By Rashad Rolle
Tribune Staff Reporter
rrolle@tribunemedia.net
THE Export-Import Bank of China (EXIM) has not authorised Baha Mar’s Claims Committee to pay former expatriate workers of Baha Mar what is owed to them, former State Minister for Finance James Smith said yesterday.
Although last year the Christie administration directed the Claims Committee to prioritise paying former Bahamian employees of Baha Mar above everyone else, Mr Smith’s revelation yesterday goes against the widespread expectation that former expatriate employees of the resort would be paid from what was left after the money given to former Bahamian employees, Bahamian creditors and foreign creditors is subtracted.
Mr Smith heads the committee that was established to administer the $100m or so that the EXIM Bank provided on an ex-gratia basis.
He told this newspaper in December that former expatriate employees of Baha Mar would be paid a “high figure” by the committee. His statement yesterday, however, came as more Baha Mar’s former expatriate employees have reached out to The Tribune, seeking answers on why they have not been paid what’s owed to them.
The former employees said they were told to expect payment weeks ago but have since seen their emails and phone calls ignored.
One woman, who requested anonymity, said: “We have no recourse but to keep this in the media as no one has contacted us or returned our emails. I have to wonder why the government - and all Bahamians - thinks this unfairness is okay. Is it that no one really cares?”
David Gross, another former expat employee, said in an email last week: “I am another one of those 200 plus expat employees who are patiently waiting for compensation. The lack of communication is particularly frustrating. I believe we are being stonewalled.”
A woman who also requested anonymity to express her views emailed The Tribune yesterday, saying: “I am also in the group of expatriates that is owed salary, living expenses, earned vacation, reimbursable expenses and severance. The lack of communication from the committee and Baha Mar to date is beyond disheartening considering we all transplanted ourselves to the island and upheld the utmost level of commitment to the project in support of its success, provided the skill sets needed and held active employment contracts which have been breached in the process.
“Is this due process? If all claims have been settled as reported, share the reconciliation report that breaks down how the $100m in funds provided to the committee by EXIM bank were utilised,” the foreign worker said.
“The manner in which this process has been handled to date is clearly a result of the Bahamian government issuing a sanction to specifically discriminate against paying expats what is owed to them,” the expatriate worker claimed.
After making inquiries following questions from this newspaper about the matter yesterday, Mr Smith said payment to expats is “under review” by EXIM Bank.
He could not say when that review would be complete or why committee representatives have not informed expatriate workers about this.
He seemed surprised that the EXIM Bank has not authorised the committee to make payments to those former employees even though money remains.
“I was thinking that the (expatriates) would be paid out of the residual amount but it’s a wait and see at this point,” Mr Smith told The Tribune. “We’re not making the rules. We can’t go beyond the instructions given to us. The deal was for Bahamian employees to be paid. If we get the okay, we will move on.”
Nonetheless, officials have stressed that no one is entitled to payment given that the money being given was provided as a gift from the EXIM Bank and the process for administering the money falls outside the courts’ jurisdiction.
Comments
Gotoutintime 7 years, 1 month ago
The Bahamas has now reached third-world status!
mookwarrior 7 years, 1 month ago
Bro your dumps been on fire for two years, you aren't just now entering third world status.
djgross 7 years, 1 month ago
"no one is entitled to payment given that the money being given was provided as a gift from the EXIM Bank" Gift? Really? Why would they provide money as a gift? I expect to be paid just like Bahamians were paid. See you in court.
banker 7 years, 1 month ago
So the $100M was not an ex-gratia payment. It is a slush fund and James Smith is the flunkie taking directions from the Chinese overlords on how to spend their money.
Ex Gratia means sense of moral obligation to pay. Obviously the Chinese and their symbiotic parasite, James Smith, have no morals.
ConchyJ 7 years, 1 month ago
It is time to let all US citizens know how unfairly US workers and vendors have been treated. We will ask all to show the Bahamian government their displeasure by choosing other destinations for their vacations, group travel and business travel until a fair and reasonable decision has been made. I truly feel sorry for all of the wonderful friends and people we have worked with and hope they understand that we wish no ill will towards them or their families and hope they will show support for us in the upcoming election!
casinojoe74 7 years, 1 month ago
Expats worked just as hard and sacrificed just as much as anyone else. Even more if you consider we uprooted our families, left other jobs, got kicked out of the Bahamas when our visas expired and had to find new homes, employers, schools for our kids, etc... correct me if i'm wrong, but the Chinese construction company of America and their 5,000 workers were paid in the end right? hmmm... maybe when Perry loses the election in May the new PM will sort things out for us. Personally, I'd give up my owed money to see him rot in a Chinese jail. But mr Perry, if you're reading this, you should know that the remaining Expats are a large and LOUD group who are each owed a very substantial amount of money. Don't expect us to go away. If you want my opinion, pay us now in full or I'm certain it'll cost you a lot more once the bucket you're kicking gets to the end of the road. Getting rid of Sarkis was the dumbest thing you ever did and you'll have plenty of time to think about it when you're out of a job in a few months...
BMW 7 years, 1 month ago
Slush fund is correct. James splitting whats left amongst the crew! What they are doing is criminal.
TalRussell 7 years, 1 month ago
Comrades! Had Minnis only pointed his guns at The so-called $100 million and not tossed stink bombs with his threat to sell Baha Mar to the highest bidder - he would have been onto an juicy election issue to campaign on - one that any common man's or woman standing at any street corner - could've tell you in 20 words or less, that the Chinese investors (government) didn't just give the PLP $100 million to not get something back in return? Minnis - him screwed up, badly - by not digging deep and wide into the $100 million.
Minnis, should've threatened if he becomes the PM, that he would personally perform a audited autopsy on that $100 million. Things like, what account was the $100 million disbursed from, and who all signed the cheques? What was the ministry of finance's role, if any, in the $100 million - from start to finish?
Well_mudda_take_sic 7 years, 1 month ago
James Smith is a corrupt SOB. He knows full-well there had to have been a quid pro quo for the so called $100 million ex gratia payment! For puppet Smith and his master Crooked Christie to suggest that the Chinese EXIM Bank paid this large sum to the Bahamas government to distribute to the Bahamian creditors of Baha Mar as a gesture of their good faith in (and keen desire to buy goodwill with) the Bahamian people is nothing but poppycock. The Bahamas government conspired in its dealings with the Chinese EXIM Bank, both financial and otherwise, to defraud the foreign creditors by usurping our country's insolvency (liquidation) laws requiring equal treatment of all unsecured creditors. That's the bottomline, period! Crooked Christie, his puppet James Smith and all others directly involved in this fraudulent scheme (e.g. Allyson Maynard-Gibson a/k/a the Wicked Witch and Baltron Bethel a/k/a the Bag Man) should be named in any legal actions filed by the foreign creditors to seek proper redress for their losses caused by discriminatory and illegal practices.
Reality_Check 7 years, 1 month ago
The Bahamian judge in the Baha Mar local legal proceedings should have long ago ordered that all of the transcripts, documents and reports filed with the court be unsealed, i.e made available for inspection by the public, in particular the news media. The judge's failure to recognize the public's right to have access to this information in the run up to a general election is frightening to say the least. It certainly appears the court is wrongfully interfering in the upcoming general election by concealing information the present government does not want to be made public. There have been many proper demands made for the information to be put in the public domain because there is no justifiable national security interest for not doing so. The court's continued willingness to wrongfully withhold this information from the public points to a lack of independence that is most harmful to our country's democratic processes. The fact that the Chief Justice has not weighed in or intervened by now in this matter is also of great concern to the public at large. These are all very serious matters!
OldFort2012 7 years, 1 month ago
Legally, if it was an ex-gratia payment by the Chinese, they do get to choose where it goes and who gets it. Basically, it is a discretionary slush fund. But this would mean that ALL the claims (including ones from Bahamians) would still be open, even if they were paid out of the slush fund. That is why they actually BOUGHT the claims from the Bahamians, thus closing them out and transferring those claims to themselves. In future they can write off the claims and have a nice tax loss, which they can invoice to the Government of the Bahamas. Very neatly done. Totally legal, but highly immoral. There again, no one sane comes to the Bahamas looking for morality. The foreign workers have been royally screwed and will never see a penny of their claims, as they are owed money by the original development company which is bankrupt and has negative worth. Move on, don't throw good money after bad trying to sue. Chalk it up to experience. As for Bahamians, they will end up paying the $100m through tax losses over some future period and suffer a further loss of reputation. All in all, a very expensive way to buy a handful of votes.
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