The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

The Deputy Prime Minister yesterday branded as “political mischief” charges that  the Christie administration had agreed to grant 500 Bahamian citizenships to Chinese investors in connection with the stalled Baha Mar project.

The request was said to have been contained in a letter from Baha Mar’s lead contractor, China Construction America (CCA), which reportedly also called for the resort’s original developer, Sarkis Izmirilian, to be removed from the project.

It also sought a 30-year exclusivity with regards to its casino licence; a 30-year Value-Added Tax exemption, and a 25 per cent increase in the concessions currently enjoyed by Baha Mar.

Philip Davis responded: “We are still working assiduously to ensure that the Baha Mar project is open and the Bahamian people get to work; negotiating with China EX-IM Bank to make sure it gets open, and we think we are there.

“I will not pre-empt the Prime Minister from speaking to the matter. I’m not aware that they have, but I understand that they [the Chinese] may have made some proposals which have not come to Cabinet as yet. “

On the citizenship issue, Mr Davis said: “This is not a negotiable issue. We subscribe to the rule of law in this country, and the rule of law trumps anything I may seek to negotiate in this country.

“The law sets out how a person gets citizenship, so why would this be a concern? Why would it be a concern that this government could negotiate the granting of citizenship? It cannot be because the law shows how to grant it out. 

“I’m not aware of the requests begin made. I haven’t’ seen any letter. It has been reported that a letter has been written. It has been reported that the letter found itself in the hands of Steve Mckinney, who then brought it to the fore,” the Deputy Prime Minister added.

“If there were a letter, any investor, not understanding our laws and not understanding the way we do business, may request whatever they think is in their interest.

“It doesn’t mean we will comply with it.

“We will point out that you can’t get that because the law says this has to happen and we cannot break the law. I think it is just basically political mischief to raise this as a concern.”

Prime Minister Perry Christie, in a statement on Monday night, said Bahamian citizenship was “not for sale at any time, at any price” as he refuted allegations that his administration had agreed to the sale or grant of 500 Bahamian citizenships to Chinese investors.

Mr Christie described it as an “absolute lie” that citizenship in return for foreign investment had been agreed, saying that was a “non-negotiable position” for his government.

Mr Davis said: “I don’t know if they know what our laws are.

“What you must recognise is there is such a thing that has been created by other countries as economic citizenship, so they might think that the Bahamas has a programme for economic citizenship and make a request, but we don’t have a programme like that in the Bahamas.”