The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

FREE National Movement Chairman Sidney Collie yesterday accused the Progressive Liberal Party of running away from its responsibility in the bailout of the Bank of The Bahamas, insisting that any further investigation by public officials would only uncover that many of the loans written off through the process were held by “politically connected” individuals.

In a statement to the press Monday, Mr Collie backed claims by former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, saying that the actions of the Christie administration amidst the fallout at BOB have been in line with a group of people more concerned about their well-being, and not the greater good for the country.

“Our embattled Prime Minister and (Perry Christie) his PLP cohorts continue to label every criticism that flies their way as political smear tactics,” Mr Collie noted.

He continued: “This is an astonishing claim considering the amount of evidence that further taints their record day after day.

“Rather than facing the music, or even scurrying to come up with excuses - a play they’ve often drawn up over the last few years - they obnoxiously write off their abuse of power as lies. By making these claims, they are only alienating themselves more from their constituencies, as all Bahamians know the PLP is the gang of lies.

“Further demonstrating the PLP’s lack of accountability is the Bank of the Bahamas’ . . . attempt to seal the documents that would reveal owners of non-performing loans, which many believe were given to the politically connected.

“One would assume that innocence wouldn’t elicit an appeal to the Supreme Court to seal such information from the public. Bahamians are not naive, however. We remember the PLP’s continued resistance to answer the question of whether or not many of the bad BOB loans were made to members of this government.”

Mr Ingraham, in a speech he had planned to deliver in Grand Bahama at an FNM rally but was unable to because of rain on Friday night, called on the government to reveal if any government ministers or members of the governing party have non-performing loans at BOB to the tune of tens of millions.

He also noted that BOB was in dire financial straits, adding that the only way to save the institution would be to vote the Progressive Liberal Party out of office.

This as BOB is seeking Supreme Court protection from the Central Bank, which is demanding an “immediate” $50 million increase in loan loss provisions and legal action against “politically exposed” bad borrowers.

In 2014, the Christie administration created a new company, Bahamas Resolve, to take over $100m in bad debt from BOB.

In February, Tribune Business reported that BOB’s financial statements for the half-year to end-December 2016 showed that its total comprehensive loss had increased by almost $2 million year-over-year, rising from $3.587 million to $5.428 million.

However, the loss for the final three months, or second quarter, dropped by 37.3 per cent, falling from $3.267 million to $2.049 million. Provisions for non-performing loans again helped to drive the ‘red ink’, as they rose for the half-year by 18 per cent, from $6.134 million in 2015 to $7.237 million at the end of last year.

Mr Collie yesterday foreshadowed “a haunting reality” in which the politicians who are supposed to be representing Bahamians are pursuing personal gain.

Mr Collie said both he and his party were of the view that the country’s fiscal activities ought to be transparent and that the public should have access to know who holds loans at BOB.

Mr Collie insisted that for this to be the case, the PLP must be replaced with an FNM government that believes in “fiscal responsibility, transparency and empowering our Bahamian businesses and entrepreneurs, not the politically connected.”

In early February, Prime Minister Perry Christie told the House of Assembly that the government would soon make a full disclosure on the current affairs of BOB and Resolve Bahamas. He said this would happen before the next general election.

However, a full disclosure was never made in Parliament.