The Tribune

By KEILE CAMPBELL 

Tribune Staff Reporter 

kcampbell@tribunemedia.net

OPPOSITION leader Michael Pintard has accused the Davis administration of contradicting itself over $700m in public borrowing after Finance Minister Michael Halkitis told Parliament the money was transferred to the National Investment Fund, while the Prime Minister’s communications director later insisted it had “nothing to do with” the fund.

Mr Pintard said the conflicting explanations underscored the need for a full accounting of the NIF as the Public Accounts Committee prepares to question public officials beginning tomorrow.

The contradiction centres on $700m in “excess borrowing” disclosed by Mr Halkitis during his May 27 Budget communication.

Mr Halkitis told Parliament that the money was “transferred to the National Investment Fund” rather than used to finance the government’s deficit.

However, Office of the Prime Minister communications director Latrae Rahming offered a markedly different explanation during an appearance last week on ILTV’s Beyond the Headlines.

“The $700 million derives from a report that has nothing to do with the National Investment Fund,” Mr Rahming said, accusing the FNM of trying to conflate two separate issues.

“The $700 million is an entirely separate issue,” he said.

Mr Pintard seized on the conflicting accounts, accusing government officials of “tripping over and contradicting each other” as scrutiny mounts over the operation and financing of the NIF.

The controversy has deepened since Central Bank Governor John Rolle confirmed that the fund’s Board of Governors had never formally convened, despite the Central Bank maintaining an account bearing the NIF’s name and transactions beginning through that account in July 2025.

Mr Halkitis sought to address the controversy in Parliament last Wednesday, saying the government relied on the Public Finance Management Act and legal advice from the Office of the Attorney General while the NIF’s governance arrangements were still being completed.

He said Parliament had authorised the government in March 2025 to borrow up to $300m and deposit the proceeds into the NIF to support infrastructure and national development.

Mr Halkitis also said $310.9m in NIF proceeds had been spent on public infrastructure and strategic national assets, including $210.6m on buildings and roads and $100.3m on aviation infrastructure.

Mr Pintard, however, said those explanations raised further questions, including how Mr Halkitis’s latest accounting relates to the roughly $700m he previously told Parliament had been transferred to the NIF.

He also questioned how Mr Halkitis could describe the fund as financing infrastructure projects while Attorney General Wayne Munroe had reportedly said the NIF was not yet operational.

“The Bahamian people do not find any of this PLP doubletalk and deception funny at all,” Mr Pintard said. “The government’s embarrassing efforts to undo their deception have only made things worse.

“It only proves,” he said, “that our now more than yearlong efforts to get answers on the NIF were more than warranted. We will not relent.”

Mr Pintard also renewed questions about who controlled the account bearing the NIF’s name, who its signatories were, who authorised and verified transactions and how the expenditure was recorded in the government’s accounts.

The National Investment Funds Act assigns responsibility for managing and governing the fund to a Board of Governors.

Mr Rolle has confirmed that the board never formally convened, while Mr Halkitis has acknowledged that several governance arrangements — including regulations, mandates, committee structures, financial reporting and audit processes — remain unfinished.

Prime Minister Philip Davis has rejected opposition allegations of wrongdoing and defended Mr Halkitis’s explanation, saying there was “nothing untoward” about the government’s handling of the money.

Mr Pintard said the FNM is continuing to obtain legal advice on possible court action but would be guided by the PAC investigation in deciding when to proceed.