The Tribune

IN his statement last week on China’s new restrictions on overseas investments by its nationals, Foreign Affairs Minister Darren Henfield, in reply to a Tribune reporter’s question, said he had not mentioned the position of Baha Mar in his press release because “it is sold and (in the process of completion).”

However, that is not what we understood when this question was raised before the change of government. Our understanding then was that the Chow Tai Fook Enterprises, the Cheng family’s large Hong Kong based business, would not conclude the sale until the Baha Mar development had been completed. In other words, we presumed that seeing what had happened to Mr Izmirlian, they were determined not to be caught in the same complex web of deception.

In another report in connection with the PLP’s former education minister Jerome Fitzgerald’s business dealings with Baha Mar on behalf of his family, it was claimed that a secret deal was made through the Cheng family with Chow Tai Fook Enterprises.

It is also claimed that this circuitous route was taken because Mr Izmirlian had sent the Fitzgerald request for business to his manager Sandy Sands with instructions that such contracts were to be awarded on merit. It is also claimed that this information was sealed by the Supreme Court.

Has the Attorney General seen this alleged deal, or does he even know of its possible existence? The question was also asked as to whether former prime minister Christie knew of his cabinet minister’s business dealings with Baha Mar, and if so, when did he know.

All the Attorney General has told the public is that he has seen the Baha Mar contract, which contains nothing to lose sleep over. However, at the same time he admitted that there are other “sensitive “ documents relating to the sale that remain sealed by the Supreme Court. Apparently, these are the very documents that the public should see and those documents are not sealed.

Now we have a better understanding of why Mr Izmirlian, the original developer, who has offered to repurchase Baha Mar on multiple occasions, complete it with Bahamian workers and get it open, has not been allowed even to bid on his own development, and yet, according to Mr Izmirlian, the Baha Mar purchaser has been “found outside of the receivers’ process”.

We also now fully understand Mr Fitzgerald’s statement in September, 2016, when Mr Izmirlian’s bid to purchase was refused. “The Government of the Bahamas is not working on words when it comes to this matter,” declared Mr Fitzgerald. “We are working on money, where it is located, where we can specify it and where we can see it. Unfortunately, Mr Izmirlian has never, ever done that. Never.” Really, Mr Fitzgerald, your brazenness is just too much.

We also now understand why the government sided with EXIM Bank and CCA to avoid putting the $3.5 billion project into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. We can only imagine what transactions are being hidden. In the bankruptcy court in Delaware it would have all been laid bare as Mr Izmirlian was hoping.

There was no need for the Christie government to enter a dispute between the developer and his contractor. They should have been left alone to sort it out themselves.

Mr Izmirlian had complained to Mr Christie that the repeated delays and work practices of CCA were putting the development in financial jeopardy. He also flew to Beijing to complain to the Export-Import Bank (CEXIM). The attitude of the bank was that whatever its contractor did met with its approval. He flew back to the Bahamas where the dispute with CCA worsened.

To save Baha Mar, its creditors and employees already on staff being trained for the opening — which had by then been delayed at least three times by CCA, running up bills and bleeding the company — Mr Izmirlian quietly took the only sensible action open to him. He filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 in the courts of Delaware.

Mr Christie was hurt that Mr Izmirlian had not informed him before the action was taken. We are amazed at Mr Christie’s surprise. We are also told that while Mr Izmirlian did not refer to the Chapter 11 specifically, he told Mr Christie very clearly that Baha Mar was running out of funding and that he would not be putting in more money without an assurances from CCA that they would complete Baha Mar.

Being a lawyer, Mr Christie knows the importance of the element of surprise in actions of bankruptcy. After his experience with Mr Christie, Mr Izmirlian must by then have lost confidence in him, and judged that to take him into his confidence, was tantamount to including the Chinese. So he did it alone.

Former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham advised Mr Christie that he was making a wrong move - in fact he told Mr Christie that what his government was doing was “dead wrong.” He said that the Christie government had “tilted in favour” of the Chinese interests associated with the project. He wrote Mr Christie two letters to try to dissuade him from objecting to the Delaware Chapter 11 proceedings.

The PLP government made a mockery of our “sovereignty” when they tried to hide their corruption and secret arrangements behind that noble word. The Bahamian people saw the truth and threw them out in the last election. Indeed the Delaware court, although admitting that Chapter 11 was the best route to take for the Baha Mar situation, threw the case out because the Government of The Bahamas had made it clear that it would not cooperate with the US court because to do so would be a breach of our sovereignty. In short the Delaware court’s decision would not be recognised.

The irony of the matter was that Mr Raymond Winder, managing partner of Deloitte & Touche, ended up as the receiver for the $3.5 billion project when it was transferred to our Supreme Court, having earlier expressed the opinion that the “best hope for protecting the financial viability of a billion dollar joint venture project was to refer the matter to the US courts via Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.” In fact, Mr Winder pointed out that Resorts International had been purchased by Sol Kerzner out of Chapter 11 proceedings and later reopened under the Atlantis name. Therefore, in the past our courts had recognised America’s Chapter 11. But suddenly to placate the Chinese, “sovereignty” had crawled out of the woodwork to spook us all.

At one point during this scandalous destruction of a fine development, Mr Christie had said: “We have a developer who has spent a lot of money. Mr Izmirlian says he has put $600 million of his family’s money in this and we have to, therefore, be aware that it is important for us in good faith to give him an opportunity to complete his property.”

It was the Christie government’s siding with the Chinese – instead of guarding Bahamian interests – that destroyed Baha Mar. Mr Izmirlian has every reason to be bitter – despite Fred Mitchell’s infantile remark that he is a “spoil sport” to complain.

And so, Mr Attorney General, we have pointed in the direction in which you can look to right the wrong. If you are not up to it, then consider stepping aside to allow someone else to do the job.