The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

TribuneBusinessEditor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

ATTORNEYS for Baha Mar’s main contractor dismissed claims that $2.4m paid to a company run by the son of Perry Christie’s senior adviser represented “a bribe or conspiracy” to influence the then-government.

John Burlingame, the US lawyer for China Construction America (CCA) Bahamas and its affiliates, repeatedly told the New York State Supreme Court during a May 2023 hearing there was “no evidence” to back the “very, very serious” allegations over payments his client made to Notarc Management Group when the dispute with Baha Mar’s original developer was at its peak.

Attorneys acting for Sarkis Izmirlian, earlier in the proceedings, claimed the Chinese state-owned contractor had “funnelled millions” to Notarc, whose chief executive is Leslie Bethel, in a bid to “curry favour” with his father, Sir Baltron Bethel. The latter

was then-prime minister Christie’s senior policy advisor and one of the key government officials deal- ing with the Baha Mar shutdown and efforts to restart the project.

Both Sir Baltron and his son vehemently denied to Tribune Business when the claims first emerged that CCA’s payments to Notarc Management Group influenced the former’s stance towards the dispute and its participants, or his advice to the Government and its actions. Indeed, the former said he acted “with complete integrity and objectivity” on the Government’s behalf in helping to resolve the Baha Mar controversy.

However, the allegations resurfaced and took centre stage at last May’s court hearing, the transcript for which has only just been made public after it was filed with the New York court last week. Following that hearing, Judge Andrew Borrok ruled “it is now clear” that CCA and its affiliates sabotaged Baha Mar’s completion and orchestrated the developer’s removal.

Jacob Buchdahl, one of the US attorneys representing Mr Izmirlian, struck early by asserting that the payments to Notarc took place between December 2014 and January 2016 - the period when the Baha Mar dispute was at its peak, and the original developer ultimately removed from the project.

“We now know going back to late 2014, and extending all the way to 2015, defendants were funnelling hundreds of thousands of dollars, total- ling in the millions, to a company called Notarc that was run by the son of Sir Baltron Bethel, a prominent Bahamian gov- ernment official, in order to curry his favour and get their preferred outcome in the project,” Mr Buchdahl alleged.

This, though, was subjected to serious attack by Mr Burlingame when he later argued CCA’s case before Judge Borrok. “There was reference made earlier this morn- ing to bribery; bribery of the Bahamian officials. A very, very serious charge, your Honour. There is no evidence that Bahamian government officials were bribed in this case,” he blasted.

“What they point to is the fact that the general con- tractor, CCA Bahamas, had a consulting agreement with a company called Notarc. And that they say that the son, who is at Notarc, was the son of a former advisor to the president [prime minister] of The Bahamas.

“So the fact that we engaged Notarc to assist CCA Bahamas in expanding its Latin America footprint, primarily in Panama, but not limited to Panama, that that somehow constitutes a bribe that affected this project.”

Mr Burlingame, on CCA’s behalf, argued that the Christie administration was fully justified in resisting and opposing Mr Izmirlian’s bid to place the multi-billion Baha Mar project into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware because, as a Bahamas-based project with locally-domiciled assets, its restructuring should take place in this nation.

“There’s no evidence of a bribe or conspiracy through Notarc to persuade the Government of the Bahamas to take the actions it did in resisting the surreptitious - or the claim that the filing of the Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware....,” CCA’s attorney argued.

“The Bahamian government justifiably said: ‘Wait a second, this is a Bahamian project crucial to the economy of The Bahamas. If there’s going to be any judicial bankruptcy proceedings they need to happen here in The Bahamas.

“Now, did the general contractor support that effort? Sure. Did it echo that position in the Chapter 11 Delaware proceedings? Of course it did. And what happened? The Delaware judge, the Delaware bankruptcy judge, agreed. There is no evidence of bribery there.”

Details of the payments to Notarc Management Group were first revealed in a report commissioned by Mr Izmirlian and his BML Properties vehicle. It revealed the Notarc payments were made between December 2014 and January 2016.

This was a 14-month period that covered the growing dispute between Mr Izmirlian and CCA that resulted in Baha Mar’s

missed March 27, 2015, construction completion deadline, the subsequent Chapter 11 filing and court battle, and the original developer’s ouster.

Sir Baltron, when contacted by Tribune Business in early November 2022 after the Notarc payments first emerged, denied that they represented any form of financial impropriety, undue influence or conflict of interest.

“I would have had no relationship with Notarc,” he told Tribune Business. “I dealt simply with the facts [on Baha Mar] and certainly was not aware of any dealings with Notarc. I had no interaction with Notarc at that time. I don’t see the connection at all. I certainly did everything with complete integrity and objectivity in that matter... I had no relationship with Notarc at that time, and certainly not in this jurisdiction and elsewhere.”

His son, Leslie, added: “You have clearly articulated what the commercial relationship was or is or had been with CCA. It was for services unrelated to Baha Mar; it was for services related to activities we remain engaged in down in Latin America. The agreement between Notarc, our Latin American division and CCA was for commercial matters unrelated to Baha Mar. It’s that simple. There’s nothing further to comment on.”

However, Judge Borrok gave CCA’s attorneys a grilling over their attempt to explain away a July 6, 2015, e-mail in which CCA executives “suggested that the defendant contractor should work together with the Bahamian government and the lender, the China Export-Import Bank, in order to collude and force” Mr Izmirlian out.

That e-mail, sent to CCA executives Tiger Wu and Dawei Wang, as well as the contractor’s ultimate boss Ning Yuan said: “We should take advantage of the Bahamas government. If the Government, Export- Import Bank of China and CCA join forces, we can turn passive into active.”

This was interpreted by Mr Izmirlian and his legal team as evidence of CCA’s desire to oust Baha Mar’s original developer at any price, but Mr Burlingame sought to explain it away as his client discussing how they ought to respond to the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.

Judge Borrok asked what turning “passive into active” meant, lead- ing CCA’s attorney to say it was “how are we going to respond to the Chapter 11 filing”. An unimpressed judge replied: “That is not what it means. That means how will we take advantage so as to change our position on the project? That is what it says....

“It means how will we take a look at this and how will we take advantage of that by working with the Government. That is what it says.” Mr Burlingame replied that this was no different to what Mr Izmirlian and Baha Mar had done by launching the Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection proceedings.

Other e-mails from the same thread, never previously revealed before, saw one CCA executive write: “I learned some side news from the Government yesterday. It seems that he is considering replacing the owner and then possibly adopting the PPP (private- public partnership) form. It’s best to find out more when we meet with the advisor to the Prime Minister today.”

It is unclear whether the “he” referred to is Mr Christie and the advisor, Sir Baltron. Another CCA executive wrote: “I heard the same rumours. The key is the attitude of the Export-Import Bank of China. The Government is in a hurry now. The good development is that the local public opinion agrees that Sarkis has problems. Filing Chapter 11 is an invasion of the debt.”