The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Opposition’s chairman yesterday called for an “immediate” probe into the $34m Eight Mile Rock administration complex deal after it was revealed the contractor appeared to have ties to a drug-accused air crash victim when the contract was signed in 2017.

Dr Duane Sands told Tribune Business that a “proceeds of crime” investigation should be launched into the contract the last Christie administration signed just one day before the May 10, 2017, general election after it emerged that Jonathan Eric Gardiner swore under oath he was the “president and a director” of the Government’s public-private partnership (PPP) partner, Top Notch Builders.

Speaking after Mr Gardiner was last week detained by US authorities, and formally charged with involvement in a long-running cocaine smuggling conspiracy, after being rescued from the general election-day plane crash, the Free National Movement (FNM) chairman argued that the Eight Mile Rock complex should be placed in the equivalent of “protective custody” or “escrow” until an investigation was concluded.

And Dr Sands also told this newspaper that the Government should halt all lease payments due to Top Notch and its wholly-owned subsdiary, PPP Investments and Construction, plus the loan repayments that suddenly appeared in the Government’s 2025-2026 Budget without warning.

The deal appeared under the ‘public debt servicing - interest and other charges’ heading, noting a $33.93m, ten-year loan due to PPP Investments & Construction Company even though this debt was supposed to have been serviced by rental payments. The PPP had initially been billed as a lease-to-own structure where the Government would pay back the company and its lenders via rental payments, but Dr Sands called for a halt on all and any payments until an investigation provides the all-clear.

Calling for “the chips to fall where they may”, he urged the Government not to “sweep it under the rug” as the circumstances of Mr Gardiner’s arrest by US authorities - and the subsequent charges and allegations made against him - “cast a serious shadow over the reputation of this country”.

Michael Coleman, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) special agent supplying evidence for the US authorities’ charges and complaint against Mr Gardiner, also known as ‘Player’, alleged he had been informed that “Gardiner owns a business that Gardiner uses to, among other things, bid on Bahamian government-issued construction contracts and launder his narcotics trafficking proceeds”.

Tribune Business revealed that documents from The Bahamas’ registry of records show a ‘Jonathan Gardiner’ swearing under oath that - despite being “the president and a director” of Top Notch Builders - he owned not a single share in the company, which is based on Adelaide Road in south-west New Providence.

Sworn on February 13, 2017, less than three months before the PPP deal for what is now the Obadiah H. Wilchcombe government complex, named after the late MP and minister of tourism, was sealed on May 9, 2017, the document - signed by Jonathan Gardiner - appears to be an attempt to distance himself from ownership of Top Notch Builders by denying he has any beneficial interest in the company.

He testifies under oath that Top Notch Builders is instead owned 100 percent by Paradise Productions Inc Company, an entity fully-owned by Samson Hield, who has been listed in previous Tribune Business reports as the “lead contractor” for the Eight Mile Rock PPP deal. However, multiple sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, described Top Notch Builders as “his company”- meaning Mr Gardiner’s.

As a result, Dr Sands said it was imperative that The Bahamas launch its own investigation - and not wait on the US or others - into the Eight Mile Rock administrative complex PPP deal as well as determine if any other Government-related construction contracts were awarded to Top Notch Builders or entities linked to Mr Gardiner.

“I believe that, given the nexus of the Government of The Bahamas and now a significant alleged narco trafficker, we ought to determine, based on our existing laws, whether this building [the Eight Mile Rock complex] has anything to do with the proceeds of crime,” the Opposition’s chairman told Tribune Business. “We ought to initiate our own investigation; we don’t need to wait.

“They should, and do so immediately. Announce it this week. As a matter of fact, I think our laws are robust enough that we can move forward with an investigation. The building ought to be placed under the equivalent of escrow or protective custody, and let the chips fall where they may. These questions, though they have not yet been validated in court, cast a serious shadow over the reputation of this country.

“As opposed to sweeping it under the rug, let us launch a proper investigation to determine if there was any complicity, if there was any suspicion at the time the contract was entered into and concluded, and go forward from there. The Government should signal a willingness to be very open to this process…. An investigation into that contract and all matters arising from it should be looked into.”

Dr Sands also urged that the lease and/or loan payments due to Top Notch Builders and its affiliate, PPP Investments & Construction Company, under the Eight Mile Rock PPP deal - which involved construction of the Obadiah H. Wilchcombe government complex, named after the late MP and minister of tourism - not be paid but instead placed into escrow until a probe is completed.

“This is a very depressing day for our country,” he said. “Whether you are partisan, hyper-partisan or not, you have to be disappointed at the level of international scrutiny that this country is receiving. It is nothing short of an absolute disgrace… Is this country going to do right by its citizens or will this government close ranks? Only time will tell. My suspicion is the welfare and interests of the country will come second.”

Mr Gardiner’s arrest, and the nature of the US authorities’ allegations against him, could scarcely have come at a worse time for the Davis administration as it begins its second term in office. The controversy threatens to overshadow its May 12 general election succcess and this week’s opening of Parliament.

Tribune Business revealed recently that the Eight Mile Rock PPP has become embroiled in a furious legal battle over accusations that the Government’s failure to make due rental payments has caused the deal to default on a $25m bond.

The bust-up emerged due to Leno Corporate Services, the Bahamian financial services provider that structured and issued the bond, launching Supreme Court legal action against both PPP Investments & Construction Company, the private sector partner that built the Grand Bahama property, and the Ministry of Finance following the former’s failure to meet its repayment obligations. 

PPP Investments & Construction Company, which has “admitted to the majority” of Leno’s accusations and is only disputing the amount owed, has now joined the financial services provider in blaming the bond default on “the Ministry of Finance’s failure to pay” it the rent due on the administrative complex.

The financial mess is detailed in an April 10, 2026, Supreme Court ruling by Adrienne Bellot, its acting assistant registrar, who rejected the arguments by the Government for the Ministry of Finance and Attorney General’s Office to be removed as defendants to Leno’s action. She ruled that the financial services provider’s claim must move forward to be heard by a judge.

Besides the $25m bond, the balance of the $34m Eight Mile Rock complex’s funding - some $9m - was obtained from Sygnus Capital, the Jamaican investment and alternative financing house. However, it has now appeared in the Government’s books as a “loan” that has to be repaid by Bahamian taxpayers. Some $2.308m is due to be paid in 2025-2026, with payments of $2.094m and $1.874m due in 2026-2027 and 2027-2028, respectively.

The $25m bond default will likely have caused Leno difficulties with the investors who bought into the debt security, which is effectively an ‘IOU’ committing the borrower to make scheduled interest and principal payments to them on time. The bond offering documents asserted that the Government will pay a fixed quarterly rent of $852,224, or $3.409m per year, to PPP Investments & Construction Company throughout the duration of the initial 10-year ‘rent-to-own’ lease.

Once the debt is fully paid off, the two buildings comprising the Eight Mile Rock complex were to be conveyed to the Government for $100. The latter was to pay PPP Investments & Construction Company a $535,000 'handover fee' once construction of the complex was completed. It opened in 2023.

The first building was to be 33,000 square feet, and feature three floors to be used as a Government administrative building to house NIB (National Insurance Board) and other local government-related offices. Building 'B' was to be 13,000 square feet with two floors to be used as a court house, a police station and a fire station.

Among the prospective tenants were the Ministry of Finance, Passport Office, Department of Environmental Health, Urban Renewal, the Registrar General's Office and the Grand Bahama island administrator.

This newspaper’s archives show that the Minnis administration allowed the Eight Mile Rock project to proceed despite clear misgivings over the last-minute deal it had inherited from its Christie predecessor. Desmond Bannister, former deputy prime minister and minister of works, had described a $4.4m 'advance interest payment' to PPP Investments & Construction for 'initial funding construction’ as "inconceivable".

PPPs are typically designed to reduce the financial stress on cash-strapped governments by contracting the private sector to provide the funding, development and expertise to construct much-needed infrastructure or run public services.

The Government’s cash flow pressures are eased by requiring the private sector to finance the up-front capital costs, with the latter earning a return on investment - and paying back any lender - from the revenue streams generated by infrastructure assets they develop or services provided.

The Free National Movement (FNM) has previously argued, though, that several projects touted by the Davis administration as PPPs do not fit this model or meet this criteria and, in reality, are off-the-books loans designed to keep debt off the Government’s balance sheet and prevent it from adding to the annual deficit and $12bn-plus national debt.