Minnis: Come clean on any Baha Mar deals

FNM leader Dr Hubert Minnis.

As of Wednesday, August 12, 2015

By SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

FNM Leader Dr Hubert Minnis yesterday urged Prime Minister Perry Christie and Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson to “come clean” and reveal if there are any other Cabinet ministers, members of Parliament or their family members who have contracts with Baha Mar.

Speaking with The Tribune, Dr Minnis also accused the government, more specifically, Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Chairman Bradley Roberts, of attempting to malign his character with false accusations of conflict of interest.

Dr Minnis was responding to a statement released by Mr Roberts on Monday that questioned whether Dr Minnis, when he was minister of health, benefited financially from the Public Hospital Authority (PHA) entering into a lease agreement involving the use of the Stat Care building – in which Dr Minnis had invested.

In the statement, Mr Roberts said Dr Minnis must confirm or deny this and state whether he benefited financially from the arrangement and “abused” his office.

Yesterday, Dr Minnis denied a conflict of interest and said the contract with Stat Care was signed before he entered politics.

“Bradley Roberts is trying to malign my character and my honour and my integrity. He is a relic of the past and remains in the past. I am thinking forward about how we can build a better Bahamas,” Dr Minnis said.

“He can rest assured that I am not a member of the ‘all for me, baby’ crew. The contract with Stat Care, which I have shares in, was signed with the PLP in 2005. I did not enter politics until 2007. This entire thing is a deflection from what is happening with the attorney general.”

Questions

Dr Minnis also said there are a few important questions that need to be answered by Mr Christie and the attorney general.

“She went to those negotiations knowing that her kids and her husband had stores in Baha Mar and she said those stores were losing money,” the Killarney MP said.

“That is an overt conflict of interest. Is she representing herself or the Bahamian people? Ask her, does her brother have a company who had contracts with Baha Mar? Is he an owner of this company or a shareholder? And how much is this contract worth?” Dr Minnis asked.

“They also need to answer if there are any Cabinet members or members of Parliament or their family members who have any contracts with Baha Mar or any other government ministries. I am tired of these small minded, small-brained people trying to create controversy. What we need is a Freedom of Information Act.”

Dr Minnis called for Mrs Maynard-Gibson to resign last week for what he said is an “overt” conflict of interest regarding Baha Mar.

Mrs Maynard-Gibson, who is the lead negotiator for the government in the Baha Mar discussions, revealed on Monday that her husband owns a jewellery store chain that has leases in Baha Mar.

Last week, she said it was her two daughters, 28 and 30, who owned the leases for the stores in question. She also rejected the idea that she has a conflict of interest, stressing that she has no ownership or interest in the company.

asiseeit 9 years, 3 months ago

Any sitting politician who has not disclosed any connection to the Baha Mar fiasco should be kicked out of the HOA and investigated to the gills. That means if their family is involved as well, Husbands, wives, sons, and daughters, if they are involved the minister has a CLEAR conflict of interest, no if's, ands, or buts about it. Looking straight at you Mr's AG!

Wideawake 9 years, 3 months ago

Well said Dr.Minnis: Unfortunately some Bahamian politicians see nothing wrong with serving as a Cabinet Minister and while they serve, enriching themselves and/or their family businesses by using the power and connections of their Cabinet posts!!

In some instances they are so bold and greedy, and see themselves as being so far above the law, that their Cabinet post BECOMES their family business !!!

Wideawake 9 years, 3 months ago

The can of worms is full...of other cans of worms!

MonkeeDoo 9 years, 3 months ago

Re-Post: While AMG has admitted that her husband, daughters and brother have benefited from Baha Mar transactions, the even bigger and more vulgar conflict, yet to be confirmed, is that Perry Christie's son, Steffan Christie, perhaps behind the scene and cover of Cross and Mosko Real Estate and Development Company, where he is listed by the Bahamas Real Estate Association as being employed, may have benefited from a multi-million dollar contract to build swimming pools and waterways at Baha Mar. We understand that this was subcontracted to other company's with actual knowledge of this business. The recent Freudian Slip by the Prime Minister, at the groundbreaking of the CCA Hilton Pointe development, is remarkable, as he ( PGC ) references his good friend Jimmy ( sorry I spoke out of turn ) Mosko, having been awarded the development contract. It is a matter of record of course that Cross and Mosko Realty ( with Steffan Christie employed in the wings ) "assisted" CCA in its acquisition of the Hilton property. So, did Steffan's Daddy help with getting such a difficult transaction through the government bureaucracy ? Did Steffan's Daddy encourage any contract awards from Baha Mar, or CCA as Baha Mar's developer, to be given to Cross and Mosko Real Estate and Development Company ??? The AG conflict is bad enough but OMG the PM too ?????

Cobalt 9 years, 3 months ago

Wow!! Right under our noses!! Thank you for the info.

A gold mine of corruption right under our noses!!!

MonkeeDoo 9 years, 3 months ago

Steffan P. Christie Salesperson Cross & Mosko Real Estate and Dev. Co.

Nassau, New Providence License #28

Email: steffanchristie@gmail.com Website: http://www.crossandmosko.com/ Phone: (242) 362-4018 Fax: (242) 362-4081 Cell: (242) 424-773

Cobalt 9 years, 3 months ago

Is that right???

Thanks for the info!

We need more people like you to expose this bedrock of thievery and corruption!!

MonkeeDoo 9 years, 3 months ago

From obits: First Lady of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, Mrs. Bernadette Christie; four grand children, Shane Russell, Steffan, Alexandria, and Adam Christie;

banker 9 years, 3 months ago

It's Adam that is autistic.

MonkeeDoo 9 years, 3 months ago

But Adam is NOT the business person that was originally thought. His older brother Steffan is the shark in the Bahamas Tank. No one seemed to know how many offspring PGC had. See obits on Bernadette's mother's death.

Honestman 9 years, 3 months ago

Why is the Tribune not headlining with the two murders that took place this morning within hours of each other on McCullough Corner and then on Wulff Road?

Honestman 9 years, 3 months ago

Normally they have breaking news items - thought two murders in a few hours this morning would be worthy of a breaking news item.

birdiestrachan 9 years, 3 months ago

Some one should ask Dr: Minnis what is connection with Cable Bahamas. Because he was lobbying for them very strongly on the house floor in regard to the cell phone license . Now every one knows Dr: Minnis can spin some tales. If Baha Mar did not run into trouble, no one would have known who had what. It is my view that politicians families have a right , to work and own business in the Bahamas, Now Mr; Brent Symonette case was different He was a part of the Government and he was awarding himself contracts. He would have seen every single bid and he was able to bid lower, an unfair advantage.

MonkeeDoo 9 years, 3 months ago

birdiestrachan: I don't know if you have any sense or understanding at all or maybe you don't even read. The Tribune editorial just a couple of days ago dealt with this in depth. It is available on this site. It tells you exactly what happened. And it ain't what you think. I hope I never meet you in person.

Reality_Check 9 years, 3 months ago

Birdie and Tal are paid trolls assigned by the PLP to monitor all of our comments on this web site; they have also been tasked with spreading misinformation and employing disinformation tactics on behalf of the PLP aimed at side tracking and/or frustrating the rest of us. It's best to simply ignore both Birdie and Tal.

ThisIsOurs 9 years, 3 months ago

I've said before that birdie is simply too dumb to be real, but, if they are in fact that dumb I apologize for my comment.

Cobalt 9 years, 3 months ago

Well said, Reality_Check.

MonkeeDoo 9 years, 3 months ago

What blows my mind is that the Realtor who "assisted" CCA in buying the Hilton property at a minimum employes Perry Christie's son. He may only be employed on paper but what chance is there that Cross and Mosko Realty would have been in the drivers seat if he wasn't employed or a silent partner or a COMMISSIONED AGENT. Christie needs to resign from the Cabinet and the House for gross conflict of interest. Not even counting Baha Mar. We had a Commission of Inquiry in 1984 and we sure as hell need one now. I wonder if the Crown can take us back like it did with Turks and Caicos. Missick probably gave these boys and girls some pointers on how to do it.

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