The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Coalition to Protect Clifton Bay has warned the Prime Minister it will launch Judicial Review proceedings in the Supreme Court if the Government fails to respond by Friday to its concerns over construction activity at Nygard Cay, its attorney warning: “The rule of law is at stake.”

Fred Smith, QC, the Callenders & Co attorney and partner, in a May 8, 2013, letter to Mr Christie, said the newly-formed Coalition was giving the Government until 4pm Friday to state what it was doing about continued construction activity at the Lyford Cay home of Canadian fashion mogul, Peter Nygard.

“If..... we have not received confirmation of your intention to take appropriate action or sufficient reasons for your decision not to take any action, we are instructed to proceed thereafter by applying for Judicial Review of your decision not to take any action,” Mr Smith warned.

In particular, Mr Smith said the Coalition wanted Mr Christie to explain why the Government had not taken action to force Mr Nygard to “cease construction” and restore Simms Cay to its “original use and condition”.

He noted in his letter to Mr Christie, which was copied to numerous other Cabinet ministers and agencies, that the Canadian billionaire had been ordered by the Prime Minister’s permanent secretary in July 2010 to cease his reclamation of the seabed (Crown Land), remove all structures he had built and return the coastline to its 1984 boundary.

While Mr Nygard had promised to comply, he had yet to do so, and construction work, according to the Coalition, has continued. The fashion mogul is claiming that the almost-doubling in size of the acreage he occupies has come from natural accretion, something the Coalition disputes.

Speaking to Tribune Business yesterday, Mr Smith said the Coalition was both frustrated and concerned that none of the Government agencies it had contacted on the matter in late March had responded to it.

“The Coalition is anxious about Mr Nygard’s continued construction at Simms Cay,” Mr Smith said. “We have written in a very responsible and mature fashion to all the Government agencies, who have immaturely and insecurely failed to respond to us.

“This is unacceptable in a democratic society, and we have been forced to write to each of these agencies once again to demand a response.

“We do not wish to litigate, but if we are ignored we will be forced to bring Judicial Review proceedings against all of the relevant government agencies who have public duties and responsibilities to the Bahamian public.

“I would like to know why no government agency has responded to a QC and officer of the court making ordinary inquiries on behalf of a non-governmental organisation that is simply committed to protecting the Bahamian patrimony.”

The Coalition has been trying to confirm whether Mr Nygard is in breach of the Planning and Subdivisions Act, Building Regulation Act and Coast Protection Act, and whether he has all the necessary permits and approvals for the construction activity.

Their concerns have been further exacerbated by indications that the Christie administration is considering a Crown Land grant to Mr Nygard, which potentially would legitimise his reclamation and land expansion project after the fact.

“Mr Nygard is not a law unto himself,” Mr Smith told Tribune Business yesterday. 
“What’s at stake here is unregulated development by a non-Bahamian that affects our marine and land resources at Clifton Bay.

“The rule of law is at stake. Can a person simply ignore directives by the Government to, firstly, stop construction, and secondly remove all structures built without permits. Who is in charge? The Government of the Bahamas or Peter Nygard?”

Mr Smith added that government officials had informed him there were no permits for the work currently being performed at Nygard Cay/Simms Point.

He said: “I hope the Government isn’t doing what they did in Abaco with the BEC Wilson City Power Plant case by secretly rushing permit applications through, approving them and presenting them as a done deal to the public.

“I have seen papers in which he [Mr Nygard] has applied for, and the Government is considering, leases of the seabed and grants of Crown Land to him.

“It is audacious of him to think that he can conduct himself like this and then get a seal of approval after the fact.”