By NEIL HARTNELL
Tribune Business Editor
nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
Sebas Bastian's property development arm is threatening to sue the Ministry of Works over "discriminatory and biased treatment" of its $50m corporate office project.
The Island Luck chief's Veridian Development Group on Wednesday issued the Ministry, and Town Planning Committee, with a seven-day ultimatum to lift the eight-month "Stop Order" that has forced work at the western New Providence project to grind to a halt.
Tribune Business sources yesterday suggested that the lengthy stall could have cost Mr Bastian's company up to $25m in real estate sales, while also forcing some 60 construction workers to seek work elsewhere.
These figures were not disputed by Mr Bastian yesterday (see story HERE), while a major foreign investor in the project - whose involvement has already been approved by both the National Economic Council (NEC) and Central Bank - was said to have totally lost confidence in The Bahamas and wants to withdraw their capital.
Alfred Sears QC, Veridian's attorney, in a May 2 letter to Desmond Bannister, minister of works, said civil works at the Veridian Corporate Centre had been in progress for seven months until the Department of Physical Planning "suspended all approvals" in early October 2017.
The letter, which has been obtained by Tribune Business, added that "numerous demands, requisitions and inquiries" were then imposed on Veridian and Mr Bastian's other property firm, Brickell Management Group (BMG), which was acting as the office complex's development companies.
Despite complying with all these requests, Mr Sears' letter sets out a history of delayed or no responses by Physical Planning officials, plus instances where Veridian/BMG submissions could not be found and had to be re-sent.
The former attorney general also contrasted the "obstacles" placed in Veridian's way with the planning authorities' seemingly "more favourable" treatment of a rival corporate office complex located several hundred yards further down West Bay Street.
Mr Sears' letter alleged that this project was approved by the Town Planning Committee within three months of its application's submission, and is purportedly now much more advanced than Veridian's despite the latter having sought its approvals some two years earlier.
"We write to lodge a formal complaint and demand that you cease and desist from what appears to be disparate, discriminatory and biased treatment of our client in the approval process," Mr Sears wrote in his letter to Mr Bannister.
"We hereby request that the 'Stop Order' be removed, as our client has complied with all of the statutory and prudential requirements of the [Planning and Subdivisions] Act and regulations.
"If this matter is not satisfactorily resolved within the next seven days, we are under firm instructions to commence legal proceedings against, amongst others, the Ministry of Public Works and the Town Planning Committee without further notice."
The Veridian Corporate Centre is located on a 10-acre land parcel off West Bay Street, opposite Old Fort Bay and just west of the Serenity Drive access road to the Serenity gated community.
Its business model involves offering office units for sale, with four design options available to potential clients, in a bid to exploit the growing demand among law firms, financial services providers, family offices and the like for a western New Providence location close to high-end communities and Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA).
"Veridian Corporate Centre offers a prime solution and well-situated location for your company to effortlessly reach its valued clientele," the developer's website states.
"Located near prestigious communities such as Lyford Cay and Albany, Veridian Corporate Centre strategically places your company within minutes of high-net worth clients, in addition to some of the finest shops and restaurants in New Providence."
Mr Sears' letter reveals that BMG, as the project's development company, obtained a two-year Preliminary Support of Application Approval from the planning authorities on December 17, 2014, subject to certain conditions.
Veridian subsequently obtained a permit number on November 3, 2016, after submitting architectural drawings, while its civil works schematics were approved that December. BMG then contracted Bahamas Hot Mix on March 6, 2017, to begin civil works at the project site.
"Civil works were progressing normally," Mr Sears wrote. "BMG responded to all inquiries from the Ministry of Works, and work was preceding as scheduled." However, in the meantime, a new administration was elected to office on May 10, 2017.
"Inexplicably, on October 3, 2017, the Department of Physical Planning issued a 'Stop Order' to BMG with respect to the project," the QC wrote. "On October 11, 2017, the Department of Physical Planning suspended all approvals relating to the project pending a Traffic Impact Study to address any road improvements required to facilitate any traffic from the project.
"From October 11, 2017, the Town Planning Committee and Department of Physical Planning imposed a prohibition on BMG through numerous demands, requisitions and inquiries, all of which have been satisfied."
The requested Traffic Impact Study was said to have been submitted on November 17, 2017, but Mr Sears' letter alleged that the Department of Physical Planning did not acknowledge receipt until two-and-a-half months later.
The Department also requested changes to the civil works as a result of the study, and demanded that Veridian/BMG obtain an excavation permit which was forthcoming on February 9, 2018, following a site visit by the Town Planning Committee.
Then, a week later, the Department of Physical Planning sought "a landscape plan, retaining wall to prevent run-off" and a dust protection plan. These were submitted on February 26, 2018, but Mr Sears said there was no response to BMG's request for a removal of the 'Stop Order' and resumption of work.
The letter alleged that Ministry of Works' civil department and Town Planning Committee failed to respond to further requests and, on April 24, 2018, the former also called for a boundary survey.
Cara Collie, BMG's president, then spoke to Charles Zonicle, Physical Planning's deputy director on April 26. He added that "no Veridian updates could be provided" until changes to the project's civil drawings were approved.
Tribune Business was unable to obtain a response from Mr Bannister before press time last night, despite sending him messages and making phone calls.
Comments
Well_mudda_take_sic 5 years, 12 months ago
This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.
realitycheck242 5 years, 12 months ago
It looks like Sebas needs to donate some funds to the FNM to get this project flowing. But the real issue is much bigger than that. I smell a rat. Lyford cay, Old fort Bay and the elites of the west dont want to see this small black boy get nothing elyse in the west....The dealings with the Min Of works is just superficial obstacles being thrown at Sebas. The real issues is with the client relationships and Banks the tenants of this developement will have with the Web shop fellars.
TalRussell 5 years, 12 months ago
Ma Comrades. you shouldn't be expected sing praises how Sebas accumulated his fortune but a key plank the red party's 2017 general election promises plank was to be about cutting out dealing unfairly with even those who very well might not be voting for them. Comrade Sebas needs be responded to in a "honest and responsible manner.... not targeted to brungs $25 million harm to."
realitycheck242 5 years, 12 months ago
They dont want Sebas issue an IPO for island luck either
observer2 5 years, 12 months ago
"Tief From Tief God Lauf".
Da poor ga jus have to watch Lyford fight da numbers boys. So much cash from the 1,000 strong web shops over da hill and is every settlement on every family island. Almost every family has a gambling addict. Gambling on their cell phones all day and night. Money needs to go west, in da nicer areas while the economy over the hill is sucked dry. Once numbers reach da west even da rich ga get hook and suck dry.
Minnie's over the hill tax incentives = even less tax fa numbers.
This is the outcome of when the government doesn't listen to the people in the gambling referendum. To late now.
John 5 years, 12 months ago
So it is OK for the Chinese to come here and build some of the largest construction projects on the island with little or no Bahamian labor and they get all the passes and approvals they need, Albany's development goes on smoothly and uninterrupted but a Bahamian company is stopped and reviewed for almost a year? SOUNDS LIKE POLITICAL VOMIT!
observer2 5 years, 12 months ago
John, my point exactly. The laundry boy once called the Chinese every name in the book when he was on that board of the big hotel out west, now that he is the ruler he is singing their high praises. SOUNDS LIKE POLITICAL VOMIT!
My point is that the cay has more billionaires per square mile than anywhere on earth. It will be interesting watching them stop the new money sucked from over the hill. Opps there goes the neighborhood.
realitycheck242 5 years, 12 months ago
The boys in the west see.s this project as the concealment of the origins of illegally obtained money, typically by means of transfers involving banks or legitimate businesses ,,, To sum it up. They see this project as Money Laundering
John 5 years, 12 months ago
MONEY LAUNDERING? THE ENTIRE landscapes of SOUTH FLORIDA, NEW YORK< TEXAS AND CALIFORNIA WERE REBUILT WITH DRUG MONEY... you see any white people going to jail for drugs..anywhere/ ANYWHERE?
Well_mudda_take_sic 5 years, 11 months ago
Your constant ranting that certain black people are entitled to engage in criminal activities simply because certain white people have done so and continue to do so only serves to show just how demented you truly are. You've been listening to the likes of Sebas Bastian and Craig Flowers for so long that you now even sound like them. I have little hope of you ever waking up to the fact that serious crime is serious crime no matter the colour of the criminal's skin. It seems Sebas Bastian has buttered your family's bread to the point where you can no longer think straight. I feel sorry for you...and your family.
John 5 years, 12 months ago
And the first settlers to these islands (they were the descendants of the Amorites who were the descendants of Lot's son, who had an incesterous relationship with his daughter ) smuggled human cargo for four hundred years and exploited labor, and ran rum and stole land and raped women and hanged their men and sold their children.. and some still BITTER because slavery ended..now what were talking about again.
hrysippus 5 years, 12 months ago
Who told you slavery has ended? Do some research before you post your fake news, john-done-gone.
John 5 years, 12 months ago
It ended for me .. too bad if you still picking cotton... or have people picking it.
Porcupine 5 years, 12 months ago
While the stop work order will soon be lifted, who will be the new rulers in town? Those who made their money illegally, on the backs of the poor. The rest of us, the politicians, the lawyers, the accountants, our judicial courts, those who supposedly have the best interest of The Bahamas at heart, allowed it to go on. The is the new normal here. Get used to it. Take a look at how many people obey the traffic laws in Nassau. Why would we expect better of the gaming thugs?
John 5 years, 12 months ago
But you didn't say this when the Chinese started to build a whole hotel without permits and were using foreign labor from another construction project. AND PLAN TO DIG INTO THE SEA BED...O ye HYPOCRITES!
JohnDoes 5 years, 11 months ago
@John Stop comparing to the chinese. The chinese obviously have a better bargain in which it will attract more tourist & employ more Bahamians and actually benefit the Bahamas in some way. Bookie Boy Bastian simply wants more personal gain & another transit point to launder money: “offering office units for sale, with four design options available to potential clients, in a bid to exploit the growing demand among law firms, financial services providers” costing him $25m in real estate sales already? No plan to help economy only to add to his already exorbitant personal wealth & take more from what little pieces of land we have left on this island. This is all a money grab while trying to entice those industries to secure his laundering foot hole which is more like a Bear Trap for New Providence. This man needs to invest elsewhere but hmm ‘elsewhere’ doesnt take cold moist musty cash in briefcases.
John 5 years, 11 months ago
So..Did you research where the Chinese money came from with the same bifocal magnifying glasses and sticky fingers you have on Sebas' money? Are you now saying Ministry of works now has the authority to tell a man, a Bahamian, how to invest his money? If Sebas' web shops and other businesses are now licensed and regulated how is he laundering money/ It does smell of rat and rt droppings too. That is like the US going around labeling other countries narcotrafficking or narco producing states but is the biggest narco consuming country in the world
Porcupine 5 years, 11 months ago
Sad. Even the commenters here. The trend is clear to anyone who opens their eyes. It is not a positive trend. As if The Bahamas has time to figure it out.
DDK 5 years, 11 months ago
NORTH, SOUTH, WEST OR EAST, they are all still crooked slime and should themselves be treated with an industrial strength dose of Mr. Clean and be scrubbed until they disappear!
sheeprunner12 5 years, 11 months ago
Whether you agree with their politics or business ventures ....... Sebas, Fox, Chances, & Flowers gat BALLS ......... They are the new version of the Bahamaland Pirates of Old and the Bay Street Boys ....... Pirates 3.0
This will all soon come to a head when the IDB/OECD and the Canadian banks demand that Minnis clean up this Grey Banking Sector once and for all ....... and the small man will feel the crunch again.
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bogart 5 years, 11 months ago
In all fairness the 8 number houses families are now ligitimate and perfectly legal to carry out their business in accordance to the laws. What is not right is that the sovereign nation of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas held a national Referendum acvording to world INTERNATIONAL accepted standatds AND VOTED NO AGAINST IT but persons.....cabal within the government legislated otherwise. Now those persons need to be transparent and accountable. ITis perfectly legal gor the gaming houses to make maximum profits and dominate the businesses as they invest proceeds from their legotimate webshops.
sheeprunner12 5 years, 11 months ago
Well, the LAW can be amended to get rid of the private webshop gaming business and create a national Lottery and let the webshops sell lottery tickets on commission or closed down.
DDK 5 years, 11 months ago
....and yet we never hear this suggestion mentioned by any of the politicians although the public has suggested it over and over and over. Could it be that a national lottery would not have provisions for the politicians' cut???
JohnDoes 5 years, 11 months ago
@John The ministry did not tell the man how to invest his money, but he cannot always believe that because he has money that the government can be bribed into allowing him to do what he wants when he wants to. The Peoples Republic came in with a much more significant blueprint as it relates to Bahamas economic growth & they secured their approvals years before breaking ground which is entirely more justifiable than a man who tries to play God with the poor, who just shows up with cash on hand demanding things how he wants while ‘seeking’ approval in the process. He and his counterparts bribe for a living & the PLP slapped them all on the wrist. The FNM is now smothered with the former’s bad dealings & are trying to eliminate and correct these issues. You cannot compare the Chinese to the Bahamas’ Organized Gambling Crime Syndicate.
realitycheck242 5 years, 11 months ago
Sebas and the other Web Shop boys just needs to pool their money and become the first Bahamian owners of a large Hotel Complex. Take that money to Freeport and buy our Lucaya hotel or renovate and reopen the old Princes properties and Rebuild the International Bazaar. Some people say ya money good some people say ya money bad. I say do something within the law and help some desperate people in this country. Become the first Bahamians in the large scale hotel complex business. We have the Jamaicans, South africans, Americans, and chineese here in the large scale hotel business why can we Bahamians do the same.
TalRussell 5 years, 11 months ago
Ma Comrades, I think voters on 10th May 2017 well understood that the numbers man's also financially backed the then opposition red party as well as the PLP governing party. Being there was no backlash from the 91,409 voting for the red shirts - in reality the voters shouldn't now judge the numbers man's on their past when they had no issues with a sizable amount their cash monies swinging over to the red shirts campaign war chest on election day.
JohnDoe 5 years, 11 months ago
We are probably the only country where our own government officials, for short-sighted personal and political gain, talk down and have a more negative pessimistic outlook of our future prospects, our economy and values than even the most ardent foreign critic of the Bahamas. The foreign regulatory bodies like the FATF and OECD do not even have to write their own reports on us they can just quote our government negative utterances to support blacklisting and other punitive measures. Our government belies the popular saying that a fisherman does not call his fish stink. It is an unbelievable display of the lack of leadership, patriotism, maturity and vision of our government and government officials.
Several weeks ago our Prime Minister went on foreign soil, yes foreign soil, to tell the world that corruption in the Bahamas costs our economy hundreds of millions of dollars a year. In this article there appear to be a clear case of this same corruption in practice for all to see and we all talk around it because of who is involved. Are we saying that the Immigration office who takes $1,000 to expedite a work permit application is surely corrupt but a government appointed official, say the chairperson of Town Planning engaging in corrupt self-interest decision making that prevents and delays a $25 million investment and put hundreds of Bahamians out of work is not corrupt so that their project right next door can have an advantage to market. Is this not the epitome of the corruption the PM was really referring to?
We may or may not like Mr. Bastian, but using public office for self-interest personal gain is corruption plain and simple and it is just plain wrong and unlawful. Today it is Mr. Bastian but tomorrow it could be you or your family.
realitycheck242 5 years, 11 months ago
@JohnDoe This Issue is much bigger the a chairperson of town planning engaging in self-interest decision by failing or delaying this $25 mil project. ...This is about denying an industry on the rise to reach its potential in this country. The Chairperson is involve in a colaborative effort by politicians, present and past, foriegn, investors, Expats, including Bankers to stymie this project. because of the principle person (Sebas) involve.in this developement. Sebas in right in saying he smells a rat....That a a big Rat. I can see this playing out in the courts just like the Baha Mar affair .
JohnDoe 5 years, 11 months ago
I do not agree with you often but do agree that the Bahamas will never achieve sustainable endogenous economic growth until we address systemic institutional corruption, our petty small minded self-dealing politicians, re-develop hope, aspiration and optimism for our future, raise our behavior and educational standards and expectations and most importantly have the 1% that control 95% of the wealth in this country re-invest more or get their a--es out of the way and let persons who want to invest do so.
I attended Carnival last night and was frankly amazed that the private sector could organize and execute such a series of events on short notice without a dollar from government that in my view exceeded the entertainment and economic value and contributions of all previous Carnivals. When I arrived I personally witnessed about 100 tourist being unloaded from taxis to attend the concert. It is exactly these types of uniquely local experiences that we need to capture a competitive advantage in tourism, yet I understand that there were certain government ministers that did everything in their power to attempt to stop this year's Carnival for their self-interested and personal reasons. It is disgraceful, corrupt and so short-sighted.
sheeprunner12 5 years, 11 months ago
Good points ....... and yes, that is how the Caribbean wealthy citizens build their tourism industries ........ Sandals and Breezes are ideal examples ..... In Barbados, the wealthy farm the land, manufacture the food and own the hotels. The money stays at home ....... But in our country 90% of the tourist dollars are exported for profits, goods and services....... We only keep salaries.
realitycheck242 5 years, 11 months ago
Thats why the Web shops boys should get in the hotel Business, start in freeport....Their money needs local Bahamian investment outlets. Freeport is a great place to start.The Elites will only allow them to do so much on this 7 * 21 nassau. They already view them as stepping on their territory.
ashley14 5 years, 11 months ago
It would be a really happy day to see the Bahamian people flourish economically. It can and will happen. Young people think I can and I will!
JohnDoe 5 years, 11 months ago
Our young people are some of the brightest and smartest in the world but it is our own elected leaders who take every opportunity, for petty political and personal gain, to spew negativity about their own country that makes it difficult for young people to be optimistic and think I can and I will.
What these political leaders do not appear to understand is that negativity is like a super contagious virus that specifically attacks the optimism, hopes and aspirations of our youth. This in my view is directly related to our brain drain because our talented youth have lost hope and optimism in our future, partly because their politicians, even on foreign soil, take ever opportunity to speak negatively about our beautiful, even if imperfect, country.
Even worse is when these politicians go on foreign soil to say speak about corruption costing our country hundreds of millions of dollars a year and then come home, see this very same corruption in practice and then glibly walk right by it and pretend to not see it. That behavior is in my view an extension of the same self-interest centric corruption because if we are not going to do anything about it why go on foreign soil just to expose our dirty laundry.
Aegeaon 5 years, 11 months ago
I'd see Minnis confessing that the Bahamas is corrupt is actually helpful, and this shows that we need to step up our game.
TheMadHatter 5 years, 11 months ago
I guess Sears has given up aspirations of being PM.
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