Former Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson.
By RASHAD ROLLE
Tribune Staff Reporter
rrolle@tribunemedia.net
ATTORNEY General Allyson Maynard-Gibson denied suggestions that Baha Mar’s workforce would not have been laid off if the government did not push for court appointed liquidators to oversee the property.
In a statement following the decision of the joint provisional liquidators to layoff some 2,000 workers last week, Baha Mar CEO Sarkis Izmirlian suggested that the government’s strategies with respect to Baha Mar, including its opposition to the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process, should be questioned in light of the layoffs and continued stasis of the project.
Mrs Maynard-Gibson, however, stressed yesterday that the developer had his own plans to make workers redundant.
“The government is deeply disappointed that Baha Mar’s insolvency and the continuing delays in resolving it have led the joint provisional liquidators to apply for and obtain sanction to implement a redundancy programme affecting approximately 2,000 Baha Mar employees,” she said in a statement.
“The government categorically rejects any suggestion that the redundancy programme adopted by the joint provisional liquidators could have been avoided if Baha Mar had continued to pursue bankruptcy reorganisation in the United States. As ‘debtors-in-possession’ under the US Bankruptcy Code the Baha Mar companies faced the same cash shortage that now confronts the joint provisional liquidators.
“On July 10, Baha Mar told the Bankruptcy Court that in the absence of an agreement ‘in the near term’ with the Export-Import Bank, Baha Mar would ‘be compelled to immediately downsize their operations to a minimum over approximately 45 to 60 days, which includes . . . reducing their work force to a skeletal staff . . ..’
“According to a July 10 affidavit submitted by Baha Mar’s president, the ‘skeletal staff’ would have comprised only 52 employees, plus an additional 47 employees ‘to assist with the wind-down of their respective operations . . . notwithstanding their impending termination.’”
In view of this, Mrs Maynard-Gibson said “Baha Mar’s management was planning to implement draconian work force reductions” well before the provisional liquidators felt compelled to initiate its redundancy programme.
“Unlike Baha Mar’s management, however, the joint provisional liquidators have realistic prospects for obtaining necessary funding,” Mrs Maynard-Gibson said.
“Since June 29, when Baha Mar abruptly filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States, the government has consistently sought to minimise the consequences of Baha Mar’s insolvency for its workforce, both by promoting prompt resumption of construction and opening of the resort and by covering many of Baha Mar’s payroll obligations from amounts otherwise owed to Baha Mar,” she said.
She said the government is continuing to press for interim and long-term funding that will permit remobilisation of construction and provide a timeline for restoring Baha Mar’s workforce.
She added: “On August 26, Baha Mar filed with the Bankruptcy Court a proposed Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization plan; but that plan was entirely hypothetical, and it offered no hope of avoiding workforce reductions. “The plan hinged entirely on the availability of at least $400 million to $600 million of ‘exit financing,’ for which Baha Mar management did not purport to have any commitment from anyone.”
She said the government urges the resort’s stakeholders to continue negotiations to get the stalled project back on track or take what further measures may be necessary to have the resort completed as soon as possible.
Comments
sealice 9 years ago
“Unlike Baha Mar’s management, however, the joint provisional liquidators have realistic prospects for obtaining necessary funding,” Mrs Maynard-Gibson said.
this lady clearly doesn't listen to what she says and she probably also "categorically denies" eroding foreign investor confidence
banker 9 years ago
Truth, integrity and ethics have yet to visit to her stinking, odious carcass.
Sickened 9 years ago
My questions is: Did the provisional liquidators do the right thing in allowing government to continue paying the salaries of workers instead of giving all monies due to Baha Mar, to the liquidators for cash management? I heard that the liquidators were having trouble securing the money necessary to pay for the insurance policies, amongst other things. Would the money used to pay salaries have been better spent in maintaining the building's insurance, especially during hurricane season? If so, then the provisional liquidators did not act responsibly and should be removed.
GrassRoot 9 years ago
no of course not. The moment they saw that this Elephant wont move not for a while, they should have shut down the place. Its business 1x1. I personally believe that the made themselves liable for dragging out that decision for so long.
GrassRoot 9 years ago
Taking the AG's logic ad absurdum, she may as well blame Pindling for the redundancies, or better the UK for having set foot on our islands. The accident happened much later in the process, when our government thought, a business can continue paying salaries even without generating income. Of course that is how our Country is handled, but that is not how a business works. What is encouraging is that the AG acts as if she were the Queen of Bahamaland and infallible. In school we called them the "know-it-alls".
ohdrap4 9 years ago
Like an afternoon talk show host likes to say:
If my uncle had breasts, he would be my aunt.
asiseeit 9 years ago
I do not believe a word that comes out of this evil woman's mouth unless she fessed up and said "the only reason I got into politics was to get rich".
proudloudandfnm 9 years ago
This government has no more credibility. Simple as that. I do not believe anything that comes out of anyone in this failed government....
GrassRoot 9 years ago
actually it will be interesting to see after this government screwed up everything, what it will screw up beyond that. Shut down the schools? let all police officers go? hand out free handguns and ammunition? drill new potholes?
Economist 9 years ago
She is banking on the fact that not many will read the entire Bankruptcy file.
Izmirlian was prepared to put up an additional 70 or 80 million under certain conditions under the Bankruptcy.
Look at all the airlines in the US which have gone into Chapter 11, kept all the staff, and eventually come out of the Bankruptcy.
Show me the Bahamian companies which have gone into Liquidation and come out of Liquidation Madam AG.
ThisIsOurs 9 years ago
Of course he did, what's your excuse?
SP 9 years ago
WANTED DEAD: ............ The idiot that made burning witches at the stake illegal ...........
Sickened 9 years ago
This one would burn bright!! Oh, what a sight!
TalRussell 9 years ago
Comrades anyone else noticed the suddenly gone uncharacteristically silent Izmirlian sidekick "Wash 'Em, Dry 'Em, Press 'Em" Dionisio? Strange cuz Dionisio was settling-in, ever so. comfortably behind all those guest "political axes grinds" microphones on all them talk shows.
Talk show hosts and station owners, just may be in for loosing one their most frequent sidekick appearance guests.
I done feeling all sad.
banker 9 years ago
Or ... here is another scenario. Dionisio D'Aguilar has a business degree from Cornell University -- saw the diploma myself in his (strangely) unkempt headquarters. It is one of the better schools in business. He is one of the smartest businessmen that the Bahamas has to offer. (It was fascinating to watch in real time, his soap delivery trucks being tracked on a screen in his office using GPS technology). He has his finger in everything from food to technology and yes laundry, but I wouldn't be making any bets about what he is up to with Baha Mar.
I know that you speak from ignorance and speculation, but you can bet that Sarkis Izmirlian and his advisors like Dionisio have not played their last hand. I done feeling all sad when they make a fool of your speculations.
BaronInvest 9 years ago
So putting new money into a project that is getting liquidated is the same thing for her as the original owner looking for some new funding ? Wake up you stupid twat... I would have seen Sarkis looking for a more investors as an opportunity to invest... But if this government would ask me for that i rather burn the money to heat my house.
Sarkis had vision and reputation. This government counters that with incompetence and greed. Go figure.
MonkeeDoo 9 years ago
It is amazing to hear Donald Trump admitting to using Chapter 11 at least four times, to his advantage, to save various hotel ventures, and our pee-pants government getting bent out of shape at just the thought.
TalRussell 9 years ago
http://tribune242.com/users/photos/2015…
banker 9 years ago
I am totally impressed that you know that GPS uses satellites. I never thought that you would be one to know that. It shows that there might be a crack where the light can get through, and you might see it one day, in spite of your PLP chip implant. Hallelujah!
TalRussell 9 years ago
Comrade Banker, I'm willing place a friendly token wager, that you are not aware that GPS technology, actually gave birth to the only lasting and true form of Communism/Socialism known mankind. Now, check that one out. Any idea what I'm talking about?
Tarzan 9 years ago
These statements by government to try to cover up the disaster that they have created would be pathetic if not so shameful. The reason the developer wanted recourse to the Chapter 11 procedures in the U.S. Courts was exactly so he could continue the development process, including paying the necessary staff, in order to open the complex. Everyone knew and knows that. It was the government that stopped what would have been an orderly sorting out of claims, while the project moved forward to opening. The only explanation for the government's insistence on a "liquidation" proceeding supervised under their control in the Bahamas, is that there was fear of disclosure in a U.S. Bankruptcy proceeding of undertakings that the political class did not wish for the public to see. The demise of the enterprise was entirely foreseeable the instant the access to the Chapter 11 proceedings was denied. All the rest is simply smoke screen, while the government looks for a scapegoat to cover up the economic disaster it has created. How can anyone expect to open the enterprise, now that all the skilled workforce has departed the Bahamas or has moved on to other positions in the Bahamas? Only a fool would suggest that anyone who really is working to keep the project alive, would have laid off all the Bahamian workforce. This act tells all. Everyone knows that Baha Mar is not going to open in months or in years,. It has been killed by the PLP government. The pregnant question is why?
marrcus 9 years ago
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
SP 9 years ago
..................... Perry Christie needs to stay out of big peoples business .....................
Sarkis Izmirlian allowed P.M. Christie to fall flat on his backside, and make a national and international fool of himself.
P.M. Christie settled down to his own level, and rightful place in this equation.
Izmirlian is now stepping back into the picture, picking up where he left off and leaving Christie right where he put himself with a very large poop stain on his face and irreversible legacy of being totally untrustworthy and incompetent.
How P.M. Christie and his PLP clowns could be so ignorant to believe an individual that already injected an $850 million equity investment into a project could possibly be "personally bankrupt or insolvent" defies reasoning.
Small minded Perry Christie never understood for Sarkis Izmirlian the chapter 11 was about "PRINCIPLE, NOT MONEY"!
Moving forward the real fireworks will be seen from this point, as Sarkis Izmirlian flex's his muscles.
I've said from the very beginning, and will say again....Christie picked a totally unnecessary fight with a formidable opponent that he simply CANNOT EVER, EVER, EVER, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER WIN!
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