The Tribune

BY NEIL HARTNELL

TRIBUNE Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A TRUSTEE has pledged to investigate complaints by Bahamian parents over how $20m intended to fund their children’s higher education was used to finance the Government affordable housing project being built by a contractor linked to an accused drug trafficker.

Tribune Business can reveal that Butterfield Trust (Bermuda), which serves as trustee and depository for the Heritage International Scholarship Trust, has promised to rapidly conduct an inquiry and report back to aggrieved parents/investors on concerns over how their investments were used to finance the Davis administration’s flagship Carmichael Village development.

This newspaper previously revealed how Carmichael Village’s contractor, Complete Construction, is owned by Top Notch Builders, the company controlled by Jonathan ‘Eric’ Gardiner, also known as ‘Player’, who was detained by US authorities following the May 12 general election day plane crash and now faces charges in two federal courts - southern New York and northern Georgia - over alleged cocaine shipments involving thousands of kilograms.

Butterfield did not respond to this newspaper’s e-mail seeking comment before press time last night, but its investigation into Heritage’s Carmichael Village financing was confirmed by one Bahamian parent who has submitted a formal complaint to it. There is no suggestion that the Bermuda-headquartered financial provider, which has operations in The Bahamas and is in the process of acquiring CIBC’s regional commercial banking business, has done anything wrong.

Jamaine Basden, a parent/investor with investments in Heritage, told Tribune Business that Butterfield had responded to her complaint by promising an investigation and response but declined to comment further. In an August 6, 2026, e-mail to the Heritage trustee she branded the $20m Carmichael Village loan “a debacle”, and described this use of monies set aside for funding university/college education for Bahamian students as “alarming and wholly unacceptable” due to the Gardiner link.

“The Heritage International Scholarship Trust plan represents, and at all times represented, that it is a safe investment with a focus on US and Canadian investments. While no investment is risk free, this presented an opportunity for diversity for portfolios beyond local or regional control and/or influence and interest,” Ms Basden wrote.

“Recent public revelations by a local daily in The Bahamas (The Tribune) have established that the fund has been used to extend a loan of $20m to The Bahamas government and a convicted international felon currently under indictment in the US charged once again with serious criminal offences.

“The US government has made it clear that they will trace and seek forfeiture of assets in this criminal enterprise and money laundering that it facilitated. It is alarming and wholly unacceptable that the educational funds for our children would be involved in this debacle in any form.”

Ms Basden then posed a series of questions, asking how Heritage and its professional advisors determined Carmichael Village was “a proper investment” to make; what due diligence was conducted; and if they were “satisfied that the ultimate recipients of the funds were fit and proper persons to engage with”.

She also challenged whether the $20m loan met Heritage’s investment criteria, which states that investments by parents and other relatives are to be invested specifically in US and Canadian government debt securities; corporate debt instruments “with an approved credit rating”; and “guaranteed investment” certificates issued by US and Canadian financial services providers.

Affordable housing, and the promissory note underwriting the Carmichael Village loan and its repayment, appear to fall outside this criteria. Ms Basden, meanwhile, asked Heritage and its advisers what action they have taken “to mitigate the reputational risk in this case” and “to bring this loan to an end”, and also queried whether the loan funding was obtained from funds held solely for the benefit of the Bahamian students.

Butterfield is just one of several financial services providers involved with Heritage. As trustee, it is responsible for safeguarding all investor and plan assets, overseeing and keeping an eye on the investment manager, and ensuring it invests them in accordance with the rules and investment mandate. Heritage, which enjoyed $143m in total assets at end-2024, including $139m in investments, was acquired by Jamaica-based Proven Wealth in 2021.

Proven is also its investment manager, but Johann Heaven, its group president and chief executive, in e-mailed replies to Tribune Business questions yesterday signalled it had no knowledge of Mr Gardiner’s links to Carmichael Village’s construction or any involvement in the contractor’s selection as this was the responsibility of the Davis administration.

“The Foundation was not responsible for selecting, managing or supervising contractors involved in the underlying housing project. Decisions relating to project implementation and contractor engagement were matters for the borrower and the relevant governmental authorities,” he said. “Accordingly, the Foundation's assessment was directed principally at the credit and repayment risk associated with the facility rather than the operational execution of the project itself.”

Mr Heaven, who is also a Heritage director and sits on its governing Board, revealed that the $20m loan together with all due interest has now been “fully repaid” by the Government and its Carmichael Village Project Development Company special purpose vehicle (SPV), which was established to oversee the affordable housing project’s redevelopment.

“The facility has been repaid in full, together with all contractual interest, in accordance with its repayment terms. Accordingly, there is no outstanding balance currently owing under the facility,” he added. Given that Carmichael Village Project Development Company has since appeared in the Government’s quarterly debt reports, where it is shown as owing some $20.2m, it is likely some of this repayment has been financed by Bahamian taxpayers.

Mr Heaven did not directly answer whether the Carmichael Village loan was aligned with Heritage’s investment mandate, but he denied that - in making the loan - Proven had been seeking to curry favour with the Davis administration.

He also said Heritage was “unaware” of any discussions taking place over the $20m loan when Mark Golding, a Proven founder and head of Jamaica’s opposition People’s National Party (PNP), met Prime Minister Philip Davis KC while the latter was attending the 2022 CARIFTA track and field championships just prior to the deal’s signing.

“The Foundation is not aware of any discussions at the 2022 CARIFTA Championships. Additionally, Mark Golding is not involved the day-to-day operations of the plan nor the investment decision process for the Heritage plan,” Mr Heaven added.

As to the $20m loan’s origins, he said: “The Foundation was introduced to the investment opportunity through its investment manager and partners in The Bahamas in the ordinary course of reviewing several potential investments that were considered capable of generating income consistent with the plan's objectives.

“At the time the investment was approved, the Foundation and its investment manager [Proven] considered the facility to be consistent with the Foundation's objective of preserving capital as the investment involved a government-owned entity whose obligations were supported the Government of The Bahamas.

“The decision was based on an assessment of the Government of The Bahamas' credit profile, the expected risk adjusted return, the structure of the facility and its anticipated contribution to portfolio performance within the investment framework and practices of the plan.”

As for Proven potentially seeking to gain an advantage with the Davis administration, Mr Heaven replied: “No. The Foundation's decision to invest was based on its assessment of the transaction as an investment opportunity and not on any intention to obtain favour, influence or preferential treatment from the Government of The Bahamas or any public official.

“The Foundation remains committed to acting in the best interests of subscribers and to ensuring that investment decisions are made independently, prudently and in accordance with applicable fiduciary and governance standards.”

Heritage International Scholarship Trust Plan’s audited 2024 financial statements, produced by the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) accounting firm, specifically note and break out the Renaissance at Carmichael Village advance among the fund’s Bahamian dollar investments. It also shows that Heritage may have earned a 14.5 percent interest rate on the $20m loan in 2023 before this dropped to 7.1 percent the following year.

The accounts for the year to end-December 2024 describe the facility as “a senior unsecured loan - Carmichael Village Development Project” with both its amortised cost and fair value stated to be $10m. This meant the affordable housing credit facility accounted for 29.5 percent, or close to one-third, of Heritage’s $33.939m Bahamian dollar-denominated investments at year-end 2024.

Heritage’s financial statements confirm that “investments denominated in Bahamian dollars relate to interests held in the plan by Bahamian subscribers” as their contributions are restricted to investments in this nation only under the exchange control regime and a February 5, 1992, agreement with the Central Bank of The Bahamas.

What all this means is that, in effect, funds invested by Bahamians seeking to save for and finance their child’s later-life tertiary education may have been used unwittingly to help launder Mr Gardiner’s drug trafficking proceeds.

Mr Gardiner, in evidence and filings with the southern federal New York last week, confirmed Top Notch Builders is his “business” while revealing he has signatory authority over its bank accounts by producing a withdrawal slip purporting to show that $20,000 of the $30,000 found in his possession by US law enforcement came from its facility at Bank of The Bahamas’ JFK Drive branch.

And Tribune Business previously revealed that Complete Construction, the contractor constructing the Renaissance at Carmichael Village subdivision, is shown by corporate registry records as being almost 100 percent-owned by Top Notch Builders - meaning that it is the latter’s alter ego, front and alias.

Michael Coleman, the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) special agent who swore the affidavit detailing the US government’s case against Mr Gardiner, alleged that the latter’s co-conspirators as recently as September 2024 said he “was currently building government buildings” and “reportedly trying to keep his involvement below the radar of law enforcement”.

“Based on my participation in this investigation, I understand that comment to be a reference to Gardiner’s company, which has bid on and secured Bahamian government-issued construction projects,” Mr Coleman claimed. “Gardiner owns a business that Gardiner uses to, among other things, bid on Bahamian government-issued construction contracts and launder his narcotics trafficking proceeds.”

Heritage International Scholarship Trust Plan is described on its website as a “cooperative education savings plan” that pools contributions from parents, grandparents, guardians and others towards covering the cost of a child’s university and college education.

Its role was disclosed in a so-called “promissory note”, filed and recorded with the Registrar General’s Department’s deeds and documents section on August 8, 2022. This guaranteed the obligation of Carmichael Village Project Development Company, the Government special purpose vehicle (SPV) responsible for overseeing the affordable housing project, to repay the $20m advance.

Heritage International Scholarship Trust Plan, and the foundation of the same name, are clearly identified as the “lender” by the document. In it, Carmichael Village Project Development Company “unconditionally promises” to repay Heritage “the principal sum of $20m in immediately available funds” and interest on the dates set out by the schedule in an underlying credit agreement.

The latter document was not attached to the filings with the Registrar General’s Department. Payments from the affordable housing SPV were to be made to Heritage’s bank account at Royal Bank of Canada’s Bay Street branch, and the promissory note was signed by the late Antoinette Thompson, permanent secretary in the then-Ministry of Housing and Transport, who was named as Carmichael Village Project Development Company’s president and director.

The Carmichael Village promissory note was recorded on the same day Complete Construction was incorporated - August 8, 2022.