The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Registrar General's demand for hundreds of Bahamian non-profit organisations to produce their annual financial statements was yesterday branded "crazy" and "bizarre", with some pledging to resist.

Paul Moss, a well-known financial services executive and political activist, told Tribune Business he planned to inform the Registrar General's Department that none of the non-profit organisations he is involved with will comply with its demands.

These entities include Bahamians Agitating for a Referendum on the Free Trade Area of the Americas (BARF), and Mr Moss blasted the Registrar General's failure to include the major political parties among those it wants disclosure from.

The four-page list, which was buried in the middle of a daily newspaper's sports section, includes organisations ranging from the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC) and Bahamas Financial Services Board (BFSB) to the likes of Rudy King's King Humanitarian & Global Foundation.

Environmental groups such as the Bahamas Reef Environment Educational Foundation (BREEF) are also included, as are hundreds of church and religious organisations, plus Hands for Hunger. All have been given 14 days, or two weeks, from July 19 to comply with the Registrar General's Department.

One organisation that appears not to be included, though, is the Coalition to Protect Clifton Bay, otherwise known as Save the Bays, which filed two ongoing Judicial Review actions with the Supreme Court challenging the Registrar General's Department's actions.

The Registrar General's now-vastly expanded demands, issued on July 19, 2017, appear to be almost identical to those made of the Coalition to Protect Clifton Bay. The records requested from hundreds of groups include: The organisation's purpose, objective, and activities; identity of persons who control or direct the activities of the organisation, including senior officers, directors, and trustees; annual financial statements and records that show and explain transactions within and outside the Bahamas, and show that monies have been used in a manner consistent with its objective and activities; and the source of gross annual income of the organisation.

However, the Coalition's action argues that the only time the Registrar General can demand financial statements and records is if it believes the non-profit is "assisting terrorism financing".

Mr Moss made the same point yesterday, telling Tribune Business: "It's so silly. They're requesting information they should already have, asking you to produce your registration.

"And when you read the Act and the regulations, it's very clear as to when the Registrar can request the financials. They can only request it if they are of the view that non-profits are engaged in terror financing."

He added: "They have all these churches and other entities listed to provide this information, yet have excluded political organisations. It's just bizarre. It's absolutely crazy. I don't know who's running the country, but putting that list in the paper is effectively saying these are companies and entities engaging in terror financing.

"And how can you exclude the political parties? It seems to me they are the ones who should head the list. They are the ones getting money from unknown sources."

Pledging non-compliance by himself and non-profits he is involved with, Mr Moss said: "I intend to write to them [the Registrar General's Department] saying we will not provide them with any financial statements, and call on the political parties to produce their's."

Fred Smith QC, who is acting for the Coalition in its dispute with the Registrar General, yesterday warned that the latter's latest demands sent a potentially chilling message to the private sector and investors.

He suggested that there was nothing to stop similar demands being made of privately-owned businesses, and accused the Government and its entities of continuing to trample over long-held constitutional and human rights.

Mr Smith said the fight against money laundering, terror financing and corruption had often been used as cover to perpetrate such abuses, and he added: "If they can do it to non-profits, why can't they do it to every company registered in the Bahamas?

"This is the problem that affects business generally in the Bahamas. Businesses, trusts, IBCs, asset protection companies; everyone should feel anxious about the Government being able to demand information without passing laws in Parliament."

The Callenders & Co attorney continued: "The anxiety I would feel if I owned a business is that tomorrow the Government may pass a law allowing the Registrar to demand my financial statements.

"If I'm not a publicly traded company, why should I have to pass any financial information to the Government? This is simply bad for business and bad for democracy.

"Business will only prosper in a democratic environment, not in an environment where government acts arbitrarily and without probable cause. That has been the big challenge in the Bahamas: Abuses and excesses of power by the Government."