The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Environmental activists yesterday queried how the Blackbeard’s Cay developer could “be so cock sure” as to invest a further $4 million AFTER the Supreme Court issued a judgment calling for the Government to close the project.

Sam Duncombe, reEarth’s president, questioned how Blue Illusions’ $8 million investment by July 2014 had blossomed into a $12 million spend a year later, given that Justice Stephen Isaacs had ruled that its dolphin import licence and a host of planning-related approvals should.

That ruling was given in July 2014, and Justice Stephen Isaacs on August 31 this year issued an Order to enforce the judgment, requiring the Prime Minister, minister of agriculture, V. Alfred Gray, and a host of government agencies to remove Blackbeard’s Cay’s dolphins and ensure that the property was returned to its original condition.

Mrs Duncombe told Tribune Business: “In July 2014, Blackbeard’s claimed that they had by then spent $8 million. How is it, then, after this judgment could the developer be so cock sure of himself to defy the court and continue the development of Blackbeard’s Cay by spending another $4 million to now say his investment is $12 million?

“Did he get other secret approvals from the Government through Exchange Control? The Investment Board? This is another example of why we need a Freedom Of Information Act.”

The ‘he’ is Blue Illusions’ principal, St Maarten businessman Samir Andrawos, and Mrs Duncombe noted an August 2015 response to Trip Advisor by Blackbeard’s Cay’s general manager, which referred to a “second pool” upon which construction had just finished.

“How is it that the developer has continued construction at this facility in defiance of the judgment?” asked Mrs Duncombe. “Did he get more permits from Town Planning without public hearings?

“The developer sunk an additional $4 million into this project knowing full well that a Bahamian Supreme Court judge ruled against them. How is that even possible? What does this developer know that the Bahamian people do not? If this is not a case of wilful blindness I don’t know what is.”

She added: “How could the Government proceed with this development...., and how could the developer continue, especially after Justice Isaacs ruled the facility was in breach of our laws and was effectively shut down?

“The problem is that there is an awful lot of wilful blindness going on in this country – most, if not all of us, feel it, and yet so many of us decide not to rise up and face it.”

Mrs Duncombe said there was “a lot more at stake” in relation to Blackbeard’s Cay, located off New Providence’s northern coast opposite Sandals Royal Bahamian, than just the fate of its dolphins.

“The rule of law and due public process, which has been so eroded by successive governments, is under attack again,” she argued, implying that the Government would face ‘contempt of court’ and even ‘committal to jail’ proceedings if it refused to enforce Justice Isaacs’ Order.

Mrs Duncombe also denied the assertion by Wayne Munroe QC, Blue Illusions attorney, that reEarth had dismissed his client from its Judicial Review action, and that as a consequence it would be a “breach of constitutional rights” to enforce Justice Isaacs’ Order against it.

“The truth is Blue Illusions’ attorneys sat in on every court case on the matter, and at no time did they ask to join the action,” Mrs Duncombe said.

“In fact, during the appeal process Justice Conte criticised the developer’s lawyers, expressing shock that they never tried to defend their development. Instead they allowed the Government to go to bat for them, and use the taxes they collect from all of us to pay legal costs for a private developer.

“This is what the Government did in the Guana Cay and Bimini cases as well; your tax and my tax dollar spent by our government to protect foreign, private, for-profit developers to whom they gave our Crown Land to for a pittance.”

Mrs Duncombe argued that the Government would ultimately be liable for any closure of the Blackbeard’s Cay facility and potential loss of 60-100 jobs because it had failed to follow the legal processes for providing the necessary permits and approvals.

She added that it was impossible to have an annual review of permits that had been quashed, and denied Mr Munroe’s assertion that the developer had completed an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) prior to the Judicial Review case.

“Several people in the environmental consulting field contacted reEarth to say that Blackbeard’s Cay had contacted them scrambling to get their EIA done - this year,” Mrs Duncombe said. “Frankly, the EIA is immaterial at this point.

She added: “reEarth’s issue is with the Government, not the developer....

“We are at a critical crossroad in the development of our country. Our social fabric is decaying all around us, in part because we know we are getting screwed by the powers that be.

“We all see people getting away with things because they ‘know someone’. We can disregard the rule of law and fall further into decay – or, we can stand together for the rule of law, demand the Government accept their failures and make it right - close Blackbeard’s Cay, and collectively begin to pull this country back out of disaster.”