The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

DEMOCRATIC National Alliance Leader Branville McCartney yesterday accused some members of the Christie administration of “trying to pull deals for their benefit” in the wake of revelations that Jerome Fitzgerald allegedly attempted to secure millions of dollars in brokerage, trucking and limousine contracts at Baha Mar from as early as 2013.

Mr Fitzgerald is the minister of education, science and technology and is the Progressive Liberal Party’s incumbent MP for Marathon.

Mr McCartney also questioned if Prime Minister Perry Christie was aware of Mr Fitzgerald’s alleged conflict of interest with the latter having served as one of the government’s lead negotiators on Baha Mar’s remobilisation.

The Bamboo Town hopeful also said the PLP is “known” for engaging in “underhanded” deals.

Mr McCartney further questioned if the controversy surrounding Mr Fitzgerald’s emails was the reason the documents related to the new Baha Mar deal with CTF BM Holdings, a subsidiary of Chow Tai Fook Enterprises Ltd (CTFE), were sealed by the Supreme Court at the request of the Export-Import Bank of China (CEXIM).

“That is something that we’ve been saying all along with this PLP government,” Mr McCartney said when questioned on the matter. “The PLP government is known for these underhanded deals. That is what they’re all about. That is their mantra.

“The question is did the prime minister know about this, because it was the prime minister who appointed Mr Fitzgerald as one of the lead negotiators in this new sale of Baha Mar. Is this why the deal has been sealed?”

Mr McCartney was responding to The Tribune’s lead story on Thursday, which revealed that from 2013 Mr Fitzgerald had requested deals from Baha Mar from top officials, such as his readiness to start brokerage and trucking services for the Baha Mar project and remain the brokers of record for the property via an email dated May 18, 2013.

Among other things, the leaked emails published exclusively by The Tribune showed Mr Fitzgerald making references to “promises” made to him by Daniel Liu, China Construction America’s (CCA) vice president.

The email exchanges also show Mr Fitzgerald allegedly becoming increasingly distressed as his requests go unfulfilled, with a plea in January 2014, asking Mr Izmirlian and Baha Mar’s Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Robert ‘Sandy’ Sands, to cement a relationship between CCA and Bahamas Cargo and Logistics Limited (BCL) in which all ports of entry would be advised that BCL is to collect the paperwork and clear shipments for the resort.

BCL is owned by the Fitzgerald family. Tribune Business has previously confirmed BCL’s role at the mega resort and revealed yesterday that BCL was a creditor when the project filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June 2015, under Baha Mar’s original developer Sarkis Izmirlian.