By NEIL HARTNELL
Tribune Business Editor
nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
A well-known QC last night accused Sarkis Izmirlian of mounting “a last ditch effort to obstruct” the potential resolution of the $3.5 billion Baha Mar impasse.
Wayne Munroe QC, who represents the Gaming Board and other government entities in the Baha Mar matter, said the project’s original developer was “grasping at straws” with his latest legal manoeuvres.
He was speaking after Mr Izmirlian filed a Supreme Court summons that seeks permission to both “accelerate” moves to place Baha Mar into full liquidation, and to replace the National Insurance Board (NIB) as the winding-up petitioner with his Granite Ventures vehicle.
Mr Izmirlian said he was again acting in the best interests of Baha Mar’s 3,000-plus unsecured Bahamian creditors, including contractors, vendors and staff, but Mr Munroe implied that other motives were behind the move.
He suggested that Baha Mar’s original developer was trying to make life difficult for the project’s Deloitte & Touche receivers, and attempting to block the selection of a preferred bidder to buy the $3.5 billion development.
Describing Mr Izmirlian’s latest gambit as a legal ‘long shot’, Mr Munroe told Tribune Business: “It’s grasping at straws.
“It’s a last ditch effort. They are no doubt of the view that the property is close to being sold, and they are just trying to be obstructive.
Mr Munroe said that with all interested parties required to submit bids to Baha Mar’s receivers by May 10, the Deloitte & Touche team of local managing partner, Raymond Winder, and two Hong Kong-based accountants, would likely be close to completing their evaluations of the offers.
And, recalling Prime Minister Perry Christie’s comments this week that he anticipated a Baha Mar resolution shortly, Mr Munroe added: “I expect they’re at the point of choosing somebody and working out the terms.”
Tribune Business sources close to Baha Mar developments last week said the receivers were leaning towards one of the two shortlisted bidders as the preferred offer.
The two remaining bid groups are thought to include Macau gambling magnate, Stanley Ho, on one side, and Mr Izmirlian’s fellow Lyford Cay-based billionaire, Joe Lewis, and his Tavistock Group, the Albany developers, on the other.
Mr Munroe, meanwhile, dismissed Mr Izmirlian’s claim that his latest Supreme Court move was intended to benefit all creditors, branding it as “selfishness”.
“It’s selfishness that put themselves in this position, and he’s not thinking about what’s in the best interests of creditors,” the QC added.
“There are many technical reasons it’s [the new action] a non-starter in my view, and many substantive reasons it wouldn’t get anywhere.”
Outlining those reasons, Mr Munroe said Mr Izmirlian knew he had allowed the China Export-Import Bank to take all of Baha Mar’s assets as security for its $2.45 billion financing, meaning there was nothing “that doesn’t belong to the bank” or its receivers.
He then challenged Granite Ventures’ assertion that it was an unsecured Baha Mar creditor, pointing that this stemmed from providing the project with operational financing during its stay in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Mr Munroe, though, questioned whether the Government - via the National Economic Council (NEC) and the Central Bank - gave permission for Granite Ventures, as a foreign-owned and domiciled entity, to make that foreign currency loan.
If it did not, he suggested the whole basis for Granite Ventures’ claim was undermined, as it was a “non-sanctioned” loan.
Mr Izmirlian’s latest legal move appears to be a variation on Granite Ventures’ previous bid to acquire the rights to Baha Mar’s $192 million claim against its contractor’s parent, which was rejected by the Supreme Court.
He is once again presenting himself as the ‘champion’ of Bahamian creditors’ interests, arguing that neither the receivers, not the joint provisional liquidators, have the inclination or wherewithal to do so.
In particular, Mr Izmirlian is arguing that Deloitte & Touche, as the China Export-Import Bank’s court-approved agents, will act predominantly in Chinese interests as opposed to those of the Bahamian creditors.
And the joint provisional liquidators, Bahamian accountant Ed Rahming, and the UK duo of Alastair Beveridge and Nicholas Cropper, have not been empowered with the funding necessary for them to properly fulfill their role.
Several observers have suggested that if the Christie administration wants to see more rapid progress on a Baha Mar resolution, it should finance the joint provisional liquidators, and provide them with the required funding.
Tribune Business sources, meanwhile, have disclosed that the only reason the joint provisional liquidation has remained in place is to protect the China Export-Import Bank and its receivers from any lawsuits filed by unsecured creditors.
In effect, by extending the joint provisional liquidation indefinitely, the Government and its agencies are buying time for the Chinese and Deloitte & Touche to determine, and resolve, Baha Mar’s fate without any major legal impediments.
The timing of Mr Izmirlian’s new manoeuvre is also probably not coincidental, given the recent $192 million claim rejection, and the fact it is now just over one year since the National Insurance Board (NIB) and other government agencies petitioned to wind-up Baha Mar.
Should he and Granite Ventures succeed, the appointment of two Ernst & Young accountants would at least wrest partial control of Baha Mar’s fate from the Chinese and their receivers.
But, in adding a layer of oversight to Deloitte & Touche’s activities, it may also disrupt any Baha Mar sales process and selection of a preferred bidder, further delaying a resolution.
At the very least, Mr Izmirlian’s latest move may ‘force the pace’ with the receivers, pushing them to identify and name a preferred bidder, and conclude negotiations with that party, more rapidly.
Mr Winder and the receivers’ attorneys, Lennox Paton, did not respond to calls and messages seeking comment last night. Nor did Mr Rahming.
Comments
proudloudandfnm 7 years, 9 months ago
Munroe is PLP now. He's a part of the team that screwed Sarkis to take his resort. Munroe has no credibility on this....
newcitizen 7 years, 9 months ago
Who cares what Wayne Monroe thinks. Why is Neil Hartnell always so interested in getting uninformed opinions for the cast of Nassau sleaziest people. Is there really no other news happening that we have to hear what Wayne Monroe or Frankie the Snake have to say about every little thing.
birdiestrachan 7 years, 9 months ago
Mr: Munroe is a well qualified QC. He has worked hard to be where he is to day, and he makes his Country *proud. Perhaps if his hue was different you folks would appreciate him, and in the mean time "Roc with Doc: should stop making foolish statement about the government and Chinese deals. MR> Ismarile made the deal with the Chinese and he failed to keep his part of the agreement. What is so hard to understand about that.
newcitizen 7 years, 9 months ago
What are you going on about now?
birdiestrachan 7 years, 9 months ago
Correction Sarkis Ismirlian made the deal but there are those who seek to give him a free pass and blame the Government . There was a contract. signed by both parties. Persons are required to abide by their signed contract. why persons would put forward lies in this matter is terrible. even the Rev Paul. They all know better. But they seek the simple in order to fool them,
asiseeit 7 years, 9 months ago
Birdie, you as simple as it gets, I guess that is why you say the things you do!
sheeprunner12 7 years, 9 months ago
Sarkis should pay some of the ISIS fellas to put some IEDs in that Chinese wasp nest
John 7 years, 9 months ago
Sounds like Munroe wants Sakis to just walk away from his investment and not try to recover any of the hundreds of millions has has invested. Obviously the Chinese are dragging their feet on the winding up process, and the longer the matter takes the less money will be returned to Sakis, if any. Obviously the Chinese want him out and what is less obvious is that they may want to take full control of Bah Mar as the owners and operators. Munroe himself seem to be pointing fingers and should push the process forward so that everything may be completed before the general elections. Since the incompetency of China Construction, as it relates to Bah Mar, has been proven over and again, Sakis may need to take his case to a more neutral court and prove his case that China Construction is solely responsible for the disposition Bah Mar is in. And further because of the agreement with China Bank, he could not fire the contractors and since China Bank did not act on his behalf to either fire China Construction or, in the alternatitive get them to produce quality work and in a timely manner, China Bank may have, in fact, by its actions or inactions, colluded with China Construction Company, to the detriment of Sarkis Izmirilian and Bah Mar. And if need be The government of the Bahamas may also be named as a party to the lawsuit since, rather remaining neutral in the matter, the government help wrestle Bah Mar and deliver it securely in the hands of the Chinese. Don't leave this dirt for another government to clean up.
SP 7 years, 9 months ago
................................Wayne Monroe Blasts Sarkis For ‘Obstruction’??..............................
Munroe is as delusional as his hero Christie. Nobody knows more about obstruction than these two crooks.
Sarkis has $900M tied up in Baha Mar, and this clown QC thinks Sarkis should simply walk away singing kumbaya?
HELL NO! Izmirlian should turnover every stone and beat every bush to get back what is rightfully his!
John 7 years, 9 months ago
They don't want the dirty deeds and the Chinese exposed. That why PGC all over the place fighting for another 5 years of political life. Remember he say he is prime minister and even after someone go to God and pray for something, they still have to come back to him. Now many people starting to pray to God that Perry Christie even lose his seat in the election and never come back as prime minister.
Socrates 7 years, 9 months ago
Why is it Sarkis is mounting a 'last ditch effort to obstruct' when he uses the legal maneuvers available to him, but when the government jammed his chapter 11 filings last year that was a matter of sovereignty? Whats good for the goose my friends.......
We Bahamians are such a f%ked up people.. None, including the hotel Union do jack sht to invest in any meaningful way in the hotel business yet when the white foreign man comes with his money to do it, we start stabbing them in the back first chance we get? Example.. Sarkis was trying to get money from the government for their share of moving West Bay Street.. DPM said we can't pay because we are not sure we owe that amount... Low and behold, soon as Sarkis filed, government took the same money they wouldn't give Sarkis and used it to pay unemployed people.. The same money they say they wasn't sure they owed... Sounds like holding back the money might have been part of a conspiracy to suck the project from Sarkis. If he has any sense left, he will go and spend his money where he might get some cooperation and support instead of treachery...
truetruebahamian 7 years, 9 months ago
Munroe - untrustworthy - he wears the robes of his political masters and is now one of them.
sealice 7 years, 9 months ago
Another wonderfully clear message from the PLP to the rest of the world . . . . don't invest in the Bahamas . . . . . .
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