The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL 

Tribune Business Editor 

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

AUTHORITIES were yesterday said to be moving to seize assets owned by an ex-MP and former Supreme Court judge in a bid to satisfy a multi-million dollar judgment obtained against him.

Well-placed sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Tribune Business that the provost marshall - acting upon a Supreme Court Order - is now seeking to secure real estate, properties and other valuable assets thought to be owned by Elliott Lockhart KC with locks said to have been changed and padlocks put in place.

This newspaper was able to confirm that the Supreme Court has reviewed, approved and signed off on a so-called ‘fieri facias’ application brought on behalf of US investor, Dr Paul Fuchs, by the Callenders & Company law firm.

This is a writ that, once approved by a judge, authorises court officers such as the provost marshall to seize assets and chattels belonging to persons who have failed to pay Supreme Court judgment awards imposed against them. “The process has moved to enforce the judgment, and the provost has been engaged to do the enforcement,” one source told this newspaper.

Among the assets that could be targeted are Mr Lockhart’s personal residence, with his last known address listed as 67 Ocean Drive, Adelaide Village; his former law firm’s offices at Buen Retiro Road; and other real estate and chattels of value in both New Providence and Exuma, the latter being the constituency he represented in Parliament between 1997 and 2002.

“Signs have been put up, gates have been tied up with padlocks and chains. Properties have been seized and every lock has been changed by a locksmith,” one contact told this newspaper of the provost marshall’s progress to-date. This was not corroborated by other sources, but Dr Fuchs told Tribune Business he was aware that his attorneys had planned to enforce the judgment via the Supreme Court and provost marshall. He revealed he is now “hoping justice is done and crossing my fingers that I can be made whole” over the $3.033m allegedly owed to him by Mr Lockhart.

“That’s what was explained to me about what the plan was, and that’s the most recent update from Callenders,” Dr Fuchs confirmed of the ‘fieri facias’ application. “It’s in the provost marshall’s hands, and the provost marshall is doing his job. I’m appreciative that he’s doing his job, and I have to keep confidence in the system and that justice will be done.

“That was the plan; I don’t know how it’s being done. My understanding was that the plan was to get a writ of ‘fieri facias’ and get the provost marshall to seize everything, and that he be appointed to sell the assets and use those proceeds to satisfy the judgment. My understanding is that they’re moving forward on that and the provost marshall is out.

“That’s been the strategy all along; to find as many assets he has, any valuable properties or any type of assets he has, and have the provost marshall appointed so that he can turn around and sell it. It sure has taken a long time, but it is what it is. It seems like they’re moving in the right direction. We’re crossing our fingers and hoping justice is done, and we can be made whole.”

That $3.033m represents the sum paid to Mr Lockhart over a real estate transaction involving an Exuma-based property. When the deal fell through, Dr Fuchs asked the ex-judge to return the funds, which should have been held in escrow in his law firm’s client account, but the latter allegedly failed to do so.

Following an October 11, 2023, hearing, the Supreme Court ordered that Mr Lockhart and Lockhart & Co were “jointly and severally liable” to return the $3.033m. Interest was to be added at an annual rate of three percent from September 8 last year to yesterday and, from hereon, the rate increases to 6.25 percent per annum until full payment.

Mr Lockhart’s current whereabouts are unknown although he is thought unlikely to still be in The Bahamas. Back in June 2024, he was the subject of an Interpol ‘red notice’, which is a worldwide alert issued to all law enforcement authorities, asking them to help locate, and provisionally arrest, the former MP and ex-Supreme Court judge who was once chairman of Nassau Flight Services, the Gaming Board and the Police Inspectorate.

Prior to the Interpol action, the Royal Bahamas Police Force in early 2024 had issued a ‘wanted poster’ for Mr Lockhart after Dr Fuchs lodged a criminal complaint against him. The Interpol action also revealed that other aggrieved investors were making similar allegations to those asserted by Dr Fuchs.

Daniel Clay Smith Jnr was revealed to have made a separate but similar complaint to the police force’s Financial Crimes Investigation Branch on August 18, 2023. He alleged that, between May 2022 and November 2022, he paid some $3.205m to Mr Lockhart and his law firm to assist with Crown Land on Staniel Cay, Exuma, that he wanted to convert to commercial use. “In addition, some of the funds were to assist in applying to The Bahamas' Immigration Department for citizenship for Mr Smith and his family," the Interpol alert alleged.

"By November 2022, nothing had materialized and Mr Smith requested his monies to be returned...The funds have not been received to date."