The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

TRIBUNE Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

THE GOVERNMENT’S own financial watchdog has launched a probe into the near-$311m worth of spending and other transactions purportedly involving the National Investment Fund (NIF), the Opposition’s leader confirmed last night.

Michael Pintard, when contacted by Tribune Business, said he is aware that the Auditor General’s Office is initiating its own investigation that will “proceed on a parallel track” with the separate probe into the National Investment Fund controversy that is set to be undertaken by the House of Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

The Free National Movement (FNM) leader asserted that the two investigations will “complement” rather than interfere with, or cut across, each other with other sources having revealed to this newspaper earlier this week that the Auditor General’s Office was poised to make its own inquiries into all transactions - including inflows and outflows - involving hundreds of millions of dollars belonging to the Bahamian people.

Tribune Business understands that the financial watchdog has already sent letters to Simon Wilson, the Ministry of Finance’s financial secretary, and Barbara Zonicle, the treasurer, seeking the co-operation and assistance of their respective offices with an investigation seeking to examine, and reconcile, the movement of all funds into and out of accounts set-up in the National Investment Fund’s name.

It is also thought that the probe will assess whether proper controls and administrative systems were in place for oversight of these accounts, from which $310.9m is said to have been spent on airport, road, water and court complex upgrades, and if all monies have been properly accounted for and spent in accordance with relevant Bahamian laws and regulations.

Mr Pintard, when approached by this newspaper, said the Public Accounts Committee, Parliament’s spending watchdog and the only committee controlled by the Opposition, still intends to pursue its own separate National Investment Fund investigation and will not stand down because of the move by Brenda Neeley, the Auditor General.

“We have made it absolutely clear to the Ministry of Finance that we are prepared to proceed on parallel tracks to gather information,” he told Tribune Business. “We both have standing, and ought to be looking into this matter. This will complement, rather than hinder, any of us getting to the truth of this matter of the National Investment Fund, and whether proper process has been followed.

“We will continue our investigation, and we’re happy to learn that the Auditor General has indicated that they have now formally initiated procedures relative to investigating the National Investment Fund.” The Fund is The Bahamas’ equivalent of a sovereign wealth fund, which is a financial vehicle created to assemble and mobilise cash and other assets, then invest them to earn a return and generate wealth for the benefit of all Bahamian citizens.

The key concern is that spending and transactions occurred from an account bearing the National Investment Fund’s name even though John Rolle, the Central Bank’s governor who was appointed as one of its directors in August 2025, confirmed it was never properly set-up or put into operation because the Board did not convene or meet. The Fund’s governing 2022 law stipulates that only the Board can establish bank accounts on the Fund’s behalf.

Besides the governance concerns, the Opposition and others are charging that the National Investment Fund was used by the Davis administration to launch a pre-election spending spree that could be kept off the Government’s balance sheet and accounting records, thus preventing this from blowing its revised $32.7m Budget surplus target for the 2025-2026 fiscal year and adding to The Bahamas’ $13bn-plus national debt.

Total public and taxpayer money placed into the Fund could be higher than $900m. Michael Halkitis, minister of finance, in the 2026-2027 Budget communication said the Government had transferred net or “excess borrowing receipts” worth $700m to the Fund during the 2025-2026 fiscal year. He signalled it has retained these proceeds as cash, and not used them to cover its bills and expenses, which would prevent them from impacting the deficit/surplus position.

This might explain how The Bahamas’ national debt increased by $1bn during the 2025-2026 Budget period but did not appear to show up in the deficit, which was just $121.2m for the ten months to end-April 2026. However, besides the $700m, the Davis administration had also previously placed the $265.5m net proceeds from the $1.067bn bond into the National Investment Fund during the 2024-2025 fiscal period.

Tribune Business revelations that most of that $265.5m had been removed from the Fund, leaving just a balance of $200,000 at end-March 2026, sparked the increased scrutiny that ultimately led to Mr Rolle’s disclosures about the Board not being convened, and the governance and operational consequences of this. However, given that Mr Halkitis said some $310.9m has been invested or spent, it is unclear how much cash remains with the Fund and accounts linked to it.

Based on Mr Halkitis’s reference to $700m in the Budget debate, this could mean close to $390m in cash savings and other forms of investments have been retained by the Fund. Yet, combining that $700m with the initial $265.5m injection to give $965.5m, that could signal more than $650m has been retained by the Fund.

This sparked Gowon Bowe, Fidelity Bank (Bahamas) chief executive, and others to call for a full independent audit of the National Investment Fund to ensure there is a true reconciliation of all fund movements in and out of its accounts, and a full picture of its financial position obtained, to prevent the controversy becoming more than just governance deficiencies.

Mr Halkitis last month rejected Opposition charges and concerns from others by reiterating the Government had stayed within “the exercise of the law” in relation to the Fund and how its monies and other assets have been managed over the past year-and-a-half.

While acknowledging the governance deficiencies, the minister signalled that the Government had acted in accordance with legal advice from the Attorney General’s Office that - until the National Investment Funds Act 2022 becomes fully activated - the Fund is governed by the Public Finance Management Act, and thus comes under the oversight and control of the Ministry of Finance and Public Treasury.

Mr Halkitis said the Government is now working to make the Fund fully operational by completing “all the administrative procedures”, including the regulations governing its workings and appointment of an investment committee, “definitely before the end of the year” as he pledged: “We are going to put this behind us.”

Speaking in the House of Assembly, he disclosed that $310.9m has been taken from the Fund to-date for investment in infrastructure projects, improving public services and upgrading court facilities throughout The Bahamas. Asserting that this outlay will only benefit the Bahamian people, Mr Halkitis said two-thirds of this sum - $210.6m - has been invested in road and building improvements, plus water system upgrades.

The remaining $100.3m, he added, was allocated to airport development projects including in Cat Island, San Salvador, Exuma and Long Island. Tribune Business understands that the court complex referred to is the demolition of the Rodney Bain building in downtown Nassau and its eventual replacement by a new court complex.

“In our view we were authorised by the resolution of Parliament on March 10, 2025, which allowed us to raise some money and, if you read the resolution, it said specifically for infrastructure and development,” Mr Halkitis said. “And so, it means that we were within the law, the exercise of the law. They [the Opposition] have a different opinion.

“We recognise that there are some administrative things that need to be completed and we are going to complete them,” he added, “so we look forward to answering all the questions so the public have all the benefits of it.

“We did say in the statement that, in the absence of completion of all the administrative procedures, the Ministry of Finance within its powers under the Public Finance Management Act was acting.” Asked when the process of operationalising the Fund will be completed, Mr Halkitis replied: “We are looking to do it as soon as possible; definitely before the end of the year.”