The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Government’s agreement with the China Export-Import Bank for Baha Mar’s construction completion is likely to remain ‘sealed’ by the Supreme Court if the Christie administration retains power, the DNA’s leader said yesterday.

Branville McCartney said that only a change of government would ensure that deal “sees the light of day”, promising that a Democratic National Alliance (DNA) administration would move to have the agreement ‘unsealed’.

Warning that the agreement had to be “in the best interests of the Bahamian people”, Mr McCartney blasted that if it were otherwise “dog will eat the Chinese lunch”.

Some observers will likely question Mr McCartney’s prospects for becoming elected to office in the upcoming 2017 general election, but the newly-appointed Opposition leader in the Senate blasted: “The Bahamian people have a right to know what is going on with Baha Mar.”

Arguing that the country was unlikely to discover the full details if the Christie administration retained power, Mr McCartney said: “It will see the light of day with a new administration.

“When we get into government, we will open it up and say what the deal is. The Chinese should be aware of this. In the next six months, when there is a new government, a DNA government, we can rest assured the deal will be unsealed.

“The deal had better be in the best interests of the Bahamian people, otherwise dog will eat the Chinese lunch.”

Prime Minister Perry Christie promised last week that he would table the Heads of Agreement between the Government and Baha Mar’s buyer, Chow Tai Fook Enterprises (CTFE), in the House of Assembly once it was completed and signed.

This was designed to counter increasing demands for greater transparency and accountability, not just over Baha Mar but in Bahamian governance generally.

However, it is uncertain whether the Christie administration - or any successor - will be able to ‘unseal’ the agreement with the China Export-Import Bank.

This was made confidential by the Supreme Court upon the request of Baha Mar’s secured creditor, not the Government, and it is unclear whether the latter will be able to request its ‘unsealing’.

Mr Christie did not address this question specifically in his House of Assembly address, although the rationale for sealing the construction completion agreement - “to preserve the integrity” of the Baha Mar sales process - appears to have been rendered invalid with CTFE’s selection as the purchaser.

However, Mr McCartney argued that the hundreds of Chinese workers arriving in the Bahamas to work on Baha Mar made it even more imperative for the Government to disclose the agreement with China Export-Import Bank.

“The Government needs to indicate to the Bahamian people how many Chinese are coming here for their jobs,” he told Tribune Business.

“The Government is effectively saying that the Chinese do not want to unseal the deal. No other country, especially a communist country, tells me what to do when I work on behalf of the Bahamian people.

“The Chinese have infiltrated into the democracy of the Bahamas, and have got their feet on the Government’s necks. That’s exactly what has happened.”

The new Opposition Senate leader said that given that the Government petitioned for Baha Mar’s winding-up and the ouster of original developer, Sarkis Izmirlian, the Bahamian people had a right to know what had been done on their behalf.

Pointing to the $1 billion-plus investment incentives granted to Mr Izmirlian, and the involvement of Crown and Treasury land, Mr McCartney added: “We, the Bahamian people, have been shut out of the transaction and told it’s none of our business.

“We’re not going to tell you the real deal. That is what the Government is saying, when they said four-and-a-half years ago that they believed in Bahamians.”

Mr McCartney said Bahamians “need to take what this Prime Minister says with a grain of salt” in relation to Baha Mar, pointing out that Mr Christie had given an April 2017 and jobs figures despite there being no completed Heads of Agreement.

The DNA leader said this meant that either the Heads of Agreement was completed and should be disclosed; that the CTFE purchase was a ‘done deal’ and going through the motions, or that Mr Christie’s statement was premature.

Meanwhile, creditors of the seven former Baha Mar companies now in full liquidation under Supreme Court supervision met with the liquidators yesterday at the Melia Nassau Beach resort.

Tribune Business understands that the three liquidators, Bahamian accountant, Ed Rahming, and Nicholas Cropper and Alastair Beveridge, his UK counterparts, took creditors through progress to-date and how the process will proceed, before holding a question and answer session.

Very few Baha Mar creditors are now left, after former Bahamian employee, vendor and contractor claims were paid out by the China Export-Import Bank’s Perfect Luck Claims vehicle, and the liquidators previously made it clear that those who elected not to participate in this process will not recover a single cent.

This is because Deloitte & Touche, in their capacity as receivers, have ‘sold’ or transferred all Baha Mar’s remaining assets to the China Export-Import Bank’s special purpose vehicle (SPV), Perfect Luck Holdings.

And, even after taking possession of all these assets, the China Export-Import Bank will not recover its $2.45 billion outlay via the sale to CTFE.

Tribune Business understands that the number of creditors present yesterday was in the ‘low double digits’, and that among them was the China Export-Import Bank and Mr Izmirlian’s Granite Ventures vehicle.

“Granite Ventures was there and represented its views during the meeting,” one source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Tribune Business.

This newspaper understands that the liquidators are aiming to complete the winding-up process in early 2017.

The seven companies in full liquidation are Baha Mar Ltd, Baha Mar Land Holdings, Baha Mar Enterprises, Baha Mar Properties, BMP Golf, BMP Three and Cable Beach Resorts.