The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Deputy Chief Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

FREE National Movement (FNM) Leader Dr Hubert Minnis on Friday agreed with Dame Joan Sawyer, who earlier this week suggested that there were no legal grounds to seal the new deal to open Baha Mar announced by Prime Minister Perry Christie last year.

Dame Joan, the former President of the Court of Appeal, said there is much confusion over how the judgment of a publicly-heard civil case could be sealed so that no one, outside the judge who heard the case, Attorney General Allyson Maynard Gibson and lawyers for the parties involved, would know the contents.

Dame Joan said clearly where there was no matter of defence, public safety or public order in effect to cause the decision no to be made public.

Dr Minnis argued that this was why the sealing of the documents was “all the more outrageous”.

“The embattled Prime Minister and his Attorney General of all people should know, our Constitution requires that civil proceedings must be public, except in matters of defence, public safety or public order,” Dr Minnis said in a press statement. “So their efforts to shield their secret Baha Mar deal with their Chinese allies from the public is all the more outrageous. It’s no wonder that the Bahamian people have lost all trust and confidence in this government.

“Even the former President of the Court of Appeal is questioning Prime Minister Christie and the Attorney General’s control over the courts. Elected officials are meant to uphold the law, not twist it to fit their own political and personal agendas. 

"Yet with all their twisted and contorted efforts to hide the details of their secret Baha Mar deal from the Bahamian people we are witnessing the great length to which career politicians will go as they desperately try to hold onto power.”

He continued: “Here’s what I know, the people deserve the truth. They have asked for the truth for months and all they have received is silence. While they have been waiting, the Attorney General’s family continues to make deals with Baha Mar, under the protection of the PLP government. When is enough, enough?

“When the FNM earns the right to serve the people, there will be no more secret deals, no more operating in the dark and abusing their power for their own benefit. Change is coming to the Bahamas and our FNM change team is ready to go to work for the people, not just for themselves and their families.”

Dame Joan said "on the other hand it may be argued that because Crown Land and money from the Consolidated Fund was used to pay employees of Baha Mar (money that was said to be owed to China Construction Company for the construction of the new road from the airport) that the interests of justice required the decision and the reason for it to be made public, especially when it appears to reasonable persons that there may have been a conflict of interest on the part of the government’s main adviser, the learned Attorney General, who has subsequently reported that there was a sale to a Hong Kong entity and then that the sale is not complete".

Mr Christie announced the official sale of Baha Mar to CTF BM Holdings, a subsidiary of CTFE last December, at the time stating the resort was set for a phased opening beginning in April, 2017, and a full completion by this fall.

However, Mr Christie did not disclose the sale price of Baha Mar, adding that details of the deal are still sealed by the Supreme Court at the request of the Export-Import Bank of China.

The government has since announced plans to table the sealed Baha Mar documents ahead of the April soft opening.