The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

The Attorney General yesterday argued that the likelihood of Baha Mar still being closed if Sarkis Izmirlian’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings had been allowed to play out was “very very high”.

Speaking outside a Cabinet meeting, Allyson Maynard Gibson again hit back at the original developer’s criticisms over the Government’s intervention in the Baha Mar dispute.

Mrs Maynard Gibson argued that the Government’s actions had been vindicated, after it successfully petitioned the Supreme Court to place Baha Mar in provisional liquidation, instead of letting the developer’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection play out in the Delaware court. 

“The vast majority of Bahamians are happy to see that project opened and operational. If it was still in Delaware, the likelihood that it would be closed is very, very high,” said Mrs Maynard Gibson. 

“Bahamians are happy that the Government brought the matter to the Bahamas, where our courts are quite capable of dealing with it. From the information filed in Delaware, there were no plans or money to the proposals of the then-developer of Baha Mar, Mr Izmirlian.  

“Employees have been compensated, the Bahamian contractors have been compensated, contractors have been engaged on the site, employees have been re-employed and new ones employed.”

Mrs Maynard-Gibson also took on concerns over Baha Mar’s sale to Chow Tai Fook Enterprises (CTFE) not having closed, pointing out that the Hong Kong-based conglomerate would not be investing $200 million of its own money in pre-opening activities in something it did not plan to own.

CTFE previously confirmed that the deal to purchase Baha Mar’s resort assets from the China Export-Import Bank will not close until China Construction America (CCA), the project’s contractor, completes the development’s physical construction. That means the deal’s completion is unlikely to occur until the 2017 year-end.

Mr Izmirlian recently broke several months of silence by hitting at the “uncertainty” surrounding the multi-billion dollar resort’s opening, which was further exacerbated last week by Rosewood revealing its 200-room property will only open in Spring 2018. 

Mr Izmirlian and his BMD Holdings vehicle said Rosewood’s disclosure, which came in an official company release, was “a huge walk back” from the “rose-coloured statements” made by Baha Mar’s new owner regarding the property’s opening.

“The misleading, and often illogical statements now being made about progress at Baha Mar, and its opening, have made Baha Mar into a Potemkin hotel; that is, using this still-incomplete property to deceive others into thinking the situation is better than it is,” Mr Izmirlian and BMD argued.

The Government, in a lengthy rebuttal to Mr Izmirlian’s assertions, claimed its actions had effectively saved the beleaguered resort. 

Baha Mar’s casino, casino hotel, convention centre and golf course are slated to open in April, with 1,500 jobs expected to be created. This number will grow to 5,000 when the resort is fully opened.