The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

ATTORNEY Fred Smith, QC, has called government’s change of course “discriminatory” in its demand that churches, together with other non-profit organisations, submit their financial information to the Registrar General’s Department in accordance with regulations.

The outspoken lawyer called on Attorney General Carl Bethel to either disclose the parameters of the deal made between Bahamas Christian Council (BCC) and his office, or extend the same arrangement to all other non-profit organisation (NPOs).

Last month the government and BCC resolved a dispute over a requirement that some churches submit their financial information to the Registrar General’s Department in accordance with NPO regulations, granting churches the ability to “self-regulate” their financials, according to BCC President Delton Fernander. However, the Minnis administration didn’t soften its demands to have all other NPOs submit their financial information directly to the Registrar General’s Department.

In July the department listed in newspapers hundreds of NPOs that had to submit information that confirmed their purpose, objectives and activities, the source of their annual income, the identities of the people who own, control and direct them and annual financial statements or other financial records while also explaining their transactions in and outside the Bahamas.

Failure to comply with the regulations may result in a fine up to $10,000 or a revocation of licences.

Churches were given a 30-day extension on the time to submit such information. Then last month, Bishop Fernander said some of the “stringent” requirements of churches had been relaxed.

“This stinks to high-heaven of deal-making at its finest,” contended Mr Smith. “Through law, this government made a demand and weeks later, circumvented that law by allowing one sub-group more privilege than all the others. Laws are not an order of deal making behind closed doors in dark corners.

“We are governed by the rule of law as an act by Parliament periodically; we are not governed by the arbitrary decisions, ‘deal-making’ of the executive members of Cabinet. Whether it be through secret heads of agreements like Baha Mar or deals with religious NPOs,” Mr Smith added.

Mr Smith, a self-proclaimed advocate for the election of the Free National Movement (FNM) before the 2017 general election, said he was shocked at how quickly the Minnis administration “picked up PLP tricks.”

“I didn’t support the FNM to see them become a repeat of the PLP. In this move, the FNM is behaving no differently from the PLP it campaigned against. If all churches have been designated, by law, as NPOs, how can you then sidestep the laws and say, ‘everyone, except this small group, must follow this law?”

Mr Smith added: “This makes this whole thing an arbitrary exercise because it shows that if you could cosy up to the government, well those high up, you too can go beyond the laws of this country.”

Mr Smith said he currently has two ongoing cases against the government with respect to this issue.

However, he suggested that many other NPOs are currently afraid to speak out on the demands of the regulations out of fear their operation could be “blackballed” moving forward.

“Many of them often want the government to support their activities - they don’t have the resources to be fighting any cases. They could have their accounts cancelled; most of them don’t have any lawyer advising them and in this little dictatorship that we have a lot of pressure can be brought to bear from all kinds of directions,” he told The Tribune.

“This is turning the law upside down. NPOs are entitled to a level of protection under the constitution. Unless the government has probable cause to suspect a NPO is being funded by a terrorist organisation or some unscrupulous source, it cannot demand a disclosure of their finances.

“This omnibus demands for confidential financial information is seizure of private information.”

He continued: “Why pick on NPOs? Why not ask the gaming boys as well? Why limit it at all? What’s the rationale? Why not ask all companies – all lawyers, all accountants, all private trust companies, all banks?

“This underscores the arbitrary nature of this demand just from NPOs. They are not the only ones that handle money. And, if you think about it, most NPOs handle local money. It is all the other financial institutions that receive foreign currency that would probably be more suspect for terrorist funding.

“I’m pretty sure that not one NPO has been given permission by exchange control to have a foreign currency account. And so they cannot be involved in terrorist funding, because terrorist funding necessarily requires foreign currency to be sent out of the Bahamas.”

It was previously reported that a paramount concern of the BCC had been the requirement that religious institutions submit financial information about churches.

“Now we’re kinda going to self-regulate those financials,” Bishop Fernander said last month. “The financials will be checked by accountants who will report to the ministry that it was done. If there are violations or something untoward shows up, we will gladly turn over the information.

“We’ll make notice to that church that it’s been requested and we will pass that information. Otherwise, the financial information will remain in the possession of the BCC.”

Bishop Fernander said the government has agreed to pay accountants to collect the financial data for churches that can’t afford to do so themselves.

“This is more secure in the approach and is across the board,” the bishop said. “It’s fair for every person and church that all are asked to do these same things.”