The Tribune

By TANEKA THOMPSON

Tribune News Editor

tmthompson@tribunemedia.net

AN email seemingly sent inadvertently to Baha Mar officials by an employee of China Construction America (CCA) Bahamas last October warned its intended recipients they could get “in trouble” for faking specification compliance at the property “in such an obvious way”, according to court documents filed by the resort.

The email, allegedly written by an assistant project manager at CCA on October 8, 2014, was translated from Mandarin to English. It was part of a bundle of documents filed in a Delaware bankruptcy court on August 12, as part of Baha Mar’s motion to have CCA turn over the complete project documents associated with the $3.5 billion resort.

According to an affidavit from Mark Tranter, core works director at Baha Mar, he received an email from the CCA official in question, Dawei “Dave” Zou, last October.

Mr Zou’s email appeared to be a response to an earlier email sent from Mark Ollerenshaw, Baha Mar’s senior project manager, which was copied to other resort officials, the court papers said.

“The content of Mr Ollerenshaw’s email related to on-site work, specifically moulding detail, which Mr Ollerenshaw states had been observed as deviated from its approved specifications.

“Mr Zou’s responsive email, which was sent to all recipients of Mr Ollerenshaw’s email (including me), was written in Mandarin,” Mr Tranter said.

A translated version of the email from Mr Zou said: “What’s wrong with you two! You can’t fake things in such an obvious way! You’re going to get yourselves in trouble! If you want to do this, you must be careful!”

Another affidavit was filed by Pat Murray, an employee of Mace Ltd, who was contracted by Baha Mar to work with CCA to observe the construction process. Mr Murray said he witnessed numerous examples of CCA employees “deviating from approved specifications without authorisation, including under circumstances suggesting that CCA sought to hide these unauthorised deviations from detection.”

Baha Mar has accused CCA, its general contractor, of frustrating the resort’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy process by refusing to turn over the full project documents.

Baha Mar alleged that this is being done to “preserve its (CCA’s) bargaining leverage” over the resort “by mischaracterizing the requested discovery as ‘unnecessary and redundant.’”

Baha Mar also alleged that it appears as though CCA took “deliberate steps to mislead the debtors (the resort and its affiliated companies) as to its compliance with construction specifications and schedules,” meaning that even the limited set of project documents available “cannot be trusted to accurately reflect the reality on the ground.”

Baha Mar has requested that CCA turn over relevant project documents, which the resort maintains are its property.

According to the court documents, the resort wants the return of two pieces of electronic media, forensic examination of servers in CCA’s custody to confirm that no documents have been improperly changed or deleted and the production of project documents in the possession or control of CCA entities.

The resort has also again alleged that security workers have “caught employees of CCA entities attempting to surreptitiously remove computers and documents” from the hotel property.

According to David Bullard, security supervisor at Baha Mar, on July 7, 2015 around 12.15pm while at the casino entrance he saw two Chinese men walking towards him, one holding a large black duffel bag.

“I spoke to both men and asked them what was in the bag,” Mr Bullard said in his declaration. “The man who was carrying the bag answered me and he said the bag contained a personal computer. I reminded him that no computers or files are allowed to be taken from the building without the express authorization of security. I also asked him for his name and he identified himself as Xu Qun. He voluntarily gave me the bag, which I examined and found a black Lenovo all in one computer in it.”

Mr Bullard said there were other instances in early July where other security officers stopped CCA workers attempting to take property off-site, including binders with Baha Mar markings on them, a computer and other items.

Baha Mar filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States on June 29, blaming CCA for its multiple opening delays. CCA has refuted this assertion and said Baha Mar’s financial and design mismanagement is the reason for the resort’s woes.