The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune,

The Tribune today, third of March 2023, would not have been off topic had its business section heading been "Food Fight".

Accusations and innuendo were rife and one could be forgiven for thinking that it was so many kids in a sandbox hurling sand at each other. What I found most intriguing was the headline "$5M dispute closes boating fees portal". Reading through the article it was shades of FTX between the Treasury, OMNI and ABM. It’s like this is a Bahamian thing now. Not keeping any records of transactions nor seemingly doing an old fashioned task called reconcilliation. Government says OMNI has not paid all fees collected, but no specifics, just a flat amount that they might like to have, 5 Million. Now, Government runs the Customs Department and one would hope that they record the name of a vessel and the date of its arrival and have some evidence that the Captain has declared and paid what is due on the Sea Z Pass. And one must also assume that Sea Z Pass has forwarded the payment to OMNI along with the VITAL information on the name of the vessel and date of arrival at a minimum. And can we assume also that OMNI has in turn forwarded the money received from Sea Z Pass to the Treasury, as it drops the money in the Government's designated bank account and sends a note to the Treasury to say this money is for this vessel arriving in the Bahamas on this date. Or are we assuming too much? Does anyone in the Treasury close the open loop by linking the Customs record of the vessel entering the Bahamas with the cash receipt from OMNI ? Now if this was the modus operandi of the Treasury, then Mr. Simon Wilson would have every right to stand up and say such and such a vessel arrived in the Bahamas on this date and evidenced his Sea Z Pass payment but we have not received the payment for that vessel landing on that date from OMNI. And then he can, one by one, identify each vessel that the Treasury has not received payment for. Not get up on that high horse and make a blanket claim with no backup. Try that in court, Mr. Wilson. And by the same token doesn't OMNI have little more evidence than simply saying that we have paid you everything, don't bother me.

And if OMNI's positions are closed then can Sea Z Pass substantiate its payments to OMNI, for which vessels arriving in the Bahamas. The article ends with ABM saying that they chose OMNI because OMNI would develop the software for free. If the Immigration receipts from OMNI are any indication of OMNI's software capabilities maybe they shouid outsource that aspect to India!

It's all quite remarkable, particularly coming on the heels of Sam Bankman Fried and the FTX debacle. Growing up in Nassau one would frequently hear people say "Free tings kill Nassau people". As true now as it was then.

MONKEYDOO

Nassau,

March 4, 2023