The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A CABINET minister last night disclosed that the COVID-19 visitor testing system’s providers have yet to be paid as the Government determines the most efficient mechanism for getting funds to them.

Dionisio D’Aguilar, minister of tourism and aviation, told Tribune Business that monies collected from the $40 per head Health Travel Visa were currently “sitting in an account” with Bahamian digital payments provider, Kanoo, waiting for instructions on how it will be disbursed.

Responding to questions from Fred Mitchell, he said the Opposition senator can “rest assured I am guarding the people’s money to ensure we get the best possible deal” for getting it to providers such as the Health Travel Visa scheme’s insurer, the former Atlantic Medial Insurance that is now known as CG Atlantic Medical & Life.

Adding that he “invited” scrutiny, and has “nothing to hide”, Mr D’Aguilar said the speed at which the Health Travel Visa and associated technology had to be rolled out meant it was simply impossible to put the payment processing contract - awarded to Kanoo - out to a competitive bidding process as Mr Mitchell had called for.

The opposition Senator, in a statement yesterday, said he had raised three parliamentary questions surrounding “the money trail” involving funds generated by issuing the Health Travel Visa to tourists as well as Bahamians returning to this nation.

Focusing on Kanoo, Mr Mitchell queried whether the Bahamian-owned digital payments solutions provider had won the contract to collect the $40 Health Travel Visa fee via “a public and transparent tendering process” while also asking the Government to identify Kanoo’s principals.

He also questioned whether the collection of monies by Kanoo complied with The Bahamas’ fiscal legislation, which he said mandated that all monies due to the Government be paid into the Consolidated Fund.

Mr D’Aguilar, in response, said the Government and Ministry of Tourism had to hire a settlement provider such as Kanoo given that all Health Travel Visa payments were being made electronically via debit or credit card.

“They [Kanoo] have been accumulating the funds,” he told Tribune Business. “There are persons that need to be paid. There’s the insurance company that needs to be paid, the people providing the testing that need to be paid, the people doing the testing that need to be paid, and the software administrators that need to be paid.

“The money is still in limbo. It has not been disbursed yet. It’s sitting in an account at Kanoo.” Mr D’Aguilar said this was because the Government was still working out the most efficient, cost-effective method for disbursing funds due to all providers involved in the COVID- 19 Health Travel Visa and testing system almost one month after it was rolled out.

He added that Bank of the Bahamas, which had been selected as custodian for the revenues generated by the $40 per capita fee, would receive the majority - about 85 percent - of any fees paid out in connection with handling the sums involved.

“They get an administrative charge, but I don’t think it’s unreasonable,” Mr D’Aguilar added. “There’s a fee they charge to do the settlement, and I told them the Government will not pay the settlement fee.

“Tell Mr Mitchell to rest assured I am guarding the people’s money to ensure we get the best possible deal. Everybody’s saying it didn’t go out to bid, but trust me, this had to happen so fast there wasn’t really any time to put it out to bid and go through that process.”

With the Government “still exploring the most efficient way” to make payment to multiple providers in different islands, Mr D’Aguilar said of Mr Mitchell’s scrutiny: “I invite that. I have nothing to hide. There’s nothing untoward about it.”

He added, though, that Mr Mitchell was “a little extravagant in his numbers”, revealing that The Bahamas was presently receiving around 500 applications for a Health Travel Visa per day rather than the 1,000 cited by the senator.

Meanwhile Keith Davies, Kanoo’s chairman and chief executive, confirmed that the company was working as “a third-party payment” processor and facilitator on the Health Travel Visa initiative. “We are collecting money on behalf of the network participants,” he added. “That is guided and instructed by the organisers of the programme.”

Asserting that “everything is transparent”, and the funds are held in an account at the Bank of The Bahamas, Mr Davies said: “We’ve the mandate of just making sure the funds get to where they’re supposed to go. Kanoo gets a small processing fee just like any other payment provider gets for providing a similar service.”

As for Mr Mitchell’s demand for disclosure of Kanoo’s principals and shareholders, Mr Davies added that all this was available via the Companies Registry at the Registrar General’s Department.

“This is a Bahamian-owned company principally owned by a group of young Bahamian entrepreneurs, licensed and regulated by the Central Bank. There’s no secret there,” he said.