. SANDS of the Western District of the Island of New Providence one of the Islands of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, after the expiration of fourteen days from the date hereof, and as the Attorney for FRANCOISE AMADIO, Executor of the above referenced estate, will make application to obtain a RESEALING OF A GRANT OF REPRESENTATION WITH THE WILL ANNEXED in the above estate granted to FRANCOISE AMADIO of the Estate, by the Appeals Court of Bordeaux, Procureur General, in Bordeaux, France on the 9th day of March, 2014.

Dated this 17th day of November, 2020.

Lennox Paton Counsel & Attorney-at-Law

by persons who may have conflicts of interest.

“My family and I have been to The Bahamas and witnessed its lovely people.

A people with the dire misfortune of having to deal with a terrible hurricane and pandemic. Do not let a few thousand persons, some with no connection whatsoever to your beautiful islands, trick you.”

The Our Islands, Our Future coalition is likely to immediately challenge whether the 40,000-plus people who signed its petition opposing oil drilling, and the multiple companies, individuals and non-profits - both Bahamian and international - backing its efforts represent a “few thousand persons”.

Mr Smith, meanwhile, pushed back hard, describing claims of “conflicts of interest”, and the involvement of “malice” and political motivations, as ludicrous. “The Coalition is not motivated to hurt BPC financially,” he told Tribune Business. “The Coalition is purely motivated to protect the pristine environment of The Bahamas.”

Arguing that even the largest global energy giants were slowly moving away fossil fuels and towards renewable energy, Mr Smith questioned why The Bahamas would take the reverse course. “The Government, under this administration, has committed to a green and blue economy,” he said.

“It thus baffles me how this administration continues to approve the exploration of oil by BPC in light of the international commitments that it has made to the Paris Accord on Climate Change. We are a small island state, and like many of the small Pacific island states and elsewhere, will disappear if the seas continue to rise because of global warming.

“Before we disappear we will fight to the last grain of sand, the sands above the water line in The Bahamas,

to preserve the very existence of The Bahamas. Oil is not the future. It is a step backwards. It is pure insanity.”

Mr Smith, adding that Parliament has “spoken very loudly for the protection of the environment” by recently passing the Environmental Planning and Protection Act into law, said: “All we are doing in the Coalition is asking the judiciary to support the legislature in protecting our environment.

“We are urging the judiciary to step in, take control of the executive, and prevent it from over-reaching.

Our objective is to stop the destruction of our beautiful, pristine nature. There are no conflicts of interest.

We have no malice towards BPC. We have malice towards any activity that destroys our environment.

“This is why the 7.2m people came here in 2019 prior to COVID-19 to enjoy the sun, the sand and the absolutely crystal blue sea we have. That is our gold; the beaches of The Bahamas are the gold that glistens all the way into the galaxy,” the outspoken QC continued.

“The Coalition is composed of domestic and international environmentalists who have decades and decades of commitment to protecting the environment. I don’t know what they’re talking about.... conflict of interest. As to political protest, of course this is a political protest. We are protesting the executive branch of government flying in the face of the legislative branch which is mandated to protect the environment.”

The basis of the Our Islands, Our Future coalition’s legal challenge is that the Government failed to follow the process set out in law for approving BPC’s project amid an absence of consultation with impacted stakeholders.

BPC, though, argues that it has complied with all

environmental permitting processes in obtaining the Environmental Authorisation (EAO), and approval for its Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Environmental Management Plan (EMP).

It says it has complied with all Bahamian and international regulatory standards in doing so.

The oil driller’s shareholder, meanwhile, touted the economic benefits to The Bahamas as well as investors if commercial quantities of oil are struck.

“It is simply not true to imply foreigners have somehow ‘tricked’ and taken advantage of the Bahamian people,” they argued.

“The Bahamas is not a modern day African or South American colony taken advantage of by European powers, as was the case between the 16th to 19th centuries. BPC has shareholders internationally, some Bahamian, mostly private investors.

“More than $100m of our money has been invested with the hope we can profit.

Today, each BPC share is approximately 4 cents.

If commercial quantities of oil are found, analysts believe it will skyrocket to over 40 cents. If none is found, the share price will plummet.”

The shareholder added that all Bahamians will benefit if BPC is successful via the per barrel royalties that will be paid to the Government, comparing this to Norway’s multi-billion sovereign wealth fund.

While BPC’s chief executive, Simon Potter, has said the Government could enjoy a $5bn windfall over the project’s 10 to 20-year lifetime if oil is hit, Mr Smith argued that such comparisons were misleading.

“Regrettably, The Bahamas continues to be steeped in a plantation economic mindset where often the executive gets mesmerised by the glitzy baubles that developers present to the

Government,” he told Tribune Business.

“Hopefully this administration will see the light of environmental protection and do the decent thing, and cancel BPC’s licences as they are entitled to do.

This activity flies in the face of the Environmental Planning and Protection Act, which is the single greatest achievement of this administration.

“The Bahamas, while we have wonderful laws that protect the environment, regrettably the human and financial resources of our government and its agencies are painfully limited.

Our inability to regulate development is reflected by the many carcasses of failed projects which have devastated the land and marine environment in The Bahamas,” Mr Smith continued.

“Let this not be one more devastating disaster that befalls our beautiful Bahamas.”

The BPC shareholder, meanwhile, voiced concern about the company’s failure to-date to update the markets on the potential risk of legal action that could halt drilling of the company’s Perseverance One well just days before the December 15 start.

“Hopefully, BPC covered all the bases to face this legal challenge. Most of the shareholders are worried about any delays to the drilling. We are still waiting to hear from BPC to update the shareholders,” they added.

BPC’s share price on London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM) also appears to have been impacted by the Our Islands, Our Future move.

Having hit close to its sixmonth high of around 3.5 UK pence around the time of its last Bahamas well update, the share price subsequently dropped to 2.7 pence after the threatened legal action was revealed although it has now recovered to 2.90 pence.

Paradise Island resort to open after ‘abnormal last few months’ FROM PAGE 1 eliminated warnings to US tourists to avoid the Arawak Cay fish fry.

“Travelers to The Bahamas may experience travel prohibitions, stay at home orders, business closures and other emergency conditions within The Bahamas due to COVID-19,” the advisory nevertheless warns.

“The vast majority of crime occurs on New Providence (Nassau) and Grand Bahama (Freeport) islands.

In Nassau, exercise caution in the ‘Over the Hill’ area (south of Shirley Street).

Violent crime, such as burglaries, armed robberies and sexual assault occur,

but generally not in tourist areas.

“Activities involving commercial recreational watercraft, including water tours, are not consistently regulated. Watercraft are often not maintained and many companies do not have safety certifications to operate in The Bahamas.

Jet-ski operators have been known to commit sexual assaults against tourists. As a result, US government personnel are not permitted to use independently operated jet-ski rentals on New Providence and Paradise Islands.”

The Government and Bahamian tourism industry stakeholders have previously argued that US travel advisories do not reflect the reality on the ground,

LEGAL NOTICE

WINLAW BUSINESS LTD. Company No. 415469 (In Voluntary Liquidation) NOTICE is hereby given pursuant to Section 204 (1)(b) of the BVI Business Companies Act, 2004 that WINLAW BUSINESS LTD. is in voluntary liquidation. The voluntary liquidation commenced on 18th November, 2020 and Mag. Iur. Andreas Frenes, of Unterbüntelistrasse 2, 9443 Widnau, Switzerland been appointed as the Sole Liquidator.

Dated this 19th day of November, 2020 Sgd. Mag. Iur. Andreas Frenes Voluntary Liquidator

with the vast majority of tourists enjoying a safe and enjoyable vacation. Still, the improvement to ‘Level 3’ is a modest boost as The Bahamas attempts to reopen to tourists, 75 percent of whom come from the US. However, The Bahamas still remains at ‘Level 4’ with US health regulator, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), due to a “very high level of COVID-19 cases”.

This warning, issued two days ago, appears not to take into account the recent fall in infections on New Providence.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, responding to the US advisory, said: “The Bahamas understands the need for all countries, including the US, to put

in place health and safety measures in the best interest of its nationals.

“At the same time, The Bahamas has also put in place travel parameters for the protection of Bahamians, residents and tourists in the country, namely by requiring all persons travelling to The Bahamas to have a COVID-19 Travel Visa and a negative RT-PCR COVID-19 test to enter The Bahamas....

“The Bahamas is confident that if all visitors, nationals and residents abide by these regulations, the spread of the pandemic will be stemmed and the loss of lives will be prevented. At the same time, while observing these rules, visitors will have an enjoyable stay in The Bahamas.”

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, November 24, 2020, PAGE 5

Governance reformer: DPM must ‘make call’ over claims FROM PAGE 1 not sufficient to merit Mr Turnquest’s resignation as deputy prime minister and minister of finance, Mr Myers argued that the more pressing concern was whether he could remain focused on addressing The Bahamas’ fiscal woes amid the furore surrounding Mr Kaiser’s claims.

Should Mr Turnquest and the Minnis Cabinet decide the distractions were too much, and he elect to step down, the ORG principal said this would be an “honourable thing to do” and not amount to any admission of guilt given that the Supreme Court has yet to rule.

“He’s innocent until proven guilty,” Mr Myers argued, “and that needs to be repeated. The statement of claim is just that; it’s a statement of claim. It doesn’t mean it’s the truth, it doesn’t mean it’s not the truth. The more mature of us are going to recognise that. The court is there to decide that.”

Mr Turnquest was not named as a defendant in the “statement of claim” issued

by Mr Kaiser’s companies, although he was central to the allegations raised.

The businessman, who has a residence in Freeport, is claiming that Mr Turnquest “conspired” with another former business partner, Captain Randy Butler, to defraud him of almost $27m via “some kind of bogus loans”.

Legal sources have suggested Captain Butler and his attorneys are likely to apply to the Supreme Court for permission to add the deputy prime minister as a third-party defendant amid the fall-out and mess that has resulted from the collapse of their three-way business partnership.

Mr Myers, meanwhile, said the

* ORG chief says ‘distraction’ impact key * Turnquest ‘innocent until proven guilty’ * Allegations not enough to force him out potential “distraction” caused by Mr Kaiser’s allegations - and whether it would impact Mr Turnquest’s ability to function as minister of finance - were of greater concern given The Bahamas’ perilous economic and fiscal position.

“The disappointing part, and that is the reality, is that given the circumstances and incredible amount of pressure the country faces financially, anything that distracts the minister of finance from his duties is a concern,” he told Tribune Business.

“There’s no doubt the minister of finance has a very full agenda, and a full-time job. The need for someone to pay full attention to financial matters is significant given our circumstances with Dorian and COVID-19. We need the best and brightest at the table 100 percent focused.

We need his undivided attention.”

Mr Myers said Dr Hubert Minnis and Mr Turnquest, together with the Cabinet, would have to determine “how much of a distraction” Mr Kaiser’s allegations will be when it came to the deputy prime minister functioning as minister of finance.

“If he resigns he’s not guilty,” the ORG chief added.

“He’s just done the honourable thing, and recognised the gravity of his position. It’s just a statement of claim. Paper doesn’t mind what you write on it. You have all sorts of reasons why people make statements of claim.

“Peter has, in troubled times, done more to right

the fiscal position of The Bahamas than many before him. He enacted the Fiscal Responsibility Act, and he has reported in a reasonable time. For the most part he has done a commendable job dealing with some very difficult fiscal issues.

“I’d hate to see him distracted. It should be his and the Prime Minister’s decision how big a distraction they think that will be because without a doubt we need somebody focused. I hope he can maintain that focus because God knows we need it. The guy in that seat needs to be focused,” he added.

“If this thing is going to somehow distract him, it’s not that he should resign because he’s guilty. It’s because he recognises he has to defend himself, and it’s going to be a distraction and will not serve the country’s interests to be distracted in this fiscal position. It should be his and the Prime Minister’s call.”

The Prime Minister yesterday said it was still “deliberating” how it will handle the claims against the deputy prime minister, but Mr Turnquest following his defiant statement on Thursday has given no indication of stepping down.

Only the opposition Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) has been demanding his resignation.

The Democratic National Alliance (DNA), for whom Captain Butler ran as a general election candidate in 2012, has been silent thus far.

Several observers have argued privately, though, that Mr Turnquest should step down in the interests

of the country, government and the FNM. They say the nature of the allegations by Mr Kaiser – fraud, financial irregularities and accounting improprieties – would

make it increasingly difficult for Mr Turnquest to remain as minister of finance given that they directly impact his credibility as the nation’s chief financial officer and tax enforcer.

The same observers said the matter threatens to be a big distraction that will overshadow the Government’s remaining tenure while giving the opposition Progressive Liberal Party

(PLP) ample ammunition to use.

They also argued that it could impact The Bahamas’ dealings with the international credit ratings, plus the likes of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Inter-American Development Bank, European Union and Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD).

PAGE 6, Tuesday, November 24, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

Minister and MP out as $2.4m claim defendants FROM PAGE 1 the Water & Sewerage Corporation as a defendant after mistakenly removing it when they amended their claim in November 2018.

The initial action, filed on May 24 that same year, listed the Water & Sewerage Corporation, Ministry of Public Works and the Attorney General as the three defendants. However, the November changes removed the first two defendants and replaced them with Mr Gibson and Mr Bannister.

Eventually realising their error, Mr Laville and his attorney issued a January 7, 2020, summons to reinstate the Water & Sewerage Corporation as a defendant because without it they would not have a case.

This, though, was seized upon Mr Gibson, who

“opposes in the strongest terms” the effort to bring the Water & Sewerage Corporation back in on the basis that this was barred by the Limitation Act. “Adrian Gibson, executive chairman of the Water & Sewerage Corporation, now takes the position that this is a new action against [the Corporation] and as it is a public body, formed by statute pursuant to the Water & Sewerage Corporation Act, Chapter 196, the plaintiff is barred by the Limitation Act,” Justice Thompson wrote.

“Counsel for the executive chairman says that the issue for determination in this matter is whether the plaintiff was engaged as a general manager, a statutory position, under a private contract or a public contract, and whether the duty to terminate was a public duty.”

The Limitation Act stipulates that any legal action against persons executing their “public duty or authority” must take place within 12 months of the action complained of. But Mr Laville’s bid to reinstate the Water & Sewerage Corporation was almost two years after the May 24, 2018, filing of his first writ of summons - thus making the action, at least in Mr Gibson’s eyes - time barred.

However, the executive chairman’s argument was rejected by Justice Thompson, who said “the issue of a statutory [public] duty” that was raised by Mr Gibson should be dealt with at a full trial rather than used to block Mr Laville’s claim from proceeding.

He also noted that the Water & Sewerage Corporation had already entered a defence to the action. “Without being

able to re-add the Water & Sewerage Corporation, the plaintiff has no case - period - as his alleged employer would not be a party to the action,” Justice Thompson wrote, granting the application to reinstate the state-owned utility provider as a defendant.

While admonishing Mr Laville’s attorneys to take more care when drafting their applications to the Supreme Court, he ruled: “I am not satisfied that the plaintiff is being mal fide or is seeking to overreach the court.”

The former Water & Sewerage Corporation general manager, in his original statement of claim that was incorporated into the judgment, said he first joined the utility as an assistant engineer in 1987 and remained in its employ until March 14, 2018, when he was unfairly and/or wrongfully

dismissed in violation of the Employment Act. Alleging that he had been eligible to retire, but was terminated without “fair compensation and/or reasonable notice”, Mr Laville said he had been earning an annual salary of $124,070 as general manager together with multiple benefits that included a $5,169 monthly pension payment. “On or about September 29, 2017, the first defendant’s chairman of the Board of Directors [Mr Gibson] had placed the plaintiff on administrative leave without reason/s and/ or unlawfully as such disciplinary powers were only available to the minister of public works as per the Water & Sewerage Corporation Act,” he alleged.

Arguing that this was effectively “constructive dismissal” designed to damage his reputation, Mr Laville claimed he was also

denied due process and not given an opportunity to respond to the allegations against him by Mr Gibson and the Ministry of Works.

The former general manager was sacked in the wake of the EY audit, which disclosed how too much politically-motivated interference and the ‘friends, family and connections’ network had undermined basic corporate governance and established protocols.

This resulted in multi-million dollar losses and cost overruns that, ultimately, had to be covered by Bahamian taxpayers.

Mr Laville, speaking to The Tribune on the EY report at the time, disputed numerous findings against him while arguing that its public disclosure in the House of Assembly had caused morale at the Water & Sewerage Corporation to plummet.

ALIV ADDRESSES 50% DATA DEMAND GROWTH FROM PAGE 1 of users of wireless broadband users,” he added.

“We’ve seen 50 percent more data demand since the start of the pandemic from those kind of users.

It’s driven by those users, as every telecom in the world is experiencing.

“It’s become an imperative that we invest in our network to keep pace with that for the country. We have been investing money in data expansion at a time when revenues stalled and came down from their peak.

That’s a challenge but we’ve met the challenge.

“It’s become obvious through this where we need to invest. We might have had the luxury of doing it at a slower pace, but because of the pandemic we had to

do it in several months and find clever ways of doing it through software and hardware.”

Mr Blackburn said Aliv, having completed the nationwide roll-out of its network infrastructure, is now investing “several million dollars” a year to upgrade and maintain it.

He added that the mobile operator had “not quite finalised” its $70m loan from controlling shareholder, Cable Bahamas.

“It’s very close to being finalised,” he said. “It’s all good stuff. There’s an element of refinancing and an element of providing the funding for phase three of the plan. It’s been a lengthy process but we’re wrapping it up now.”

Cable Bahamas, which holds 47.25 percent of Aliv

as well as Board and management control, with the Government owning the remainder, revealed in its 2020 annual report that the loan will repay the vendor financing received from equipment supplier, Huawei, as well as $22m in “deferred payments” owed by the mobile operator to the BISX-listed communications provider.

“Cable Bahamas agreed to provide a secured $70m long-term loan facility that enables the Huawei network vendor leasing finance to be fully repaid early, repay outstanding deferred payments for using towers, transmission and other services to Cable Bahamas, and provide Aliv with cash reserves to fully fund the long-term business plan,” the annual report said.

“Aliv’s increasing revenues and operating cash, and reduced capital investment requirements (net of insurance proceeds relating to Hurricane Dorian and sale of 21 tower sites to Cable Bahamas), led to Aliv’s lowest annual cash requirement of $4.2m in financial year 2020 funded from cash on hand.

“This was achieved with the support of Cable Bahamas who agreed to convert $22m of deferred payments due under its master service agreements with Aliv to a long-term secured debt facility in November 2020.

Aliv has invested $52.9m over four years in acquiring and retaining its customer base through the provision of device subsidies, sales commissions and other costs.”

EU, UK STILL HAVE FUNDAMENTAL DIFFERENCES IN TRADE TALKS BRUSSELS Associated Press

WITH the European Union’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier in quarantine, trade talks with the United Kingdom continued by videoconference this week, though the optimism expressed last week seemed to have faded.

Barnier stressed on Monday that negotiators were running out of time to make a January 1 deadline and that “fundamental divergences still remain”.

The talks were shifted to a videoconference last week when an EU official tested positive for the coronavirus, forcing Barnier into a quarantine until at least Thursday. Both sides have indicated that to reach an agreement on key issues the negotiators need to meet in person.

On Friday, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen issued one of the most upbeat assessments of the state of post-Brexit trade negotiations in several weeks, saying the EU had seen “in the last days better progress, more movement on important files”.

But on Monday, EU Commission spokesman Daniel Ferrie said that

“while some progress has been made in drafting legal texts, significant fundamental divergences remain in the three key areas” that negotiations have centered on - the fishing industry, how to check compliance with the deal and the standards the UK must meet to export into the EU. Though the UK left the EU on Jan. 31, it remains within the bloc’s tariff-free single market and customs union until the end of this year. A trade deal would ensure there are no tariffs and quotas on trade in goods between the two sides, but there would still be technical costs, partly associated with customs checks and non-tariff barriers on services.

Both sides have expressed hope of securing a deal in time to protect hundreds of thousands of jobs that could be affected if the trade agreements lapse with no deal on future ties.

Though both sides would suffer economically from a failure to secure a trade deal, most economists think the British economy would take a greater hit, at least in the near-term, as it is relatively more reliant on trade with the EU than vice versa.

NOTICE NOTICE is hereby given that MANOUSHKA CASTER of, Carmicheal Road, 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 20th day of Novemver 2020 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.