The Tribune

BY NEIL HARTNELL

TRIBUNE Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

AN EX-PRIME minister yesterday revealed he was stunned by “all this wealth” lying beneath Bahamian waters as he hit back at claims he gave Walker’s Cay’s owner the go-ahead to “violate” the country’s treasure hunting laws.

Dr Hubert Minnis signalled to Tribune Business this assertion, which arose in the recent courtroom battle between Carl Allen and the latter’s former contractor, had been taken out of context as there was an urgent need to protect and preserve artifacts from a sunken Spanish galleon estimated to have been carrying up to $1.5bn worth of valuables.

He spoke out after Mr Allen testified under oath before the North Texas chief judge that Allen Exploration, his underwater search and recovery outfit, had retrieved artifacts such as coins, gems and other valuables from the Nuestra Senora de la Maravillas wreckage field before obtaining the necessary ‘recovery permit’ from Bahamian regulatory authorities.

Mr Allen, though, denied there had been “a violation of Bahamian law”, and breach of Allen Exploration’s licence terms, as argued by attorneys for Dan Porter, principal of Florida-based Maritime Research & Recovery (MRR), a former contractor.

The millionaire owner of Walker’s Cay, the northern-most island in the Abacos chain, instead asserted he had been granted an “exception” from Bahamian law governing underwater exploration and salvaging by Dr Minnis following a meeting between himself, the former prime minister and the then-attorney general, Carl Bethel KC.

The June 26, 2026, trial transcript detailing the legal battle between Mr Allen and Mr Porter, which has been obtained by Tribune Business, reveals the Allen Exploration chief told the North Texas federal court that Dr Minnis agreed it was “a delicate situation” and “that leaving treasure on the bottom of the ocean” to be stolen by scavengers and unauthorised operators was “not a good idea”.

Dr Minnis, when contacted by this newspaper yesterday, recalled the meeting with Mr Allen and replied “no, no” when informed about the argument by Mr Porter’s attorneys that he had given the go-ahead to proceed despite Allen Exploration lacking the necessary recovery permit at that time.

Backing Mr Allen’s recollection of their encounter, Dr Minnis said he recalled being stunned by the recovered Nuestra Senora de la Maravillas artifacts presented before him and the glimpse it offered of a potential new source of national wealth from long-forgotten riches lying on the Bahamian seabed.

Judge Reed O’Connor, in his October 21, 2026, decision revealed that, over the four-period from 2020 to 2023, Allen Exploration recovered a combined $12.115m worth of artifacts and valuables from its Nuestra Senora de la Maravillas licence area.

The Government’s share of the 2020 treasure recovery was $454,487 with the division and payment completed on August 10, 2021, just before the general election that brought the Davis administration to office. This then increased to $3m for 2021 and 2022 combined, with the Government receiving a further $359,189. Its four-year total share was $3.814m

“I remember he flew in and shared them with us,” Dr Minnis told Tribune Business of the artifacts retrieved by Mr Allen’s team. “I was very, very surprised. He’s absolutely correct. I was shocked at the findings. You mean we have all this wealth?

“He wanted to display it in Grand Bahama, at a museum there, believing it would encourage tourism and everything else. “I remember the conversation. My first impression was: ‘Jesus Christ, we have all this stuff in our waters and we don’t know?” That museum is the Bahamas Maritime Museum in Freeport.

The ex-prime minister and former Killarney MP, describing Mr Allen as “honest and respectable”, and “always up-front”, said the Walker’s Cay owner had even recommended adjusting the split governing how much the Government gains from treasure hunting in this nation’s waters so that “the Bahamian people receive more”.

The split when Allen Exploration obtained its licences from the Antiquities, Monuments and Museums Corporation (AMMC), the state-owned entity that oversees all heritage and cultural activities, including underwater salavage operations, was 25/75 in favour of the explorer. The Davis administration subsequently amended the treasure proceeds split to an even 50/50 share.

“I know he’s also always been honest and respectable. He’s always been upfront,” Dr Minnis. “Carl Allen had recommended that it [the split] be adjusted so that the Government get more. He thought it was unfair. He had recommended it.

“I couldn’t make the change then. I agreed to make the change. It was his recommendation. It’s unusual for an investor and explorer to recommend that you are not getting what you should get, and recommend you take more. I have great respect for him.

“He was very honest and transparent,” the former prime minister continued. “He said our laws should be amended so that the Government and Bahamian people receive more. I remember saying that in Parliament… that Carl Allen had recommended that the Government receive more, and the Bahamian people, and that the Government were robbing themselves.

“I said that this is very honourable for an investor to point our our laws are not favourable to us. I have the greatest respect for an individual who’s investing and pointing out that we should review and make changes to our laws. That is honourable.”

The trial transcript, released last week by the North Texas court, reveals that Guy Rubin, one of the attorneys for Mr Porter, probed whether Allen Exploration had fully complied with Bahamian laws and its licence conditions. Underwater explorers first need an exploration permit to be able to search a defined licence area, but then require a recovery permit to lawfully retrieve artifacts.

Mr Rubin’s questioning of Mr Allen centred on whether he had obtained the required recovery permit, and secured from the latter an admission that Allen Exploration had not reported all artifact retrievals to the AMMC prior to receiving the necessary authorisation. Mr Allen, though, maintained that Dr Minnis, who at the time oversaw the AMMC, had given him verbal permission to proceed.

Mr Rubin initially questioned whether reports to the AMMC “are supposed to be truthful, aren't they?”. He then added: “But they weren’t always truthful were they”.

After Mr Allen said he was unsure “what you’re referring to”, Mr Rubin recalled pre-trial witness depositions which uncovered that “there were communications internal within Allen Exploration talking about how you didn't want to disclose the recovery of items, which was the truth, in reports that were these exploration-required reports. Do you remember that?”

Following an intervention by Mr Allen’s attorneys, Mr Rubin persisted: “I'm just asking you: You're aware that there was internal communication within Allen Exploration talking about how to produce reports to the AMMC that did not disclose recovery because of the risk that it posed that you would never get the recovery permit, true?”

And, after Mr Allen again said he was unfamiliar with this, Mr Rubin added: “In the first deposition, we showed you many photographs during that deposition, during the exploration period - not when a recovery permit had been issued, but prior to recovery permits - where there were many, many items that came up and were being shown with joy and glee and pride in photographs, correct?”

Mr Allen replied “yes” and, after Mr Rubin said “none of that activity was in a report on exploration to the AMMC, correct”, answered: “Not that I am aware.”

This was seized upon by Mr Rubin, acting for Mr Porter, who said: “So all the activities about recovery that violated the exploration permit were never reported to the AMMC; is that true?” Mr Allen agreed, but with a caveat, stating: “That’s true. They were reported directly to the Prime Minister [Dr Minnis].”

The Allen Exploration chief then admitted to publicly displaying artifacts before possessing the necessary recovery licence, and that this was “a violation of” the explorer’s licence terms, which mandate that no excavations occur without prior written approval. Yet Mr Allen also reiterated: “But I had permission from the Prime Minister who heads the AMMC.”

Asked whether this was a written approval, Mr Allen said Dr Minnis had only a verbal go-ahead, which Mr Rubin argued was a licence violation. “It was an exception that was allowed by the Prime Minister,” Mr Allen added. Mr Rubin insisted it was “a violation of Bahamian law, is it not”, with Mr Allen countering: “Until you get permission from the Prime Minister.”

“So you had a secret permission from the Prime Minister, and then you had another secret internal to Allen Exploration between you and Mr [Preston] Paine and that was it, right?” Mr Rubin asked.

“And meanwhile, there's conversation at Allen Exploration about creating these summary reports to the AMMC and talking about how not to alert them that recoveries had been made even though you received this secret permission from the Prime Minister, correct?”

Mr Allen replied: “That’s correct. When I talked to the Prime Minister, he said it was a delicate situation. He agreed with me that leaving treasure on the bottom of the ocean was not a good idea and that I was to keep them in my possession until the completion of the conservatory museum.”

The Walker’s Cay owner later expanded on his meeting with Dr Minnis under questioning from his own attorney, Robert Sayles. Mr Allen recalled how he had known the ex-Killarney MP for three years before the latter became prime minister, placing the timeline in 2014, and how he had entertained the latter on his private yacht.

“So I had known the Prime Minister three years prior to him becoming prime minister. We had talked about treasure, and we actually were on the West End together on my yacht. I kidded with him about how much treasure was out there, and he had trouble believing me,” Mr Allen said of Dr Minnis.

Judge O’Connor, following an intervention from Mr Porter’s attorneys, asked: “What is this? So he has the Prime Minister on the yacht and they’re driving around, and your client is talking about all the gold that’s in the sea?”

Mr Sayles, though, explained that the relevant meeting occurred when Mr Allen went to see Dr Minnis, and not on the yacht, and inform him that he has found “your country’s fortune is at the bottom”.

Resuming his testimony, Mr Allen added: “It took three years to get the licence, even after he was Prime Minister. We had no idea that we were gonna have such quick success. I just did not know that we were going to find these objects as quick as we did. So I immediately took some evidence of that, flew to meet with the Prime Minister, his secretary, and the Attorney General.

“We had sat in his office, and I watched his eyes bugger up. He was pretty amazed that we had such early success, and he knew that we had just an exploration licence. I remember him vividly saying: ‘You need to keep them in your possession until your museum and conservation is done’, which we did. And the Government received their share of those items when we did the division.”

Mr Allen said the Government received a share of the first 150 coins recovered by Allen Exploration from the sunken Spanish galleon and its licence area covering 6,000 square miles across “almost the whole northern Bahamas”.

“I mean, there's no question in my mind that, if I hadn't bought Walker's Cay and become a permanent resident, a non-tourist, that two prime ministers have described me as, that I would have never had a chance at retaining, you know, the primary licence,” he added.

Mr Allen also admitted to concerns about the impact the election of Prime Minister Philip Davis KC to office would have on his activities given that the July 2019 exploration licence, and subsequent July 2020 recovery licence, were both awarded under the former Minnis-led FNM administration. These fears proved unfounded, although Allen Exploration’s licence area was sharply cut.

“We weren't sure what was going to happen, but I was welcomed by the new Prime Minister to come to inauguration,” he added of Mr Davis. “He was very happy with what we've done philanthropy-wise, and the island and the salvage effort, and he asked me to continue.

“Although, he said to me, ‘Mr Allen, we're going to have to shrink your permit size’. We did get to pick where we wanted to be, but it went from about 6,000 square miles down to about 250 square miles.”