The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Trustees for the City Markets’ employee pension fund were yesterday urged to properly secure the defunct supermarket chain’s former headquarters and warehouse, amid claims that the buildings were being “vandalised” and asset stripped.

Whanslaw Turnquest, the company’s former chief inventory control officer and now leading employee spokesperson, said other ex-staff members had filmed persons entering the property and “retrieving or trespassing” in taking away fixtures and other items.

The former head office and warehouse are the main assets for the Bahamas Supermarkets Profit Sharing Retirement Trust, and any vandalism and asset-stripping will only depreciate their value further - meaning the pension fund, and its employee beneficiaries, will recover a smaller amount when it is sold.

Urging the trustees, Connie Rolle and Christine Turnquest-Knowles, to ensure the property had adequate insurance and security, Mr Turnquest said: “There’s reports that all the copper wiring is missing and that the building has been vandalised completely.

“All the AC units, all the copper wire is gone. It is a mess. The building has been vandalised, and we are holding the trustees responsible for all the damage to the building.

“They should be securing the building 24/7, they should be insuring it for market value. The trustees have a fiduciary responsibility to ensure the upkeep of the building to its full market value.”

The former City Markets head office and warehouse have been valued, via various realtors’ appraisals, at anywhere between $4.5-$9.9 million. After wholesaler Lightbourn Trading withdrew, the Government via the National Insurance Board (NIB) emerged as potential purchasers, but in an ‘off again, on again’ saga it appears even that interest has cooled again.

Mr Turnquest, meanwhile, called on Bishop Simeon Hall to “back away” from the City Markets pension fund situation, arguing that he was “not in a position” to advise former employees on whether they should consent to the transfer of their assets from the existing structure to a limited liability company, the Bahamas Supermarkets Retirement Plan Ltd.

Employees are being offered shares in that company equivalent to the pension sum they are vested in under the existing trust, and Bishop Hall confirmed on Sunday he was acting as an ‘overseer’ of that process, having spent every day last week with the pension fund’s administrators.

Bishop Hall had praised the asset transfer and share certificate plan involving the new company. “It’s obvious that some wrong has taken place with this myriad of problems,” he said of the pension fund, but I am very impressed with this new Board of Trustees that are attempting to shed some light on a dark situation.

“I would encourage all former employees to make good on this situation. I think they [the trustees] will make good on those certificates once the building is sold. They have asked the Government to purchase that building, and if the Government did, they will take that cash and turn it over to the former employees.”

But Mr Turnquest yesterday said he was “imploring Bishop Simeon Hall to refrain from any further action”.

“His activities are not in the best interests of employees and pensioners of Bahamas Supermarkets,” he told Tribune Business. “I feel he is doing a disservice, as he is not aware of all the financial dealings of the trustees in the past 10-plus years.

“He is not in any position to advise the employees as to their rights, privileges and what is best for them at this time.”

Mr Turnquest reiterated his position that it was best for City Markets pension beneficiaries to “remain under the protection” offered by the existing trust deed, rather than exchange this for shares in a company, “until all the assets have been sold, liquidated or redeemed for their benefit”.

He alleged that “100 per cent” of former City Markets employees in Freeport had refused to agree to the transfer, but admitted that “40 per cent of Nassau employees signed on to this new company”.

Mr Turnquest said some of those had since approached him to “retract” their decision, and he was awaiting the relevant documents to see what they had signed up to.

He added that the legal fees some employees were being charged were also being reassessed by the attorneys involved.