The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A Cabinet Minister yesterday slammed Dr Hubert Minnis’s pledge to find a new purchaser for Baha Mar as “disgraceful”, arguing that it would disrupt employment for hundreds of Bahamians.

Jerome Fitzgerald, minister of education, science and technology, and who was a member of the Cabinet’s Baha Mar committee, argued that the FNM leader’s assertions showed he was not fit to become Prime Minister.

“Even as hundreds of Bahamians are being trained and hired, he is still denying that Baha Mar is now in the safe hands of a world-class operator that is investing hundreds of millions in its success,” Mr Fitzgerald said in a statement, referring to prospective purchaser, Chow Tai Fook Enterprises (CTFE).

“Minnis is not equipped to understand the complexity of a development this size; he’s shown us over and over he would have blindly followed private instead of public interests.”

Mr Fitzgerald then accused Dr Minnis of parroting the arguments made by former Baha Mar developer, Sarkis Izmirlian, who the Christie administration helped to oust by opposing the Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and then successfully petitioning for the project’s winding-up via the Supreme Court.

“He continues to mimic the lines of the original developer, who filed for bankruptcy in a US court, and where Bahamian employees and contractors would have received no special consideration and would still be waiting in a long line,” Mr Fitzgerald argued.

“The Government did not allow that to happen, instead bringing the proceedings back to the Bahamas, making sure contractors and employees were paid what they were owed, and making sure that an owner with success running high-end properties in the Caribbean and around the world was secured.”

Dr Minnis, in a posting on his Facebook page, effectively said that an FNM government, if elected, would seek a new buyer for Baha Mar, although he produced no evidence to show the current deal was egregiously bad for the Bahamas’ interests.

It is also unclear how an FNM administration could force a new sale of Baha Mar, given that the property is now owned by its secured creditor, the China Export-Import Bank, through its Perfect Luck special purpose vehicle (SPV).

The only real option for achieving this objective would be for an FNM government to nationalise Baha Mar, something that would be fraught with danger and difficulty, not least because of the chilling effect it might have on both Bahamian and foreign direct investment (FDI).

While it could seek to make life difficult for CTFE, a new government would probably find it has little choice but to work with CTFE to grow the Bahamian economy and jobs, while seeking to improve the Baha Mar deal via renegotiation.

Still, Dr Minnis said: “Your Free National Movement government will engage and execute a real sale of Baha Mar to a qualified and respectable purchaser who believes in Bahamians; a purchaser who will utilise only Bahamian labour to complete the resort, and will put Bahamians back to work with real jobs as quickly as possible.

“All applicable taxes must be paid to the Treasury on this sale, including any VAT, Stamp tax, casino license fees, etc. In keeping with our mandate of accountability and transparency, your Free National Movement government will also make public all negotiations in this regard and have them tabled in Parliament.

“When your Free National Movement comes to office, we will make public all deals by this government with the Chinese with respect to this and any other secret deal this administration may have entered into.”

However, Mr Fitzgerald hit back: “Minnis is trying to use bluster and deception to cover up just how little he knows or understands. His broken party is evidence of what happens when he’s put in charge.

“He should congratulate the many Bahamians who are receiving training and new opportunities. Baha Mar has been rescued from bankruptcy and will be a success for the whole country to be proud of.”