The Tribune

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

TWO Cabinet ministers who served as government negotiators on the Baha Mar remobilisation deal yesterday dismissed tabloid accusations of abuse of power and conflict of interest as election season smear tactics.

Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson and Minister of Education, Science and Technology Jerome Fitzgerald were alleged to have forged secret “sweetheart” deals connected to the mega-resort and its owner Chow Tai Fook Enterprises (CTFE) that would see them allegedly net “unlawful private profits” in the millions.

In yesterday’s edition, The Punch alleged that the five jewellery stores operated by Mrs Maynard-Gibson’s family at Baha Mar are part of the Hearts on Fire boutique franchise owned by the Cheng family - owners of CTFE. As for Mr Fitzgerald, the tabloid alleged that he sought contracts from Baha Mar’s general contractor China Construction America (CCA) at the resort, and also at the Hilton hotel, for his customs brokerage and limousine service company.

It also alleged that the pair first appealed to former developer Sarkis Izmirlian to facilitate the “sweetheart deals” with CCA, which is the developer of The Pointe at the Hilton.

For her part, Mrs Maynard-Gibson denounced the allegations as an “unmitigated, outrageous lie” and instead urged Bahamians to be mindful of the Free National Movement’s utterances on the embattled resort.

“It is a lie,” she continued. “I am not benefitting from anything at all in relation to the negotiations that we worked so hard as a government for the Bahamian people in relation to the Baha Mar transaction. I ask those who are going to be voting on May 3 and May 10 to recognise that from day one the Free National Movement, led by Minnis, have been saying it’s not going to happen, it’s not going to open. It’s opening on Friday and they said they were going to sell the hotel. I’m asking voters to stay focused, all kinds of distractions, smoke and mirrors to move voters away from the fact that the PLP, the prime minister, put a negotiating team out there for the benefit of Bahamians to get the hotel out there, that would have been closed, opened.”

She said had Mr Izmirlian been allowed to go ahead with Baha Mar’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in a Delaware court, the resort would still be closed.

“ . . . Bahamians who would not have had one penny now have been made whole, that is the hardcore truth that the FNM is simply trying to distract Bahamians from,” she said.

“We’re living in an era of fake news, alternative facts, Bahamians are not silly,” Mrs Maynard-Gibson added. “Bahamians are very smart.”

In 2015, Mrs Maynard-Gibson revealed that her husband Maxwell Gibson owns the retail jewellery store chain that had been granted storefront leases in Baha Mar. At the time, she rejected accusations that she has a conflict of interest due to her role as government negotiator for the stalled resort.

Mrs Maynard-Gibson’s revelation came in a statement released four days after she initially said her two daughters, 28 and 30, had leases to operate stores in Baha Mar while a guest on the More 94 FM talk show Real Talk Live. Mrs Maynard-Gibson revealed her daughters’ connection to the resort and Prime Minister Perry Christie’s knowledge of the matter.

Her initial statement led to calls for her resignation from FNM Leader Dr Hubert Minnis, who accused her of being caught up in an “overt conflict of interest”.

For his part, Mr Fitzgerald yesterday said: “I don’t respond to The Punch and social media, and I don’t respond to people that I can’t sue. I do not respond to any. I don’t have any contracts whatsoever none zero.

“There were those that said the contractors weren’t going to get paid, they got paid, those that said the employees weren’t going to get paid, they got paid, those who said we weren’t going to find a buyer, we found a buyer, those who said it wasn’t going to open, it’s opening.”

He added: “Now I don’t know what else they going to say, obviously now they’re trying to get some personal attacks based on information that is not cogent and so forth, but at the end of the day that’s fine.

“This is the season we’re in and we expect this sort of stuff, but at the end of the day I think that nothing will diminish from the fact that a major resort is opening in the Bahamas.”

When pressed further on whether any of members of his family held contracts, Mr Fitzgerald said: “As far as I’m concerned, I have no interest whatsoever in no dealing with Baha Mar, none, zero.”