The Tribune

By FAY SIMMONS

Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

A CABINET minister yesterday hit back at the Opposition leader’s call for him to resign over his former role as president of a contractor linked to the election day plane crash drug accused, asserting that those seeking to "scandalise" his name will eventually have to admit they were wrong.

Michael Halkitis, minister of finance, speaking in Parliament yesterday said the controversy surrounding Top Notch Builders, for whom corporate records show he served as president between 2019 and 2021 while out of office, made him recall the period between 2015 and 2017 and claims that the Government had ‘stolen’ $1bn in VAT revenues when he was serving as minister of state for finance. "Having been around, so to speak, I am reminded of the biblical admonition in Ecclesiastes, Chapter One, Verse Nine, where it says there is nothing new under the sun," Mr Halkitis told Parliament. "I had to listen to my daughter come home from school and say the children were telling her, 'Your daddy is going to jail because he stole the VAT money’.”

Mr Halkitis noted that, after the 2017 election, the then-chairman of the Free National Movement acknowledged that no money had been stolen, but "there was no apology" for the allegations.

"I am hopeful, but I'm not hopeful. I don't expect anything better. But it would be good, in the fullness of time, when everything is revealed, for those who so gleefully seek to scandalise your name..." he said.

Mr Halkitis' remarks came after a heated exchange earlier in the debate, when Michael Pintard, the Opposition leader, attempted to raise questions about the minister's former association with Top Notch Builders and began reading from a letter he said had been sent to the Commissioner of Police requesting that investigators widen their probe into the company.

Chester Cooper, deputy prime minister, immediately objected and argued that the matter had already been referred to Parliament's committee of privilege and should not be debated while awaiting the committee's findings.

Patricia Deveaux, the House speaker, upheld the objection and reminded MPs that the issue had been referred to the committee. She also questioned whether the matters Mr Pintard sought to raise were before the courts, later citing House rules prohibiting discussion of matters under judicial consideration. 

Despite several attempts by Mr Pintard to continue, the Speaker directed him to move on and later ordered one of his remarks expunged from the record following an objection from Mr Halkitis.

Outside Parliament, Mr Pintard renewed his criticism in a statement posted to social media, arguing that evidence emerging in court proceedings in the US raised further questions about Mr Halkitis' former role as president of Top Notch Builders.

Mr Pintard claimed the latest evidence showed Jonathan ‘Eric’ Gardiner was able to withdraw $20,000 from the company's bank account the day before the 2026 general election despite not appearing as a director or officer in the company's corporate filings.

He argued that Mr Halkitis, as the company's former president, should have known who exercised control over the company's finances and renewed his call for the minister's resignation. "The minister owes the country the full truth, and his resignation along with it," said Mr Pintard.

“The president of a company is expected to know who controls its finances, who has authority over its bank accounts, and who makes the important decisions on behalf of the company. The Bahamian people deserve clear answers. Did Minister Halkitis know Eric Gardiner continued to exercise control over Top Notch Builders?

"If not, how could someone serving as president fail to know who had access to - and control over - the company’s bank accounts? The Davis administration cannot continue to spin away legitimate concerns while asking Bahamians to trust them with the nation’s finances.”