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MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2025
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Fox’s Balmoral Isl. lease may face legal challenge By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A FORMER Cabinet minister has warned he may initiate legal action over the Government’s decision to lease a portion of Balmoral Island to Adrian Fox for part of his proposed $300m resort project. Damian Gomez KC told Tribune Business he has already written to the Attorney General’s Office to “flag” his concerns that the 21-year deal struck with Island Luck’s co-founder “literally expropriates property that belongs to me” as a result of a preexisting lease interest he holds. Having obtained Supreme Court permission to seize 50 percent of the shares in Blue Illusions, the failed dolphin attraction that previously operated on Balmoral Island, over $1.25m in unpaid legal bills, he said he was unaware that Mr Fox’s project had received the go-ahead until Thursday’s Heads of Agreement signing with the Davis administration. The former minister of state for legal affairs in the last Christie administration also told this newspaper he felt misled over the Balmoral Island situation. Having learned that Mr Fox and representatives of his Fox Group of Companies had been on the island, he said he first wrote to the Attorney General’s Office late last year to
inquire “what’s going on” only to be reassured that nothing was happening. Ryan Pinder KC, the attorney general, did not respond to Tribune Business messages seeking clarity on the Balmoral Island lease situation before press time last night. This newspaper had asked whether the previous Blue Illusions lease had been terminated for non-performance, or was no longer valid for any other reason, and for a response in light of Mr Gomez’s position. However, the latter confirmed that neither the Government nor Mr Fox have sought to buy out his interest in the lease nor approached him over their plans for the island, also known as Blackbeard’s Cay, which lies off New Providence’s north coast opposite Sandals Royal Bahamian. The island is Crown Land, with the latter resort using the eastern portion via a lease deal with the Government. And Mr Gomez also argued that the five surviving dolphins rescued from Blue Illusions’ former attraction last year cannot be sold by the Government, and its Department of Marine Resources, without paying the outstanding $1.25m legal bills owed by the former operator. “They didn’t buy it from me, nor did the Government give me notice of what they were doing,” Mr Gomez told Tribune Business of the Balmoral Island lease and resort deal
with Mr Fox’s group. “I’ve written to the Attorney General’s Office to flag it and that may well lead to further litigation. “I’m not sure what they’re trying to do. They also seem to want to sell [Blue Illusions] dolphins. I told them they cannot do that without paying me out.” Asked about his likely response, Mr Gomez added: “I’m just going to pursue the Attorney General’s Office. They really are the ones who have disturbed my interest. “Without giving me notice, they have allowed him to remove property from the island, Adrian and other people. They took the dolphins and haven’t gotten in touch with me. My view of it is they have literally expropriated property that belongs to me.” Asked when he became aware of Mr Fox’s resort project, Mr Gomez replied: “I heard like everybody else when they announced this new project.” Adrianna Fox, Mr Fox’s daughter, confirmed during Thursday’s Heads of Agreement signing that the $300m resort project includes the lease of a 16.35-acre site on Balmoral Island. Given the island’s size, that almost certainly includes at least a portion of the site that was previously used by Blue Illusions for its dolphin encounter and associated tourist amenities that was mainly targeted at cruise ship passengers. SEE PAGE SEVEN
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PILOTS TO CHALLENGE AVIATION TEST AMID OPERATOR CONCERNS By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net BAHAMIAN pilots will today challenge a controversial aviation exam before the Supreme Court amid airline concerns that the test may impact operations and disrupt planned service expansion. Drexel Munroe, a pilot and member of the Bahamas Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (BAOPA), told Tribune Business its application for an injunction and permission to launch Judicial Review proceedings against the Civil Aviation Authority of The Bahamas (CAAB) over the air law exam it is mandating all pilots must take and pass is set to be heard at 11am. While providing few
specifics, other than that the hearing is before Justice Leif Farquharson, he voiced confidence that the Bahamian aviation industry “will have closure one way or another” over an exam that previously raised fears of a pilot shortage until industry regulators extended the deadline to take and pass it from January 31, 2025, to end-June 2025. “I can tell you that the hearing for the injunction will be heard on Monday morning,” Mr Munroe told this newspaper. “The lawyer that we hired will present our case and they will come with their case. It’s [the exam] going to affect the life of every pilot and, to that extent, it may even affect companies. It’s not just the pilots; this is a ripple effect.” SEE PAGE SIX
TAX CHIEF: PROPERTY FILING TARGET ‘AIN’T SO HARD CUT’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net TAX officials say the February 15 deadline to file details of all corporate real estate dealings “ain’t so hard cut” but there is unlikely to be “a blanket” extension for all of a registered office’s clients. Dexter Fernander, the Department of Inland Revenue’s operations manager, told Tribune Business he was “concerned” to hear that many registered agents fear they may not meet the imminent target for companies and International Business Companies (IBCs) to submit the newly-introduced annual ‘real property declaration’. Amid complaints that
the declaration, a 16-page form that registered offices must fill out for every one of their corporate clients, is “crippling” and “onerous” to the ease and cost of doing business in The Bahamas, he challenged why the required information would not be readily available given that it was required for annual Companies Registry filings and maintaining an entity in good standing. “I’m concerned about that,” Mr Fernander replied, when informed by this newspaper that many registered offices do not have the required data readily available and are struggling, in some instances, to obtain the information in time. SEE PAGE EIGHT
‘DO NOT LET SARKIS WEAPONISE CHAPTER 11 ON NASSAU HOTELS’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net BAHA Mar’s contractor is accusing Sarkis Izmirlian of seeking to “circumvent” the Bahamian courts by using its US Chapter 11 protection as a “springboard” to pursue the winding-up of its two Nassau hotels. China Construction Inc, the contractor’s US arm which is presently in bankruptcy protection in New Jersey, hit back at the Baha Mar developer’s bid to appoint an “independent examiner”, who would be charged with investigating dealings between itself and its Bahamian affiliates, as an effort to “hijack the Chapter 11 process for its own benefit”. The Chinese state-owned contractor, in particular,
asserted in its February 6, 2025, legal filings that Mr Izmirlian would seek to use the examiner’s findings to support his bid to wind-up both CCA (Bahamas) and CSCEC (Bahamas) before the Supreme Court in Nassau. The former serves as the immediate parent for both CCA’s Bahamian resort interests, the British Colonial and Margaritaville Beach Resort. Mr Izmirlian is aiming to persuade the New Jersey bankruptcy court to appoint such an examiner to probe alleged “fraud, dishonesty, incompetence, misconduct, mismanagement” or other irregularities involving CCA Inc’s dealings with its Bahamian and other affiliates prior to its Chapter 11 filing during the Christmas and New Year holiday period. SEE PAGE SEVEN