Fred Mitchell gives his Emancipation Day speech. Photo: Peter Ramsay
By NICO SCAVELLA
Tribune Staff Reporter
nscavella@tribunemedia.net
FOREIGN Affairs and Immigration Minister Fred Mitchell yesterday blasted Baha Mar CEO Sarkis Izmirlian for recently suggesting that he and the government were “fighting” over the $3.5b Cable Beach property.
He said that the Baha Mar CEO is not in the same league as Prime Minister Perry Christie to suggest he is fighting with the government over the resort.
Mr Mitchell also dismissed Mr Izmirlian for blasting the government’s decision not to pay the resort’s foreign workers their salaries on payday last week. Mr Mitchell said the payment of the resort’s expatriate employees is “not our issue, that’s his issue.”
The Fox Hill MP also defended his decision to remind Mr Izmirlian that his permanent residency status could be revoked, maintaining that Mr Izmirlian “has a problem knowing how to conduct himself in this country.”
Further dismissing the Free National Movement’s recent criticisms of his statements as “laughable,” Mr Mitchell also called for the FNM to either side with the people of the Bahamas or Mr Izmirlian.
His statements came during his contribution to the House of Assembly’s debate on a resolution to increase minimum wage. At one point during his speech, Mr Mitchell broke out into song; singing lines from the popular Bob Marley tune “Redemption Song.”
Earlier this week Mr Mitchell cautioned the resort CEO “to consider making the appropriate steps to live elsewhere” if he cannot conform with the expected conduct of “economic guests.” Mr Mitchell also chastised Mr Izmirlian’s recent “attack” on Mr Christie.
And last week, while speaking at the United Nations, Mr Mitchell declared that there was an “existential” threat to the governance of the country due to the deliberate and improper political interference of a “single investor”.
Criticised
His statements were criticised by the FNM’s Deputy Leader Peter Turnquest as well as Shadow Immigration Minister Hubert Chipman, who said Mr Mitchell’s “belligerent language” has harmed this country’s reputation.
Yesterday, however, Mr Mitchell dubbed their statements as being the “language of slavery.”
“The fact is this is a commercial dispute of an investor who is in our country, and that man has filed an action in the courts of the US which would have allowed him to walk away from the debts in this country that he legitimately owes. The Bahamas government would have been abdicating its responsibility to the Bahamian people if it had not intervened to do what is done.
“There are also certain rules and regulations and norms which an economic guest has to abide by, and he has to stand by it. Now the FNM has to decide whether they stand up for the people of the Bahamas, or whether they’re with someone who is acting against the interest of the Bahamas. It’s as simple as that.”
On Tuesday, in a memo sent to Baha Mar employees, Mr Izmirlian said in his 13 years working on the Baha Mar project, he “never imagined” he would be “fighting” with the government over the $3.5b property.
Lamenting that the project has “now been usurped for political reasons,” Mr Izmirlian also hit out at the government’s “deplorable” decision not to pay the resort’s foreign workers their salaries on payday last week.
However, Mr Mitchell said the “fight is only in his imagination.”
“I say it in another context: he and Perry Christie are not company, and he should get that in his mind,” he said.
Last week it was announced that the government was not going to pay Baha Mar’s expatriate workers their salaries, although it has paid the property’s Bahamian workers for three pay periods since the resort filed for bankruptcy on June 29. Bahamian employees are paid bi-weekly while expat workers are paid monthly.
Payments
Regarding Mr Izmirlian’s subsequent criticism of the government’s decision, Mr Mitchell said: “The payments were made to the staff. What he does with the people who are not Bahamians, that’s not our issue, that’s his issue.”
He added: “And remember that he owes the debt to the employees. The government only agreed for a limited period to provide him with the liquidity, because he is unable to pay his debts.”
Baha Mar had received the green light from a US judge to access debtor in possession financing to pay staff while it was undergoing bankruptcy. However, this order had to be approved by the Supreme Court of the Bahamas. The application was denied in this jurisdiction, but Baha Mar has been granted leave to appeal.
On Friday, the Supreme Court adjourned a hearing into the government’s winding up petition against the resort until August 19.
Comments
proudloudandfnm 9 years, 4 months ago
No one is in the same league as Perry. No one can be that bad at everything......
Perry is the worst.....
Fred pullin a hard second....
concernedcitizen 9 years, 4 months ago
They are trying to smear Sarkis ,,he has so much dirt on them ,,who wanted what to approve the original deal and which ones had their hands out sucking up the money during the building
B_I_D___ 9 years, 4 months ago
League of Idiots? Wouldn't want to be grouped in that same league either...
CommonSense 9 years, 4 months ago
Fred is a complete and utter IDIOT. His party seems to be irrationally divided on this issue. He needs to speak to Brave Davis and understand why exactly the government is paying Baha Mar because he is making it seem as though this is a favor that the government is doing. The thing is, the government is using monies owed to Baha Mar to pay their employees. There is no logical reason as to why the Expats were not made. This is not money from the Treasury as Brave confirmed:
DEPUTY Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis yesterday confirmed that the Christie administration will continue to pay Bahamian employees at Baha Mar until the $21m owed to the mega resort by the government for roadwork is exhausted. Mr Davis said it was a “misconception” that the government had paid the resort’s more than 2,000 Bahamian workers from the Public Treasury, adding that the funds were deducted from the sum meant to cover the government’s portion of costs for roadwork associated with the development of the resort. “The premise that the government is paying them (Baha Mar workers) is a misconception,” Mr Davis said. “The government had agreed to advance the roadwork payments to him (Mr Izmirlian) and we did not do that. Hence we are making payments to his staff, and we will continue to pay.”
TalRussell 9 years, 4 months ago
Comrade DPM "Brave" i don't think you can take monies owing to a corporation in Chapter 11 Bankruptcy to pay monies owing to unsecured creditors ahead of secured creditors, of which one being the Bahamas government 's outstanding Cable Beach lands which by Baha Mar's inability to fulfill its completion obligations, must surrender said lands back to the government?
asiseeit 9 years, 4 months ago
Who in their right mind would want to be in the same league as any PLP politician? Who would want to tarnish and lower themselves to the level of pond scum? The government of The Bahamas is the single most destructive force in The Bahamas, bar none!
Kiley 9 years, 4 months ago
Until the people who was fool enough to vote for these idiots wake up and admit that they sold there country out for foolish a promise that they knew could not happen demand that we get rid off all these crooks we are in for a long hard ride.
Well_mudda_take_sic 9 years, 4 months ago
Mitchell has clearly had something very painful shoved up his _ _ _ that he's not accustomed to. One would think he would be quite accustomed to having just about anything shoved up his _ _ _! Notwithstanding his anger management issues, most of us haven't seen him get this excited in public in a long time.
Chucky 9 years, 4 months ago
I'm gonna go out on a limb and suggest we as a nation must be on the verge of financial ruin, bankruptcy or something; what else could drive such nonsensical attacks against and investor?
We must need this online now, and without it we can't make our debt payments? Why else would they attack an investor, as if we drive one investor of this caliber away, we will never get another one.
One thing our political fools are not considering is how well the worlds elite stick together. Izmerilain can lead a charge to crush our nation if we're not careful!
I'm not even gonna mention or suggest what it's possible for him to do or have done to the leader themselves..............I'm sure many people are worrying about this!
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