The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

PETER Nygard has arrived back in the Bahamas to be served with a notice of motion to commit for allegedly breaching the terms of an injunction barring him from engaging in development activities at his Lyford Cay home.

Mr Nygard, the multi-millionaire Canadian fashion designer, was served with the legal notice as he disembarked his plane in New Providence at 2.45am yesterday morning.

Fred Smith, QC, told The Tribune that Save The Bays (STB), the environment group, had sought a Supreme Court hearing in front of Justice Rhonda Bain yesterday to apply for permission not to serve Mr Nygard the papers personally after numerous alleged failed attempts to serve him with the documents. Despite their success in finally serving the notice, they appeared before Justice Bain, who adjourned the matter until June 18 and 19, when it will be determined whether Mr Nygard is in breach of the injunction.

Gia Moxey, partner at Lockhart & Co representing Mr Nygard yesterday, told the court that she accepted the service of papers to Mr Nygard. However, she declined to comment when contacted by The Tribune.

In December, STB filed a motion in the Supreme Court asking that the Canadian fashion mogul be placed in contempt of court for allegedly breaching a court injunction to halt dredging of the seabed at the southeastern side of Nygard Cay (formerly Simms Point).

The motion also asked the court to order Mr Nygard to remove all of the sand, spoil and other material that has been dredged and extracted from the seabed and placed on the southern beach at Nygard Cay, according to court documents. It asked for the sand to be placed along the public beach at Clifton Bay, adjacent to and including Jaws Beach.

STB, which was listed as the applicant in a notice of motion, alleged that Mr Nygard had been periodically dredging the seabed from December 11 to 20.

The group asked for a further order “that the costs of and occasioned by this motion be paid forthwith by Peter Nygard to the Coalition (to Protect Clifton Bay) on a solicitor own client, full indemnity basis”.

In July 2013, Justice Bain ordered that until the conclusion of judicial review proceedings challenging the legality of the construction of a groyne and the dredging of the sea bed off Nygard Cay, neither activity could continue to take place.

In December, however, Save the Bays produced in the Supreme Court photographs which purported to show that over the course of that month, substantial amounts of sand were progressively dredged from the Clifton Bay side of the property and pumped onto Mr Nygard’s private beach.

In January, Tribune Business reported that a senior government official’s decision to approve a dredging permit for Nygard Cay was branded as “illegal, ultra vires and irrational,” given that such activities had already been banned by the Supreme Court.

Save the Bays, in its fourth Judicial Review challenge at the time to development activities at Mr Nygard’s Lyford Cay home, alleged that Michael Major, the director of physical planning, effectively ignored three existing Supreme Court injunctions that bar the granting of permits such as the one he gave in late 2014.

A week prior to that review, Justice Bain reportedly gave permission for Save the Bays to bring the latest action in its long-running battle against Mr Nygard’s construction activities.

Besides seeking to quash the October 9, 2014, dredging permit granted to Nygard Holdings, Tribune Business reported that the Coalition to Protect Clifton Bay (former guise of STB) also wanted the Supreme Court to require that Mr Major order Mr Nygard to remove the sand produced by the dredging from his beach at Nygard Cay.

Save the Bays alleged that Mr Nygard had breached the permit’s revised terms. After initially requiring Mr Nygard to deposit the sand extracted by the dredging on the public Jaws Beach, the permit was reportedly amended to allow this to be “stockpiled” at Nygard Cay.

The “stockpiling,” as Tribune Business reported, was conditional on the sand not being applied to Mr Nygard’s beach, but the Coalition alleged that this is exactly what has been done.

Mr Nygard’s then spokesperson criticised the Coalition’s latest Judicial Review and allegations as “misguided.” In a statement sent to Tribune Business, they said the fashion designer was merely performing “routine maintenance” at his property, not dredging up new sand as Save the Bays was claiming.

The spokesperson likened this to “shovelling snow from a driveway to back out the car, not to digging up the concrete.” They added that Mr Nygard’s (then) Bahamian attorney, Thomas Evans QC, had advised that such “maintenance” activities at his Lyford Cay property were permissible under the three injunctions’ terms.

The Coalition/Save the Bays’ battle with Mr Nygard over the construction/development activities at his Lyford Cay home stem from allegations that the activities have led to substantial growth of the property. They claim that the Canadian multi-millionaire fashion designer has almost doubled his property’s size, from 3.25 acres to 6.1 acres, since he acquired it in 1984 by allegedly reclaiming Crown Land from the sea.

The advocacy group is alleging that Mr Nygard achieved this without the necessary permits and approvals, claims that have been denied by Mr Nygard.