The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL 

Tribune Business Editor 

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

THE Prime Minister’s Office has pledged it is “actively addressing” accusations of conflicts of interest and other irregularities involving a confiscated vessel that was forfeited to the Government.

Creswell Sturrup, PS in Philip Davis KC’s office, confirmed in a June 17, 2024, letter that the claims surrounding efforts by Kevin Dean to fulfill the terms of a magistrate’s order and repurchase the boat, Silent Prayer, had been “duly noted” and the Government plans to respond “at the earliest opportunity”.

Mr Dean and his attorney, ex-Cabinet minister Elsworth Johnson, told Tribune Business that the courts ordered the vessel be forfeited to the Government after it was used to transport illegal narcotics. Mr Dean, who was the Silent Prayer’s registered owner, had no knowledge of or involvement in the drug smuggling and was found not guilty.

The same May 31, 2023, Order that acquitted Mr Dean, which has been seen by this newspaper, also gave him permission to repurchase the vessel within six months of that date provided he made “full payment to the Crown of the market value of the vessel at the time of purchase”.

Mr Dean immediately moved to negotiate the Silent Prayer’s acquisition, but Ministry of Finance officials late last year imposed a $250,000 price tag and “full cash sale” on the vessel stating that this figure was based on the cost to acquire it in 2011.

However, Mr Dean, a charter operator and marine mechanic, said the $250,000 valuation was almost triple, or three times’ higher, the $76,500 valuation placed on the vessel by an independent marine appraiser in 2014. And he pointed out that the Silent Prayer’s value, and condition, were likely to have depreciated after the boat was laid up in the police yard for around two years following its seizure.

Suggesting that the $250,000 price was quoted in a bid to “deter” him from pursuing the vessel’s repurchase, Mr Dean and Mr Johnson said they subsequently hired a private investigator who located the Silent Prayer at a residence belonging to one of the Ministry of Finance officials who he had spoken to about regaining ownership of the boat.

Asserting that it is “definitely my boat”, and that it was still in the same location as of Friday with photographs to prove it, Mr Dean is arguing it is now “unfair for me to get the boat back without compensation” given the uncertainty over what work has been performed on it.

Mr Johnson, meanwhile, said the case raises numerous questions about possible conflict of interests, given that some of the Ministry of Finance officials his client had spoken to about reacquiring the vessel appeared to have been involved in pre-determining its fate and taken possession of the asset themselves

He added that it also raises concerns over the management/handling of confiscated assets duly forfeited to the Government, and whether the proceeds are maximised for the Bahamian people’s benefit, as there is no evidence that the Silent Prayer was ever put up for public auction. And, not least, Mr Johnson also queried whether the situation breaches the magistrate’s May 31, 2023, Order.

The Ministry of Finance did not respond to Tribune Business calls and messages seeking comment before press time last night. This newspaper knows the identity of the official in whose yard the Silent Prayer is allegedly located, but has been told not to name them for legal reasons.

Mr Johnson told Tribune Business: “We want the boat to be returned. We want to know the circumstances. The questions we have are: Is the boat still available for purchase and redemption [by Mr Dean]? If not, was it sold by public tender? Does this official have the boat in their pos- session, and how much did they pay for it? Mr Dean should have had the first opportunity to purchase it...

“Government agencies are required by law to conduct their affairs in an honest, fair, reasonable and transparent way, and to do it in accordance with the law. Neither do they have the authority to violate practices and procedures with items forfeited to the Crown. Once forfeited to the Crown, it has to be auctioned off and the proceeds and contents used for the benefit of the people of The Bahamas.

“What we are considering here, if we are correct, are fundamental breaches. If what we describe amounts to procedural irregularity, and a loss of assets to the state, this goes to the root of their responsibility in administering the people’s assets.”

Asked how he and Mr Dean plan to proceed should the Government’s response prove less than satisfactory, Mr Johnson said they are prepared to wait several weeks but “I have very little confidence they’ll respond or do anything on this matter.

“Then we’re going to take legal action against them,” he added. “This is most unusual and unacceptable. We’re looking at a Judicial Review and will then see what else we’ll do. This is very disheartening for me. This is what causes the break down in law and order in the country.

“Once the average citizen comes to that state of hopelessness; that the structures designed by law to protect them are not doing so, they’re minded to do absolutely nothing or to resolve matters themselves. The structures designed to protect them are just not functioning.”

Mr Sturrup, in his June 17, 2024, response, said the Prime Minister was unaware of earlier correspondence sent to him by Mr Johnson on Mr Dean’s behalf on January 24 this year. “The Prime Minister advises that the contents of the letters have been duly noted and are being actively addressed, with a view to reversion at the earliest opportunity,” Mr Sturrup wrote.

Meanwhile Mr Dean, confirming that he acquired the Silent Prayer around 14 years ago, said the saga began when he finished repairing its engines in 2020. Disclosing that he runs numerous excursions to see Exuma’s swimming pigs, he took the vessel from Nassau to Exuma to test the engines prior to bringing it back into service.

After duly developing further problems during the test run, Mr Dean said he took the vessel down to George Town and left it at a marina operated by a friend as he needed to swiftly return to Nassau for business the following day. “I left it in the care of one of my captains who normally runs my boat on charters, and needed him to bring the boat back,” Mr Dean said.

“He went and did some different, other activities other than bring the boat back to me. They [the police] allegedly found drugs on board. I was not aware of it, but four to five days later they came to my house to search for weapons and drugs, and said they found the boat was registered in my name.”

Magistrate Samuel McKinney’s May 31, 2023, certificate of forfeiture order, confirms that while Mr Dean was the Silent Prayer’s registered owner he “was found not guilty and acquitted”. The other two defendants, Basil John- son and Alfraido Poitier, were both found guilty and, as required by the Dangerous Drugs Act, the vessel, its engines and equipment were to “be forfeited to the Crown”.

However, Magistrate McKinney added: “Kevin Dean, the registered owner of the vessel, is permitted to redeem the vessel within six months from the date of this order upon full payment to the Crown of the market value of the vessel at the time of purchase.”

Mr Dean said it took around a month-and-a-half to obtain the necessary court letter and documents confirming this. Upon receiving them, he immediately went to the Ministry of Finance but the official he spoke to refused to even discuss the matter with him. Instead, it took a call from Magistrate McKinney to the Ministry of Finance for negotiations to begin.

After providing a letter stating what he had purchased the Silent Prayer for, Mr Dean said he was called back to the Minis- try of Finance three days’ later to pick up a “proposal”. This confirmed that a $250,000 price tag had been placed on the vessel, with the ministry basing this on a $175,000-$200,000 preimport valuation in 2011 plus Customs duty.

Mr Dean told Tribune Business that the $250,000 was both “far more than what the boat was worth” and the $76,500 independent appraisal given in 2014. “They distracted me by giving a large quote to deter me from buying the boat back,” he asserted. “I sent a letter back asking if it was possible a public adjuster could do an adjustment” on the boat to determine its current, fair value.

“It was laid up in the police compound for more than two years. The purchase price they gave me was worth more than the boat’s value,” Mr Dean added. Further letters to the Ministry of Finance produced no reply, but then a private investigator hired by himself and Mr Johnson allegedly tracked the Silent Prayer down to a residence allegedly belonging to one of the officials he had negotiated with.

“I got a call to go with someone who would show me where the boat was actually parked at,” Mr Dean said. “I saw the boat, and took pictures of the boat. They had taken off the registration, and it looked like they’d stated making repairs. They’d sanded down the whole boat....

“To be honest, right now I want to be compensated. The mere fact the boat left the police compound and went to another party, and I was not given the opportunity to buy it back. It’s actually in someone else’s care and I don’t know what they’ve done with it. I’ve only seen from pictures the external work they’ve done to the boat.

“I went there again yesterday and it’s still there. It’s still inside the yard. It’s definitely my boat. Definitely my boat. Now I don’t think it’s fair even if they redeem the boat back. Because it went beyond the point of return it’s unfair for me to get the boat back without compensation. I don’t know the extent of what they did with the boat.”