The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

FORMER Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis called statements from US lawyers and representatives of FTX about not trusting The Bahamas “very serious”.

He made the comments yesterday while taking the government to task on what he said is the Davis administration’s inability to follow laws.

“It’s very difficult for the government to talk about crime or managing crime when they themselves are considered a lawless group. The minister of transport is being investigated for allegedly assaulting an officer.

“Then the procurement law, the procurement Bill, they have not followed the procurement Bill in terms of providing information as to who receives contracts. . .Then there’s the problem with the Electricity Act, which does not allow them to subsidise fuel.

“So when the government continuously violates the law, it sends a bad message to the community. Not only that, if you follow the FTX case liquidation, liquidators and lawyers have made statements that they don’t trust The Bahamas. That is very serious. So they don’t trust The Bahamas and they have a government that’s breaking the law and not answering to the people. So what message are they sending out?

“The nefarious characters would view that as a government who would do what they want and they’d be attracted to such a society. How can you, in good conscience, tell the people to follow the law? So you (might) have an increase in crime, etc. The government themselves don’t respect it.”

Last month, newly appointed FTX CEO John Ray III said the Chapter 11 process in Delaware is the only clear option that gives visibility to customers about what happened to the fallen crypto giant and a chance to recoup their money, as he lambasted the process in The Bahamas as not transparent.

He alleged that he has repeatedly asked for clarity from Bahamian regulators about what they have been doing, but have been “shut down”. Mr Ray made the revelation during the US House Committee on Financial Services hearing into FTX’s collapse in December.

FTX Digital Markets was headquartered in The Bahamas before FTX and its associated companies filed for bankruptcy in the United States. FTX’s former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested in December at his luxury Albany apartment after he was indicted in the US on multiple fraud charges. A week later he was extradited to the US and arraigned in a New York court. He is currently released on a $250m bond.

Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell had previously questioned how “attacking” The Bahamas helps resolve the FTX saga and dismissed claims of the country’s jurisdiction being non-transparent.

“The evidence will show that there is nothing in this jurisdiction that supports the idea of something intrinsically evil or worthy of mistrust in The Bahamas. Such an assertion is not only offensive, it is wrong,” Mr Mitchell said in a voice note.

“Watching the proceedings on television of the congressional hearings in The United States, I was forced to ask myself the question: Do these legislators understand that they who sit at the apex of the power in the world, have the power with their words to destroy other countries?”