By AVA TURNQUEST
Tribune Chief Reporter
aturnquest@tribunemedia.net
THE MONEY allocated to pay Baha Mar workers and unsecured creditors has been deposited by the Export-Import Bank of China (CEXIM), according to Claims Committee Chairman James Smith, who yesterday maintained that non-staff claims will be processed as “pay as you go until you run out”.
Mr Smith remained tightlipped over the total of the deposited sum, insisting that such a revelation could impact the quality of the claims submitted to the committee.
“What happens is you deal with the staff and then the other unsecured creditors. The employees are pretty straight forward and are pretty much covered,” Mr Smith said. “I think at the end of the day most will be satisfied.”
The cheques are expected to cover unpaid salaries, accrued vacation pay, severance pay and payments in lieu of notice for more than 2,000 Baha Mar workers made redundant in October last year.
Payments will be made by Perfect Luck Claims Ltd, the special purpose vehicle (SPV) that has been created specifically to purchase claims held by Baha Mar creditors under the terms of CEXIM’s agreement with the Christie administration.
Mr Smith explained that employee payments were clearly accounted for during the $3.5bn mega resort’s liquidation proceedings; however, he could not confirm how claims from the remaining unsecured creditors will be processed.
He maintained that the committee was on track to begin the payout process on September 27.
On that day, the Claims Committee will begin to issue cheques to employees through an alphabetically ordered system. Employees with last names beginning with the letters A through F will collect payments on September 27, those with last names beginning with the letters G through O will collect their cheques on September 28, and last names beginning with the letters P through Z will collect their cheques on September 29 from the Crystal Palace Training Hotel, Casino Entrance.
Earlier this month, Mr Smith explained that creditors who are owed up to half a million dollars will likely be paid in full, whereas the amount of money paid to those owed more than that will depend on how many eligible creditors come forward with claims.
Employees and those owed up to $500,000 account for 90 to 95 per cent of all people and creditors owed money, Mr Smith said.
The deadline for submissions to the committee of claims and supporting documents regarding debt owed by Baha Mar is September 30. Claims are to be submitted by email at info@claimspv.net or in hard copy to Charlene Paul at the Baha Mar Office at the Crystal Palace Casino. The form is available at http://claimsspv.net/.
Comments
Well_mudda_take_sic 8 years, 3 months ago
THIS IS NOT "EX GRACIA" MONEY FROM THE CHINESE EXPORT-IMPORT BANK AS CHRISTIE WOULD FOOLISHLY HAVE US BELIEVE. WE, THE BAHAMIAN PEOPLE, HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW JUST HOW MUCH THIS BLATANT ATTEMPT BY CHRISTIE TO BUY VOTES IN THE RUN UP TO A GENERAL ELECTION IS COSTING US. CHRISTIE AND THE WICKED WITCH (MAYNARD-GIBSON) DOOMED THE BAHA MAR DEVELOPMENT WHEN THEY CONSPIRED WITH THE CHINESE ENTERPRISES CONCERNED WITH THE PROJECT TO NATIONALIZE THE IZMIRLIAN FAMILY'S $900+ MILLION INVESTMENT IN THE PROJECT AND THEN HAND THE ENTIRE DEVELOPMENT OVER TO THEIR CHINESE CO-CONSPIRATORS ON A GOLD PLATTER. CHRISTIE AND THE WICKED WITCH HAVE NOT ONLY HELPED THEIR CO-CONSPIRATORS PERPETUATE A MAJOR FRAUD AGAINST THE IZMIRLIAN FAMILY, BUT THEY ALSO HAVE SOLD OUT THE INTERESTS OF THE BAHAMAS AND THE BAHAMIAN PEOPLE TO SATISFY THEIR OWN GREEDY PERSONAL FINANCIAL INTERESTS! "BAGMAN" BALTRON BETHEL SEEMS TO HAVE HAD A PARTICULAR INVOLVEMENT IN ALL OF THE SIDE DEALS THAT HAVE BEEN CUT WITH CHRISTIE AND MAYNARD-GIBSON'S NEW FOUND AND VERY GRATEFUL CHINESE FRIENDS.
banker 8 years, 3 months ago
I bet you that it is taxpayer money out of the treasury. If it were $100 million from EXIM, the dummy James Smith would say "We got the whole amount from the Chinese". Instead he is confaddling the situation by trying to be coy when lying. Why doesn't he tell us how much it is? It is a simple question that DESERVES a simple answer.
islandlad 8 years, 3 months ago
Quick comment that i'd like some feedback on. While I truly am sorry for so many people to have lost their jobs........A) this happens in business all the time. B) Most all employees at Baha Mar not only got paid up to the date they were let go, but beyond that time for being at home and not working. I believe it was October, and this was allegedly done out of monies disputed by the Govt owed to Baha Mar for the roads project that the Govt. withheld so this money was owed back to BML and not directly to employees. C) The main question I'd like feedback on, why are employees who didn't work and performed no duties, Beyond the being let off date, getting monies paid out first when actual contractors who did work and provided services and products which they have floated the bill on and is indeed a pure loss to their company, getting paid after the employees?
banker 8 years, 3 months ago
Heaven help me, but I think that I am understanding why Prime Minister Crisco Butt made the dumb moves that he did.
First of all, Crisco Butt worships success that he craves. He would gladly swim through Phil Ruffin and Sol Kerzner's diarrhea, much like he swam through Lyndon Oscar Swindling's vomit. He loves to swim through the bodily effluvia of persons that he worships.
So when Baha Mar stalled, I do not believe that Crisco Butt was smart enough to take away the bankruptcy proceedings away from Izmirlian. That was probably the work of that hemale Attorney General, Allyson Mayonnaise Gibson (grease and eggs).
So when he was stuck with Baha Mar after the move, he consulted both Ruffin and Kerzner. Ruffin barely got out of the Bahamas unscathed, thanks to gullible Izmirlian coming along, and would probably not want anything more to do with the Bahamas, except possibly hiding some money in a nominee IBC.
Now get this. Kerzner was essentially forced out when the debt on Atlantis became untenable -- largely due to the funds borrowed to privatise it and keep it from the scrutiny of the US regulators. Don't forget that Sol started his business life in the Bahamas, because he was indicted in South Africa for bribing the president of the Republic of Transkei in South Africa.
Solly was over extended with The Palm in Dubai and Atlantis, and he has a resort/golf course in Morocco. But the big news is that Solly has just topped out a mega resort called Atlantis (Atlantis Sanya, in Hainan, China). They just topped out mid-July. Of course Sol has no money to finance it, so the Fosun group financed it and Kerzner's contribution is running it. (This is why Fosun is probably not the buyer of Baha Mar -- they don't run hotels, they prefer the brands that they invest in to run them).
Anyhoo, I'm sure that Solly talked up China with Crisco Butt, and suddenly there was light at the end of the tunnel for Crisco Butt and that tunnel wasn't obfuscated by a sphincter valve. So the answer came to him in a dream, to sell Baha Mar to a Chinese group.
Having understood why Crisco Butt does the things that he does, doesn't help. He is still a hopeless incompetent surrounded by corruption. And this Baha Mar saga een over yet.
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