The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A former top public health official has seen his six-figure claim against CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank (Bahamas) survive a strike-out bid by the BISX-listed financial institution.

Dr Glen Beneby, pictured, ex-chief medical officer, and his company, Bentech Ltd, are alleging that the bank has failed to apply repayments towards a loan secured on a condominium complex he purchased in the mid-1990s at Sunrise Beach Estates in eastern New Providence.

The Baker Tilly Gomez accounting firm, which was hired Mr Beneby to support his case, found that $167,000 in loan repayments could “not be accounted for” and that the outstanding loan balance with CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank (Bahamas) should have been $541,285 - not the $847,696 claimed by the bank.

The BISX-listed lender slammed Baker Tilly Gomez’s findings as “incomprehensible and inconclusive”, and sought to have Dr Beneby’s action struck out on the basis “that it discloses no reasonable cause of action, is frivolous and vexatious, and is otherwise an abuse of process of the court”.

However, Justice Indra Charles declined to do so in a June 23, 2021, ruling, although she ordered that the former official and his attorney, ex-Cabinet minister V. Alfred Gray, submit an improved “statement of claim” to CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank (Bahamas) by tomorrow because the initial version was “woefully vague”.

Justice Charles, in her ruling, noted that the initial mortgage secured on Dr Beneby’s condo complex was valued at $600,000 and came from Barclays, which was subsequently merged into CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank (Bahamas) in 2002. Further charges were secured on the property up until 2011, when Dr Beneby needed an additional $250,000 loan for renovations.

The existing loans were consolidated into a single $1.233m facility, which covered the previously extended $983,000 credit and provided $25,000 for renovations. A second $37,000 loan was to finance insurance coverage.

“In or about 2018, Dr Beneby believed that monies which he was paying towards the loan were not being applied. On the advice of his counsel, he engaged Baker Tilly Gomez to commission an audit of the account. Their findings were that $167,000 was not accounted for.”

CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank (Bahamas) provided Bentech with the loan payment history from July 2011 to August 2017, but Dr Beneby argued this was incomplete as it did not cover the initial loans taken out from 1994. The bank, though, said it was not obliged to provide these records, and that there was no need to retain them due to the new consolidated loan.

“By letter dated 16 April, 2018, counsel for Bentech presented Baker Tilly’s findings to the bank (which found that $167,000 could not be accounted for). The bank responded stating that the findings were incomprehensible and inconclusive,” Justice Charles said.

“Based on the information provided to Baker Tilly, the accountants reported that there were discrepancies with Bentech’s account and that about $306,000 was not posted, thus posting a balance of $847,696 when it ought to have been $541,285.”

The two sides remained unable to resolve their differences, and CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank (Bahamas) sought to have the case struck out on the basis it did not contain sufficient details allowing it to mount a defence or “a cause of action that would be successful at trial”.

While agreeing that Dr Beneby’s case “lacks clarity and precision”, Justice Charles nevertheless ruled: “It does disclose a reasonable cause of action. There are questions which arise from the statement of claim that can only be determined at a trial. It cannot be said that Bentech’s statement is incurably bad and has no real prospect of succeeding at trial.

“Consequently, I will not strike out the statement of claim as sought by the Bank. I will grant leave to Bentech to amend its statement of claim within fourteen days hereof.”