The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A Bahamas-based women's rights advocacy group has been added as a "respondent" in a legal battle over $1.5m alleged to have been derived from an international fraud.

The Court of Appeal, in a unanimous ruling yesterday, agreed that Celebrating Women International Ltd should be joined to a case that also involves flamboyant "philanthropist", Rudolph Kermit King, and an investigation by the US Justice Department.

Mr King has been seeking to remove a restraining Order that froze some $1.511m held by a Bahamian law firm in its client account. The restraining Order was obtained by the Attorney General's Office, acting at the behest of the US attorney for Washington state's western district, as part of a probe into a scheme that defrauded Boeing, the giant aircraft and defence manufacturer.

The philanthropist and his attorney, Damian Gomez QC, the former minister of state for legal affairs, succeeded in persuading Supreme Court justice, Cheryl Grant-Thompson, to discharge the freezing order - an action the Attorney General's Office is now appealing.

However, appeal justice Milton Evans, yesterday ruled "that there can be no effective and complete determination" of the case without Celebrating Women International being added as a "respondent" because it was said to be the beneficial owner of the $1.511m held in the Monique V.A. Gomez & Company law firm's client account.

Mr Gomez argued that the Attorney General's Office had applied to add Celebrating Women International some 14 months beyond the cut-off point for doing so, and was therefore "out of time" due to an "inordinate and inexcusable delay" that would prejudice the other side.

But appeal justice Evans, finding that Celebrating Women International had "featured inextricably in the evidence, the documents, the considerations and the findings" in the Supreme Court proceedings, added that it had "the greatest interest in the matters before the court" as the purported beneficial owner of the disputed funds.

And, given that the Bahamian court proceedings had been sparked by a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) request from the US Justice Department, he said: "This is not a trivial matter. This case has implications for our treaty relations with another country, which has made a request for assistance. The issues raised must be properly adjudicated upon...."

Appeal justice Evans also found that Mr King "is not, as far as we can ascertain, a principal" of Celebrating Women International. Indeed, the latter's website does not identify who its principals and management are, instead describing itself as "a group of women's advocates in The Bahamas, United States and Canada that supports women's rights".

The contact numbers for Celebrating Women International just rang out yesterday when called by Tribune Business, and there is nothing to suggest its senior management, owners, sponsors or backers have done anything wrong in relation to the case before the Bahamian courts.

The website contains numerous photographs featuring Patricia Minnis, the Prime Minister's wife, and then-governor general Lady Pindling, along with other members of Nassau high society at various dinners and award ceremonies.

And one photograph on its home page, of a book signing at Government House involving Princess Michael of Kent, from the UK, appears to capture Mr King standing directly behind Lady Pindling. Tribune Business contacts who know Mr King confirmed his identity from the picture, although that does not necessarily prove a connection between him and Celebrity Women International.

The website also lists a corporate 'who's who' as Celebrity Women International's "sponsors". They range from the National Insurance Board (NIB) and Public Hospitals Authority (PHA) to the likes of Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), the Grand Bahama Port Authority, the aliv mobile operator and Sun Oil (FOCOL Holdings).

Celebrity Women International, which said it was founded in 2013, described itself to The Tribune one year later as a non-profit organisation which aims to “mobilise and inspire women across the globe, to honour, recognise and celebrate the contributions of women, leveraging their untapped leadership capabilities in order for them to thrive in the world so that they can lead productive lives”.

Its website talks of creating "a virtual Celebrating Woman Worldwide Centre and Hall of Honour starting in 2020", adding: "Celebrating Woman International will also focus on leveraging women’s untapped leadership capabilities, with a goal of not only building community across cultures, but also creating and sustaining a unique global education initiative for individuals of all walks of life."

Meanwhile, the Attorney General's Office is also seeking to overturn on appeal the October 23, 2019, ruling by Justice Grant-Thompson where she discharged the restraining order placed on funds in two Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) accounts in the names of Jonathan Reid, David Valdez-Lopez, Anthony Albert Allens, Greg Harry Smith, Celebrating Women International and CWI International.

The judge also found the freeze had breached Mr King and Celebrating Women International's constitutional rights, and awarded them damages and costs - which is the subject of the Attorney General's Office's appeal.

It is urging that the restraining order be reimposed on the $1.511m, which has now been transferred from RBC to Monique V.A. Gomez & Company's client account at CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank (Bahamas), as well as the constitutional violations be set aside.

Setting out the grounds of its appeal, the Attorney General's Office argued that no evidence had been presented to show the funds were derived from "legitimate" activities and the judge had failed to consider the removal of the freeze may "completely dissipate the funds".

It also alleged that the judge had failed to distinguish between the US MLAT request and "domestic police criminal proceedings", basing her ruling on the latter and not the pleadings before her. Justice Grant-Thompson also found "the nexus.... between the fraudulent funds in the Boeing scheme from Sun Trust Bank and the Celebrating Women International account at RBC was tenuous at best".

However, the Attorney General's Office said there was a clear paper trail showing the funds moving from the Sun Trust account in Atlanta to the RBC accounts in the name of Celebrating Women International over the 2016 New Year period.

Justice Grant-Thompson also found that the alleged fraud's perpetrator had not been identified, and that the whole affair was a fishing expedition. However, the Attorney General's Office argued the US had "provided bank statements in the name of Celebrating Women International, in whose bank account Boeing’s funds were deposited, albeit the identity of the beneficial owner was elusive".